TITLE. To the Chief Musician. Therefore
not written for private meditation only, but for the public
service of song. Suitable for the loneliness of individual
penitence, this matchless Psalm is equally well adapted for an
assembly of the poor in spirit. A Psalm of David. It is a
marvel, but nevertheless a fact, that writers have been found to
deny David's authorship of this Psalm, but their objections are
frivolous, the Psalm is David like all over. It would be far
easier to imitate Milton, Shakespeare, or Tennyson, than David.
His style is altogether sui generis, and it is as easily
distinguished as the touch of Rafaelle or the colouring of
Rubens. "When Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he
had gone in to Bathsheba." When the divine message had
aroused his dormant conscience and made him see the greatness of
his guilt, he wrote this Psalm. He had forgotten his psalmody
while he was indulging his flesh, but he returned to his harp
when his spiritual nature was awakened, and he poured out his
song to the accompaniment of sighs and tears. The great sin of
David is not to be excused, but it is well to remember that his
case has an exceptional collection of specialities in it. He was
a man of very strong passions, a soldier, and an Oriental
monarch having despotic power; no other king of his time would
have felt any compunction for having acted as he did, and hence
there were not around him those restraints of custom and
association which, when broken through, render the offence the
more monstrous. He never hints at any form of extenuation, nor
do we mention these facts in order to apologize for his sin,
which was detestable to the last degree; but for the warning of
others, that they reflect that the licentiousness in themselves
at this day might have even a graver guilt in it than in the
erring King of Israel. When we remember his sin, let us dwell
most upon his penitence, and upon the long series of
chastisements which rendered the after part of his life such a
mournful history.
DIVISION. It will be simplest to note
in the first twelve verses the penitent's confessions and plea
for pardon, and then in the last seven his anticipatory
gratitude, and the way in which he resolves to display it.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God. He appeals
at once to the mercy of God, even before he mentions his sin.
The sight of mercy is good for eyes that are sore with
penitential weeping. Pardon of sin must ever be an act of pure
mercy, and therefore to that attribute the awakened sinner
flies. "According to thy lovingkindness." Act,
O Lord, like thyself; give mercy like thy mercy. Show mercy such
as is congruous with thy grace.
"Great God, thy nature hath no bound:
So let thy pardoning love be found."
What a choice word is that of our English version, a rare
compound of precious things: love and kindness sweetly blended
in one—"lovingkindness." According unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies. Let thy most loving
compassions come to me, and make thou thy pardons such as these
would suggest. Reveal all thy gentlest attributes in my case,
not only in their essence but in their abundance. Numberless
have been thine acts of goodness, and vast is thy grace; let me
be the object of thine infinite mercy, and repeat it all in me.
Make my one case an epitome of all thy tender mercies. By every
deed of grace to others I feel encouraged, and I pray thee let
me add another and a yet greater one, in my own person, to the
long list of thy compassions. Blot out my transgressions.
My revolts, my excesses, are all recorded against me; but, Lord,
erase the lines. Draw thy pen through the register. Obliterate
the record, though now it seems engraven in the rock for ever;
many strokes of thy mercy may be needed, to cut out the deep
inscription, but then thou has a multitude of mercies, and
therefore, I beseech thee, erase my sins.
Verse 2. Wash me throughly. It is not enough to
blot out the sin; his person is defiled, and he fain would be
purified. He would have God himself cleanse him, for none but he
could do it effectually. The washing must be thorough, it must
be repeated, therefore he cries, "Multiply to wash
me." The dye is in itself immovable, and I, the sinner,
have lain long in it, till the crimson is ingrained; but, Lord,
wash, and wash, and wash again, till the last stain is gone, and
not a trace of my defilement is left. The hypocrite is content
if his garments be washed, but the true suppliant cries,
"wash me." The careless soul is content with a
nominal cleansing, but the truly awakened conscience desires a
real and practical washing, and that of a most complete and
efficient kind. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity. It
is viewed as one great pollution, polluting the entire nature,
and as all his own; as if nothing were so much his own as his
sin. The one sin against Bathsheba, served to show the psalmist
the whole mountain of his iniquity, of which that foul deed was
but one falling stone. He desires to be rid of the whole mass of
his filthiness, which though once so little observed, had then
become a hideous and haunting terror to his mind. And cleanse
me from my sin. This is a more general expression; as if the
psalmist said, "Lord, if washing will not do, try some
other process; if water avails not, let fire, let anything be
tried, so that I may but be purified. Rid me of my sin by some
means, by any means, by every means, only do purify me
completely, and leave no guilt upon my soul." It is not the
punishment he cries out against, but the sin. Many a murderer is
more alarmed at the gallows than at the murder which brought him
to it. The thief loves the plunder, though he fears the prison.
Not so David: he is sick of sin as sin; his loudest outcries are
against the evil of his transgression, and not against the
painful consequences of it. When we deal seriously with our sin,
God will deal gently with us. When we hate what the Lord hates,
he will soon make an end of it, to our joy and peace.
Verse 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions.
Here he sees the plurality and immense number of his sins, and
makes open declaration of them. He seems to say, I make a full
confession of them. Not that this is my plea in seeking
forgiveness, but it is a clear evidence that I need mercy, and
am utterly unable to look to any other quarter for help. My
pleading guilty has barred me from any appeal against the
sentence of justice: O Lord, I must cast myself on thy mercy,
refuse me not, I pray thee. Thou hast made me willing to
confess. O follow up this work of grace with a full and free
remission! And my sin is ever before me. My sin as a
whole is never out of my mind; it continually oppresses my
spirit. I lay it before thee because it is ever before me: Lord,
put it away both from thee and me. To an awakened conscience,
pain on account of sin is not transient and occasional, but
intense and permanent, and this is no sign of divine wrath, but
rather a sure preface of abounding favour.
Verse 4. Against thee, thee only have I sinned.
The virus of sin lies in its opposition to God: the psalmist's
sense of sin towards others rather tended to increase the force
of this feeling of sin against God. All his wrong doing centred,
culminated, and came to a climax, at the foot of the divine
throne. To injure our fellow men is sin, mainly because in so
doing we violate the law of God. The penitent's heart was so
filled with a sense of the wrong done to the Lord himself, that
all other confession was swallowed up in a broken hearted
acknowledgment of offence against him. And done this evil in
thy sight. To commit treason in the very court of the king
and before his eye is impudence indeed: David felt that his sin
was committed in all its filthiness while Jehovah himself looked
on. None but a child of God cares for the eye of God, but where
there is grace in the soul it reflects a fearful guilt upon
every evil act, when we remember that the God whom we offend was
present when the trespass was committed. That thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
He could not present any argument against divine justice, if it
proceeded at once to condemn him and punish him for his crime.
His own confession, and the judge's own witness of the whole
transaction, places the transgression beyond all question or
debate; the iniquity was indisputably committed, and was
unquestionably a foul wrong, and therefore the course of justice
was clear and beyond all controversy.
Verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. He
is thunderstruck at the discovery of his inbred sin, and
proceeds to set it forth. This was not intended to justify
himself, but it rather meant to complete the confession. It is
as if he said, not only have I sinned this once, but I am in my
very nature a sinner. The fountain of my life is polluted as
well as its streams. My birth tendencies are out of the square
of equity; I naturally lean to forbidden things. Mine is a
constitutional disease, rendering my very person obnoxious to
thy wrath. And in sin did my mother conceive me. He goes
back to the earliest moment of his being, not to traduce his
mother, but to acknowledge the deep tap roots of his sin. It is
a wicked wresting of Scripture to deny that original sin and
natural depravity are here taught. Surely men who cavil at this
doctrine have need to be taught of the Holy Spirit what be the
first principles of the faith. David's mother was the Lord's
handmaid, he was born in chaste wedlock, of a good father, and
he was himself, "the man after God's own heart; "and
yet his nature was as fallen as that of any other son of Adam,
and there only needed the occasion for the manifesting of that
sad fact. In our shaping we were put out of shape, and when we
were conceived our nature conceived sin. Alas, for poor
humanity! Those who will may cry it up, but he is most blessed
who in his own soul has learned to lament his lost estate.
Verse 6. Behold. Here is the great matter for
consideration. God desires not merely outward virtue, but inward
purity, and the penitent's sense of sin is greatly deepened as
with astonishment he discovers this truth, and how far he is
from satisfying the divine demand. The second "Behold"
is fitly set over against the first; how great the gulf which
yawns between them! Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.
Reality, sincerity, true holiness, heart fidelity, these are the
demands of God. He cares not for the pretence of purity, he
looks to the mind, heart, and soul. Always has the Holy One of
Israel estimated men by their inner nature, and not by their
outward professions; to him the inward is as visible as the
outward, and he rightly judges that the essential character of
an action lies in the motive of him who works it. And in the
hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom. The penitent
feels that God is teaching him truth concerning his nature,
which he had not before perceived. The love of the heart, the
mystery of its fall, and the way of its purification—this
hidden wisdom we must all attain; and it is a great blessing to
be able to believe that the Lord will "make us to know
it." No one can teach our innermost nature but the Lord,
but he can instruct us to profit. The Holy Spirit can write the
law on our heart, and that is the sum of practical wisdom. He
can put the fear of the Lord within, and that is the beginning
of wisdom. He can reveal Christ in us, and he is essential
wisdom. Such poor, foolish, disarranged souls as ours, shall yet
be ordered aright, and truth and wisdom shall reign within us.
Verse 7. Purge me with hyssop. Sprinkle the
atoning blood upon me with the appointed means. Give me the
reality which legal ceremonies symbolise. Nothing but blood can
take away my blood stains, nothing but the strongest
purification can avail to cleanse me. Let the sin offering purge
my sin. Let him who was appointed to atone, execute his sacred
office on me; for none can need it more than I. The passage may
be read as the voice of faith as well as a prayer, and so it
runs—"Thou wilt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean." Foul as I am, there is such power in the divine
propitiation, that my sin shall vanish quite away. Like the
leper upon whom the priest has performed the cleansing rites, I
shall again be admitted into the assembly of thy people and
allowed to share in the privileges of the true Israel; while in
thy sight also, through Jesus my Lord, I shall be accepted. Wash
me. Let it not merely be in type that I am clean, but by a
real spiritual purification, which shall remove the pollution of
my nature. Let the sanctifying as well as the pardoning process
be perfected in me. Save me from the evils which my sin has
created and nourished in me. And I shall be whiter than snow.
None but thyself can whiten me, but thou canst in grace outdo
nature itself in its purest state. Snow soon gathers smoke and
dust, it melts and disappears; thou canst give me an enduring
purity. Though snow is white below as well as on the outer
surface, thou canst work the like inward purity in me, and make
me so clean that only an hyperbole can set forth my immaculate
condition. Lord, do this; my faith believes thou wilt, and well
she knows thou canst. Scarcely does Holy Scripture contain a
verse more full of faith than this. Considering the nature of
the sin, and the deep sense the psalmist had of it, it is a
glorious faith to be able to see in the blood sufficient, nay,
all sufficient merit entirely to purge it away. Considering also
the deep natural inbred corruption which David saw and
experienced within, it is a miracle of faith that he could
rejoice in the hope of perfect purity in his inward parts. Yet,
be it added, the faith is no more than the word warrants, than
the blood of atonement encourages, than the promise of God
deserves. O that some reader may take heart, even now while
smarting under sin, to do the Lord the honour to rely thus
confidently on the finished sacrifice of Calvary and the
infinite mercy there revealed.
Verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness. He
prays about his sorrow late in the Psalm; he began at once with
his sin; he asks to hear pardon, and then to hear joy. He seeks
comfort at the right time and from the right source. His ear has
become heavy with sinning, and so he prays, "Make me to
hear." No voice could revive his dead joys but that which
quickeneth the dead. Pardon from God would give him double
joy—"joy and gladness." No stinted bliss awaits the
forgiven one; he shall not only have a double blooming
joy, but he shall hear it; it shall sing with exultation.
Some joy is felt but not heard, for it contends with fears; but
the joy of pardon has a voice louder than the voice of sin.
God's voice speaking peace is the sweetest music an ear can
hear. That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
He was like a poor wretch whose bones are crushed, crushed by no
ordinary means, but by omnipotence itself. He groaned under no
mere flesh wounds; his firmest and yet most tender powers were
"broken in pieces all asunder; "his manhood had become
a dislocated, mangled, quivering sensibility. Yet if he who
crushed would cure, every wound would become a new mouth for
song, every bone quivering before with agony would become
equally sensible of intense delight. The figure is bold, and so
is the supplicant. He is requesting a great thing; he seeks joy
for a sinful heart, music for crushed bones. Preposterous prayer
anywhere but at the throne of God! Preposterous there most of
all but for the cross where Jehovah Jesus bore our sins in his
own body on the tree. A penitent need not ask to be an hired
servant, or settle down in despairing content with perpetual
mourning; he may ask for gladness and he shall have it; for if
when prodigals return the father is glad, and the neighbours and
friends rejoice and are merry with music and dancing, what need
can there be that the restored one himself should be wretched?
Verse 9. Hide thy face from my sins. Do not
look at them; be at pains not to see them. They thrust
themselves in the way; but, Lord, refuse to behold them, lest if
thou consider them, thine anger burn, and I die. Blot out all
mine iniquities. He repeats the prayer of the first verse
with the enlargement of it by the word "all." All
repetitions are not "vain repetitions." Souls in agony
have no space to find variety of language: pain has to content
itself with monotones. David's face was ashamed with looking on
his sin, and no diverting thoughts could remove it from his
memory; but he prays the Lord to do with his sin what he himself
cannot. If God hide not his face from our sin, he must hide it
forever from us; and if he blot not out our sins, he must blot
our names out of his book of life.
Verse 10. Create. What! has sin so destroyed
us, that the Creator must be called in again? What ruin then
doth evil work among mankind! Create in me. I, in my
outward fabric, still exist; but I am empty, desert, void. Come,
then, and let thy power be seen in a new creation within my old
fallen self. Thou didst make a man in the world at first; Lord,
make a new man in me! A clean heart. In the seventh verse
he asked to be clean; now he seeks a heart suitable to that
cleanliness; but he does not say, "Make my old heart clean;
" he is too experienced in the hopelessness of the old
nature. He would have the old man buried as a dead thing, and a
new creation brought in to fill its place. None but God can
create either a new heart or a new earth. Salvation is a
marvellous display of supreme power; the work in us as
much as that for us is wholly of Omnipotence. The
affections must be rectified first, or all our nature will go
amiss. The heart is the rudder of the soul, and till the Lord
take it in hand we steer in a false and foul way. O Lord, thou
who didst once make me, be pleased to new make me, and in my
most secret parts renew me. Renew a right spirit within me.
It was there once, Lord, put it there again. The law on my heart
has become like an inscription hard to read: new write it,
gracious Maker. Remove the evil as I have entreated thee; but, O
replace it with good, lest into my swept, empty, and garnished
heart, from which the devil has gone out for a while, seven
other spirits more wicked than the first should enter and dwell.
The two sentences make a complete prayer. Create what is
not there at all; renew that which is there, but in a
sadly feeble state.
Verse 11. Cast me not away from thy presence.
Throw me not away as worthless; banish me not, like Cain, from
thy face and favour. Permit me to sit among those who share thy
love, though I only be suffered to keep the door. I deserve to
be forever denied admission to thy courts; but, O good Lord,
permit me still the privilege which is dear as life itself to
me. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Withdraw not his
comforts, counsels, assistances, quickenings, else I am indeed
as a dead man. Do not leave me as thou didst Saul, when neither
by Urim, nor by prophet, nor by dream, thou wouldst answer him.
Thy Spirit is my wisdom, leave me not to my folly; he is my
strength, O desert me not to my own weakness. Drive me not away
from thee, neither do thou go away from me. Keep up the union
between us, which is my only hope of salvation. It will be a
great wonder if so pure a spirit deigns to stay in so base a
heart as mine; but then, Lord, it is all wonder together,
therefore do this, for thy mercy's sake, I earnestly entreat
thee.
Verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.
Salvation he had known, and had known it as the Lord's own; he
had also felt the joy which arises from being saved in the Lord,
but he had lost it for a while, and therefore he longed for its
restoration. None but God can give back this joy; he can do it;
we may ask it; he will do it for his own glory and our benefit.
This joy comes not first, but follows pardon and purity: in such
order it is safe, in any other it is vain presumption or idiotic
delirium. And uphold me with thy free Spirit. Conscious
of weakness, mindful of having so lately fallen, he seeks to be
kept on his feet by power superior to his own. That royal
Spirit, whose holiness is true dignity, is able to make us walk
as kings and priests, in all the uprightness of holiness; and he
will do so if we seek his gracious upholding. Such influences
will not enslave but emancipate us; for holiness is liberty, and
the Holy Spirit is a free Spirit. In the roughest and most
treacherous ways we are safe with such a Keeper; in the best
paths we stumble if left to ourselves. The praying for joy and
upholding go well together; it is all over with joy if the foot
is not kept; and, on the other hand, joy is a very upholding
thing, and greatly aids holiness; meanwhile, the free, noble,
royal Spirit is at the bottom of both.
Verse 13. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways.
It was his fixed resolve to be a teacher of others; and
assuredly none instruct others so well as those who have been
experimentally taught of God themselves. Reclaimed poachers make
the best gamekeepers. Huntingdon's degree of S.S., or Sinner
Saved, is more needful for a soul winning evangelist than either
M.A. or D.D. The pardoned sinner's matter will be good, for he
has been taught in the school of experience, and his manner will
be telling, for he will speak sympathetically, as one who has
felt what he declares. The audience the psalmist would choose is
memorable—he would instruct transgressors like himself; others
might despise them, but, "a fellow feeling makes us
wondrous kind." If unworthy to edify saints, he would creep
in along with the sinners, and humbly tell them of divine love.
The mercy of God to one is an illustration of his usual
procedure, so that our own case helps us to understand his
"ways, "or his general modes of action: perhaps, too,
David under that term refers to the preceptive part of the word
of God, which, having broken, and having suffered thereby, he
felt that he could vindicate and urge upon the reverence of
other offenders. And sinners shall be converted unto thee.
My fall shall be the restoration of others. Thou wilt bless my
pathetic testimony to the recovery of many who, like myself,
have turned aside unto crooked ways. Doubtless this Psalm and
the whole story of David, have produced for many ages the most
salutary results in the conversion of transgressors, and so evil
has been overruled for good.
Verse 14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness. He
had been the means of the death of Uriah, the Hittite, a
faithful and attached follower, and he now confesses that fact.
Besides, his sin of adultery was a capital offence, and he puts
himself down as one worthy to die the death. Honest penitents do
not fetch a compass and confess their sins in an elegant
periphrasis, but they come to the point, call a spade a spade,
and make a clean breast of all. What other course is rational in
dealing with the Omniscient? O God, thou God of my salvation.
He had not ventured to come so near before. It had been, O
God, up till now, but here he cries, Thou God of my
salvation. Faith grows by the exercise of prayer. He
confesses sin more plainly in this verse than before, and yet he
deals with God more confidently: growing upward and downward at
the same time are perfectly consistent. None but the King can
remit the death penalty, it is therefore a joy to faith that God
is King, and that he is the author and finisher of our
salvation. And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy
righteousness. One would rather have expected him to say, I
will sing of thy mercy; but David can see the divine way of
justification, that righteousness of God which Paul afterwards
spoke of by which the ungodly are justified, and he vows to
sing, yea, and to sing lustily of that righteous way of mercy.
After all, it is the righteousness of divine mercy which is its
greatest wonder. Note how David would preach in the last verse,
and now here he would sing. We can never do too much for the
Lord to whom we owe more than all. If we could be preacher,
precentor, doorkeeper, pew opener, foot washer, and all in one,
all would be too little to show forth all our gratitude. A great
sinner pardoned makes a great singer. Sin has a loud voice, and
so should our thankfulness have. We shall not sing our own
praises if we be saved, but our theme will be the Lord our
righteousness, in whose merits we stand righteously accepted.
Verse 15. O Lord, open thou my lips. He is so
afraid of himself that he commits his whole being to the divine
care, and fears to speak till the Lord unstops his shame
silenced mouth. How marvellously the Lord can open our lips, and
what divine things can we poor simpletons pour forth under his
inspiration! This prayer of a penitent is a golden petition for
a preacher, Lord, I offer it for myself and my brethren. But it
may stand in good stead any one whose shame for sin makes him
stammer in his prayers, and when it is fully answered, the
tongue of the dumb begins to sing. And my mouth shall shew
forth thy praise. If God opens the mouth he is sure to have
the fruit of it. According to the porter at the gate is the
nature of that which comes out of a man's lips; when vanity,
anger, falsehood, or lust unbar the door, the foulest villainies
troop out; but if the Holy Spirit opens the wicket, then grace,
mercy, peace, and all the graces come forth in tuneful dances,
like the daughters of Israel when they met David returning with
the Philistine's head.
Verse 16. For thou desirest not sacrifice. This
was the subject of the last Psalm. The psalmist was so
illuminated as to see far beyond the symbolic ritual; his eye of
faith gazed with delight upon the actual atonement. Else
would I give it. He would have been glad enough to present
tens of thousands of victims if these would have met the case.
Indeed, anything which the Lord prescribed he would cheerfully
have rendered. We are ready to give up all we have if we may but
be cleared of our sins; and when sin is pardoned our joyful
gratitude is prepared for any sacrifice. Thou delightest not
in burnt offering. He knew that no form of burnt sacrifice
was a satisfactory propitiation. His deep soul need made him
look from the type to the antitype, from the external rite to
the inward grace.
Verse 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit. All sacrifices are presented to thee in one, by the
man whose broken heart presents the Saviour's merit to thee.
When the heart mourns for sin, thou art better pleased than when
the bullock bleeds beneath the axe. "A broken heart"
is an expression implying deep sorrow, embittering the very
life; it carries in it the idea of all but killing anguish in
that region which is so vital as to be the very source of life.
So excellent is a spirit humbled and mourning for sin, that it
is not only a sacrifice, but it has a plurality of excellences,
and is preeminently God's sacrifices. A broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. A heart crushed is a
fragrant heart. Men contemn those who are contemptible in their
own eyes, but the Lord seeth not as man seeth. He despises what
men esteem, and values that which they despise. Never yet has
God spurned a lowly, weeping penitent, and never will he while
God is love, and while Jesus is called the man who receiveth
sinners. Bullocks and rams he desires not, but contrite hearts
he seeks after; yea, but one of them is better to him than all
the varied offerings of the old Jewish sanctuary.
Verse 18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion.
Let blessings according to thy wont be poured upon thy holy hill
and chosen city. Zion was David's favourite spot, whereon he had
hoped to erect a temple. The ruling passion is so strong on him,
that when he has discharged his conscience he must have a word
for Zion. He felt he had hindered the project of honouring the
Lord there as he desired, but he prayed God still to let the
place of his ark be glorious, and to establish his worship and
his worshipping people. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
This had been one of David's schemes, to wall in the holy city,
and he desires to see it completed; but we believe he had a more
spiritual meaning, and prayed for the prosperity of the Lord's
cause and people. He had done mischief by his sin, and had, as
it were, pulled down her walls; he, therefore, implores the Lord
to undo the evil, and establish his church. God can make his
cause to prosper, and in answer to prayer he will do so. Without
his building we labour in vain; therefore are we the more
instant and constant in prayer. There is surely no grace in us
if we do not feel for the church of God, and take a lasting
interest in its welfare.
Verse 19. In those days of joyful prosperity thy
saints shall present in great abundance the richest and holiest
thank offerings to thee, and thou shalt be pleased to accept
them. A saved soul expects to see its prayers answered in a
revived church, and then is assured that God will be greatly
glorified. Though we bring no more sacrifices for sin, yet as
priests unto God our solemn praises and votive gifts are thank
offerings acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. We bring not the
Lord our least things—our doves and pigeons; but we present
him with our best possessions—our bullocks. We are glad that
in this present time we are able to fulfil in person the
declaration of this verse: we also, forecasting the future, wait
for days of the divine presence, when the church of God, with
unspeakable joy, shall offer gifts upon the altar of God, which
will far eclipse anything beheld in these less enthusiastic
days. Hasten it, O Lord.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. "After he had gone in to Bathsheba."
This was the devil's nest egg that caused many sins to be laid,
one to, and upon another. See the woeful chain of David's lust,
2Sa 11:1-27 12:1-31. John Trapp.
Title. "When Nathan the prophet came unto him
as he (i.e., David) had come unto Bathsheba."
The significant repetition of the phrase came unto, is
lost in the English and most other versions. "As"
is not a mere particle of time, simple equivalent to when,
but suggests the idea of analogy, proportion, and retaliation. J.
A. Alexander.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm is the brightest gem in the
whole book, and contains instruction so large, and doctrine so
precious, that the tongue of angels could not do justice to the
full development. Victorinus Strigelius, 1524-1569.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm is often and fitly called THE
SINNER'S GUIDE. In some of its versions it often helps the
returning sinner. Athanasius recommends to some Christians, to
whom he was writing, to repeat it when they awake at night. All
evangelical churches are familiar with it. Luther says,
"There is no other Psalm which is oftener sung or prayed in
the church." This is the first Psalm in which we have the
word Spirit used in application to the Holy Ghost. William
S. Plumer.
Whole Psalm. I cannot doubt the prophetic bearing of
this Psalm upon the nation of Israel. In the latter day they
shall consider their ways: repentance and self loathing will be
the result. Blood guiltiness heavier than that of David has to
be removed from that nation. They will become the teachers of
the Gentiles, when first the iniquity of their own
transgressions has been purged away. Arthur Pridham.
Whole Psalm. This is the most deeply affecting of all
the Psalms, and I am sure the one most applicable to me. It
seems to have been the effusion of a soul smarting under the
sense of a recent and great transgression. My God, whether
recent or not, give me to feel the enormity of my manifold
offences, and remember not against me the sins of my youth. What
a mine of rich matter and expression for prayer! Wash, cleanse
me, O Lord, and let my sin and my sinfulness be ever before me.
Let me feel it chiefly as sin against thee, that my sin may be
of the godly sort. Give me to feel the virulence of my native
corruption, purge me from it thoroughly, and put truth into my
inward parts, that mine may be a real turning from sin unto the
Saviour. Create me anew, O God. Withdraw not thy Spirit. Cause
me to rejoice in a present salvation. Deliver me, O God, from
the blood guiltiness of having offended any of thy little ones;
and so open my lips that I may speak of the wondrous things thou
hast done for my soul! May I offer up spiritual sacrifices; and
oh! let not any delinquencies of mine bring a scandal upon thy
church; but do thou so purify and build her up, that even her
external services, freed from all taint of corruption or
hypocrisy, may be well pleasing in thy sight. Thomas Chalmers.
Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God. I tremble
and blush to mention my name, for my former familiarities with
thee only make me more confounded at being recognized by thee
after my guilt. I therefore say not, "Lord, remember David,
"as on a happier occasion; nor as propitiating thee, I used
to say, to thy "servant, "or, "to the son of thy
handmaid." I suggest nothing that should recall my former
relation to thee, and so enhance my wickedness. Ask not, then,
Lord, who I am, but only forgive me who confess my sin, condemn
my fault, and beseech thy pity. Have mercy upon me, O God.
I dare not say my God, for that were presumption. I have
lost thee by sin, I have alienated myself from thee by following
the enemy, and therefore am unclean. I dare not approach thee,
but standing afar off and lifting up my voice with great
devotion and contrition of heart, I cry and say, Have mercy
upon me, O God. From "A Commentary on the Seven Penitential
Psalms, chiefly from ancient sources." By the Right Rev. A.
P. Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, 1857.
Verse 1. Have mercy. The Hebrew word here
translated have mercy. signifieth without cause or
desert; Ps 35:19 69:4 Eze 14:23; and freely, without paying any
price, Ex 21:11. And it is made use of in Le 6:8, where Noah is
said to have found grace in the eyes of the Lord, that
is, special favour, such as the Lord beareth to his chosen in
Christ Jesus. Charles D. Coetlogon, A.M., in "The
Portraiture of the Christian Penitent," 1775.
Verse 1. Mercy, lovingkindness, tender mercies.
I cannot but observe here, the gradation in the sense of the
three words made use of, to express the divine compassion, and
the propriety of the order in which they are placed, which would
be regarded as a real excellence and beauty in any classical
writer. The first (yngx), denotes that kind of affection which
is expressed by moaning over any object that we love and
pity—that otorge, natural affection and tenderness,
which even brute creatures discover to their young ones, by the
several noises which they respectively make over them; and
particularly the shrill noise of the camel, by which it
testifies its love to its foal. The second, (Kdoxk), 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 and plentifully as milk
into the breasts, or as waters from a perpetual fountain. This
denotes a higher degree of goodness than the former. The third,
(Kymxr), denotes what the Greeks express by oplagcnizeoyai; that
most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and
bowels, which argues the highest degree of compassion of which
human nature is susceptible. And how reviving 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! Samuel Chandler.
Verse 1. According to the multitude. Men are
greatly terrified at the multitude of their sins, but here is a
comfort—our God hath multitude of mercies. If our sins be in
number as the hairs of our head, God's mercies are as the stars
of heaven; and as he is an infinite God, so his mercies are
infinite; yea, so far are his mercies above our sins, as he
himself is above us poor sinners. By this the Psalmist seeketh
for multitude of mercies, he would show how deeply he was
wounded with his manifold sins, that one seemed a hundred. Thus
it is with us, so long as we are under Satan's guiding, a
thousand seem but one; but if we betake ourselves to God's
service, one will seem a thousand. Archibald Symson.
Verse 1. Tender mercies, or, according to
Zanchy in his treatise upon the attributes of God, such a kind
of affection as parents feel when they see their children in any
extremity. 1Ki 3:26. Charles D. Coetlogon.
Verse 1. Blot out my transgressions. (hxm), mecheh,
wipe out. There is 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,
lovingkindness, and tender compassions, of the Lord can do. Adam
Clarke.
Verse 1. Blot out my transgressions. What the
psalmist alludes is not, as Mr. Leclerc imagines, debts
entered into a book, and so blotted out of it when forgiven;
but the wiping or cleansing of a dish, so as nothing afterwards
remains in it. The meaning of the petition is, that God would
entirely and absolutely forgive him, so as that no part of the
guilt he had contracted might remain, and the punishment of it
might be wholly removed. Samuel Chandler.
Verse 1. Blot out, or, as it is used in Ex
17:14, utterly extirpate, so as that there shall not be
any remembrance of them forever. Isa 43:25 44:22. Charles de
Coetlogon.
Verse 1. MY transgressions. Conscience, when it
is healthy, ever speaks thus: "MY transgressions."
It is not the guilt of them that tempted you: they have theirs;
but each as a separate agent, has his own degree of guilt. Yours
is your own: the violation of your own and not another's sense
of duty; solitary, awful, unshared, adhering to you alone of all
the spirits of the universe. Frederick William Robertson.
Verses 1, 5. Transgressions...iniquity...sin.
1. It is transgressions, (evp), pesha,
rebellion.
2. It is iniquity, (Nwe), avon, crooked dealing.
3. It is sin, (tajx), chattath, error and
wandering. Adam Clarke.
Verse 2. Wash me. David prays that the Lord
would wash him; therefore sin defiles, and he was made
foul and filthy by his sin; and to wash him much, and to rinse
and bathe him, to show that sin had exceedingly defiled him and
stained him both in soul and body, and made him loathsome, and
therefore he desireth to be washed, and cleansed, and purged
from the pollution of sin. Hence we may learn what a vile,
filthy and miserable thing sin is in the sight of God: it stains
a man's body, it stains a man's soul, it makes him more vile
than the vilest creature that lives: no toad is so vile and
loathsome in the sight of man, as a sinner, stained and defiled
with sin, is in the sight of God, till he be cleansed and washed
from it in the blood of Christ. Samuel Smith.
Verse 2. Wash me, etc. (Mbk) is peculiarly
applied to the washing and cleansing of garments, as fullers
wash and cleanse their cloths. 2Ki 18:7 Ex 19:10 Le 17:15. Samuel
Chandler.
Verse 2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity.
No other washing will do but lava tu, wash thou; so foul
as it will need his washing throughly. Samuel Page, in
"David's Broken Heart, "1646.
Verse 2. Was me throughly. Hebrew multiply
to wash me; by which phrase he implies the greatness of his
guilt, and the insufficiency of all legal washings, and the
absolute necessity of some other and better thing to wash him,
even of God's grace, and the blood of Christ. Matthew Poole.
Verse 2. Wash me...cleanse me. But why should
David speak so superfluously? use two words when one would
serve? For if we be cleansed, what matter is it whether it be by
washing or no? Yet David had great reason for using both words;
for he requires not that God would cleanse him by miracle, but
by the ordinary way of cleansing, and this was washing; he names
therefore washing as the means, and cleansing as the end: he
names washing as the work a doing, and cleansing as the work
done; he names washing as considering the agent, and cleansing
as applying it to the patient; and indeed, as in the figure of
the law there was not, so in the verity of the gospel there is
not any ordinary means of cleansing, but only by washing; and
therefore out of Christ our Saviour's side there flowed water
and blood. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 2. Cleanse me from my sin. Observe, it is
from the guilt, and not from the punishment, that he thus asked
deliverance. That the sword should never depart from his house;
that the sin, begun, not only secretly even in its full
accomplishment, but far more secretly in the recesses of David's
heart, should be punished before all Israel and before the sun;
that the child so dear to David should be made one great
punishment of his offence; these things, so far as this Psalm is
concerned, might, or might not be. It is of the offence against
God; of the defiling, although it were not then so expressly
declared, God's temple by impurity, that David speaks. Ambrose,
in J. M. Neale's Commentary.
Verse 2. Sin. The original word signifies to
miss an aim, as an archer does who shoots short of his mark,
beyond, or beside it. It is also used for treading aside, or
tripping, in the act of walking. In a spiritual sense it denotes
deviation from a rule, whether by omission or commission. Thomas
T. Biddulph, A.M., in Lectures on the Fifty-first Psalm,
1835.
Verse 2. Sin is filthy to think of, filthy to speak
of, filthy to hear of, filthy to do; in a word, there is nothing
in it but vileness. Archibald Symson.
Verse 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions,
etc. To acknowledge our transgressions, there's
confession; and to have our sin ever before us, there's
conviction and contrition. To acknowledge our transgressions, I
say, is to confess our sins; to call them to mind, to bring them
back to our remembrance what we can; to own them with shame, and
to declare them with sorrow; to reckon them up one by one, to
give in a particular account of them, as far as our memory will
serve, and to spread them before the Lord, as Hezekiah did
Rabshakah's letter, and in a humble sense of our own vileness to
implore his goodness, that he would multiply his mercies over
us, as we have multiplied our transgressions against him, in
their free and full forgiveness of them all. To have our sin
ever before us, is throughly to be convinced of it, to be
continually troubled in mind about it, to be truly humbled under
the sense of it, and to be possessed of those dreads and terrors
of conscience which may never let us rest or enjoy any quiet
within our own breast till we have reconciled ourselves to a
gracious God for it. Adam Littleton.
Verse 3. I acknowledge my transgressions: and my
sin is ever before me. There cannot be agnitio if
there be not cognitio peccati, and acknowledging, unless
there precede a knowledge of sin. David puts them together. If
our sins be not before us, how can we set them before God? And
therefore, to the right exercise of this duty, there is required
a previous examination of our hearts, inspection into our lives,
that we may be enabled to see our sins. He that hath not yet
asked himself that question, Quid feci? What have I done?
can never make the confession, si feci, thus and thus
have I done; and in this respect I would, thought not require,
yet advise it as a pious and prudent practice, and that which I
doubt not but many Christians have found benefit by, to keep a
constant daily catalogue, as of mercies received, so of sins
committed. Nathaneal Hardy.
Verse 3. I, my, my. David did not think it
sufficient to acknowledge that the whole human race were
sinners; but as if he stood alone in the world, and was the only
offender in it, he says, "I acknowledge my
transgressions; and my sin is ever before me." Charles
de Coetlogon.
Verse 3. MY sin. David owneth his sin, and
confesseth it his own. Here is our natural wealth: what can we
call our own but sin? Our food and raiment, the necessaries of
life, are borrowings. We came hungry and naked into the world,
we brought none of these with us, and we deserved none of them
here. Our sin came with us, as David after confesseth. We have
right of inheritance in sin, taking it by traduction and
transmission from our parents: we have right of possession. So
Job: "Thou makest me to possess the sins of my youth."
Samuel Page.
Verse 3. My SIN. It is sin, as sin, not its
punishment here, not hereafter, not simply any of its evil
consequences; but sin, the sin against God, the daring impiety
of my breaking the good and holy law of this living, loving God.
Thomas Alexander, D.D., in "The Penitent's Prayer,"
1861.
Verse 3. Ever before me. Sorrow for sin exceeds
sorrow for suffering, in the continuance and durableness
thereof: the other, like a landlord, quickly come, quickly gone;
this is a continual dropping or running river, keeping a
constant stream. My sins, saith David, are ever before
me; so also is the sorrow for sin in the soul of a child of
God, morning, evening, day, night, when sick, when sound,
fasting, at home, abroad, ever within him. This grief begins at
his conversion, continues all his life, ends only at his death. Thomas
Fuller.
Verse 3. Before me. Coram populo, before the
people; shame to him: coram ecclesia, before the church;
grief to them: coram inimicis, before the enemies; joy to
them: coram Deo, before God; anger against him: coram
Nathane, before Nathan; a chiding. But if any hope of
repentance and amendment, it is peccatum meum coram me, my
sin before me. Here is the distress of a sinner, he never
discerneth how unhappy he is, till his sin is before him. Samuel
Page.
Verse 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done this evil in thy sight. This verse is differently
expounded by different persons, and it has ever been considered,
that this one little point is the greatest difficulty that is
met with in the whole Psalm. Although, therefore, I leave it to
others to go according to their own interpretations, yet I have
a good hope that I shall be enabled to give the true and genuine
meaning of the text. This, then, I would first of all advise the
reader to do—to bear in mind that which I observed at the
beginning of the Psalm, that David is here speaking in the
person of all the saints, and not in his own person only, not in
his own person as an adulterer. Although I do not say it might
not be, that it was this fall which, as a medium, brought him
under the knowledge of himself and of his whole human nature,
and made him think thus: "Behold! I, so holy a king, who
have with so much pious devotedness observed the law and the
worship of God, have been so tempted and overcome by the inbred
evil and sin of my flesh, that I have murdered an innocent man,
and have for adulterous purposes taken away his wife! And is not
this an evident proof that my nature is more deeply infected and
corrupted by sin than ever I thought it was? I who was yesterday
chaste am today an adulterer! I who yesterday had hands innocent
of blood, am today a man of blood guiltiness!" And it might
be that in this way he derived the feeling sense of his entire
sinfulness, from his fall into adultery and murder, and from
thence drew his conclusion—that neither the tree nor the fruit
of human nature were good, but that the whole was so deformed
and lost by sin, that there was nothing sound left in the whole
of nature. This I would have the reader bear in mind, first of
all, if he desire to have the pure meaning of this passage. In
the next place, the grammatical construction is to be explained,
which seems to be somewhat obscure. For what the translator has
rendered by the preterperfect, ought to be the present:Against
thee only do I sin; that is, I know that before thee I am
nothing but a sinner; or, before thee I do nothing but evil
continual; that is, my whole life is evil and depraved on
account of sin. I cannot boast before thee of merit or of
righteousness, but am evil altogether, and in thy sight this is
my character—I do evil. I have sinned, I do sin, and shall sin
to the end of the chapter. Martin Luther.
Verse 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.
Is there not matter here to make us at a stand? For, to say,
"Against thee have I sinned, "is most just and fit;
but to say, Against THEE ONLY I have sinned, seems
something hard. It had perhaps been a fit speech in the mouth of
our first parent Adam; he might justly have said to God, Against
thee only have I sinned, who never sinned against any other;
but for us to say it, who commit sins daily against our
neighbours, and especially for David to say it, who had
committed two notorious sins against his neighbour and faithful
friend Uriah, what more unfit speech could possibly be devised?
But is it not that these actions of David were great wrongs
indeed, and enormous iniquities against Uriah; but can we
properly say they were sins against Uriah? For what is
sin, but a transgression of God's law? And how then can sin be
committed against any but against him only whose law we
transgress? Or is it, that it may justly be said, Against
thee only have I sinned, because against others perhaps in a
base tenure, yet only against God in capite? Or is
it, that David might justly say to God, "Against the
only have I sinned; "because from others he might
appeal, as being a king and having no superior; but no appealing
from God, as being King of kings and supreme Lord over all? Or
is it that we may justly say, Against thee, thee only, have I
sinned, seeing that Christ hath taken and still takes all
our sins upon him; and every sin we commit is as a new burden
laid upon his back and upon his back only? Or is it, lastly,
that I may justly say, Against thee, the only, have I sinned,
because in thy sight only I have done it? For from others I
could hide it, and did conceal it? But what can be hidden from
the All-seeing eye? And yet if this had been the worst, that I
had sinned only against thee, though this had been bad enough,
and infinitely too much, yet it might perhaps have admitted
reconcilement; but to do this evil in thy sight, as if I
should say, I would do it though thou stand thyself and look on,
and as if in defiance; what sin so formidable? what sin can be
thought of so unpardonable? A sin of infirmity may admit
apology; a sin of ignorance may find out excuse; but a sin of
defiance can find no defence. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.
There is a godly sorrow which leads a man to life; and this
sorrow is wrought in a man by the Spirit of God, and in the
heart of the godly; that he mourns for sin because it has
displeased God, who is so dear and so sweet a Father to him. And
suppose he had neither a heaven to lose, nor a hell to gain, yet
he is sad and sorrowful in heart because he has grieved God. John
Welch, 1576-1622.
Verse 4. Have I sinned. Me, me, adsum, qui feci:
Here, here am I that did it. I whom thou tookest from following
the ewes great with lambs, whose sheep hook thou hast changed
for a sceptre, whose sheep for thine own people Israel, upon
whose head thou hast set a crown of pure gold. I whom thou didst
lately invest in the full monarchy of thy people; to whom thou
gavest the possession of Jerusalem from the Jebusites; I who
settled peace, religion, and courts of justice in Jerusalem,
that thou mightest be served and honoured, and I would fain have
built thee an house there; Ego, I, to whom God committed
the trust of government to rule others, the trust of judgment to
punish others, as king over his inheritance. I, to whom God
committed the care of others' souls to guide them by his word,
to direct them by good counsel, to allure them by his gracious
promises, to terrify them by his threatenings, as the Lord's
holy prophet. I, who both ways as king and prophet should have
been am example of holiness and righteousness to all Israel.
Nathan said, Tu es homo, thou art the man, in just
accusation, and now David saith, Ego sum homo, I am the
man, in humble confession. Samuel Page.
Verse 4. I have done this evil. We may find
this in experience, that there be many who will not stick at a
general speech that they be sinners, and yet will scarcely be
known of one special evil to account for. If you fall with them
into the several commandments, they will be ready to discover a
conceit that there is scarce one that they are faulty in. In the
first commandment they acknowledge no God but one; in the
second, they do not worship images; in the third, they swear as
little as any, and never but for the truth; in the fourth, they
keep their church on Sundays as well as most; in the second
table, there is neither treason, nor murder, nor theft, nor
whoredom, nor the like gross sin, but concerning it they are
ready to protest their innocency. He that shall hear them in
particular, I do not see how he shall believe them in the
general, when they say they be sinners; for when you arraign
them at the several commandments they are ready to plead not
guilty to them all. So long as men are thus without sense
and apprehension of particulars, there is no hope of bringing
them ever unto good. Happy is he that is pricked to the heart
with the feeling of this evil. The truth of repentance
for that one, will bring him to a thorough repentance for his
whole estate. This one evil thoroughly understood,
brought David on his knees, brake his heart, melted his soul,
made him cry for pardon, beg for purging, and importune the Lord
for a free spirit to establish him. Samuel Hieron, in
"David's Penitential Psalm opened," 1617.
Verse 4. In thy sight. David was so bent upon
his sin, as that the majesty and presence of God did not awe him
at all: this is a great aggravation of sin, and which makes it
to be so much the more heinous. For a thief to steal in the very
sight of the judge, is the highest piece of impudence that may
be; and thus it is for any man to offend in the sight of God and
not to be moved with it. Thomas Horton.
Verse 4. That thou mightest be justified when thou
speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. But hath not David
a defence for it here, and that a very just one? For, in saying,
"Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, that thou
mightest be justified in thy saying, " doth he not
speak as though he had sinned to do God a pleasure? therefore
sinned that God might be justified? And what can be more said
for justifying of God? But far is it from David to have any such
meaning; his words import not a lessening but an aggravating of
his sin, as spoken rather thus: Because a judge may justly be
taxed of injustice if he lay a greater punishment upon an
offender than the offence deserves; therefore to clear thee, O
God, from all possibility of erring in this kind, I acknowledge
my sins to be so heinous, my offences so grievous, that thou
canst never be unmerciful in punishing though thy punishment
should be never so unmerciful. For how can a judge pass the
bounds of equity where the delinquent hath passed all bounds of
iniquity? and what error can there be in thy being severe when
the greatness of my fault is a justification of severity? That
thou canst not lay so heavy a doom upon me, which I have not
deserved? Thou canst not pronounce so hard a sentence against
me, which I am not worthy of. If thou judge me to torture, it is
but mildness; if to die the death, it is but my due; if to die
everlastingly, I cannot say it were unjust. Sir Richard
Baker.
Verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, etc.
He said not, "Behold, this evil have I done, "but, Behold,
I was conceived in sin, etc. He says not, "Behold, I,
David, "a king, that have received such and such mercies
from God, who would have given me more (as God told him), who
had that entire communion with him, and graces from him, I, even
I, have done this evil. No; he keeps it in till he came to this,
and then his heart could hold no longer: Oh, behold I was
conceived in sin. His debasement was at his auge
here. And to whom is it he utters this behold? What, to
men? No; his meaning is not to call on men, q.d., O ye
sons of men, behold! That is but his secondary aim, arising out
of his having penned it, and delivered it unto the church; but
when he uttered it, it was to God, or rather afore God, and yet
not as calling on God to behold, for that needed not. David had
elsewhere said, "God looked down, "etc., "and
beheld the sons of men, "when speaking of this very
corruption. He therefore knew God beheld it sufficiently; but he
utters it afore God, or, as spoken of himself between God and
himself, thereby to express his own astonishment and amazement
at the sight and conviction of this corruption, and at the sight
of what a monster he saw himself to be in the sight of God in
respect of this sin. It was a behold of astonishment at
himself, as before the great and holy God; and therefore it was
he seconds and follows it with another behold made unto
God: "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward
parts." And it is as if he had said in both, Oh, how am
I in every way overwhelmed, whilst with one eye cast on myself I
see how infinitely corrupt I am in the very constitution of my
nature; and with the other eye I behold and consider what an
infinite holy God thou art in thy nature and being, and what an
holiness it is which thou requirest. I am utterly overwhelmed in
the intuition of both these, and able to behold no more, nor
look up unto thee, O holy God! Thomas Goodwin.
Verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, etc.
We are not to suppose that David here reflects upon his parents
as the medium of transmitting to him the elements of moral evil;
and that by the introduction of the doctrine of original sin he
intended to extenuate the enormity of his own crimes. On the
contrary, we are to regard him as afflicting himself by the
humbling consideration that his very nature was fallen, that his
transgressions flowed from a heart naturally at enmity with God;
that he was not a sinner by accident, but by a depravity of
purpose extending to the innermost desires and purposes of the
soul; and that there was "a law in his members, warring
against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to
the law of sin and death" Ro 7:23; and that he was one of a
race of guilty beings, none of whom could plead an exemption
from an evil heart of unbelief, ready at all times to depart
from the living God. Till we see sin in the fountain of the
heart, we shall never truly mourn over it in the life and
conversation. John Morison.
Verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. He
is not low enough down yet, he must come lower. It is not enough
for him to confess that the water is filthy at the pool; he goes
back to the source, and confesses that the whole river is
polluted up to its head. The source is unclean; the very spring
wells forth foul waters. Thomas Alexander.
Verse 5. I was shapen in iniquity. I shall not
easily be persuaded to think that parents who are sinners
themselves and too much under the influence of bad affections
and passions, will be very likely to produce children without
transmitting to them some of those disorders and corruptions of
nature with which they themselves are infected. And if this be a
difficulty, I would beg leave to observe that it is a difficulty
which affects natural as well as revealed religion. Since we
must take human nature as it is, and if it be really in a state
of disorder and corruption, and cannot be otherwise, considering
the common law of its production, the difficulty must have been
as ancient as the first man that was born; and therefore can be
no objection against the truth of revelation, but it must be
equally so against natural religion, which must equally allow
the thing, if it be in reality a fact, with revelation itself. Samuel
Chandler.
Verse 5. Infants are no innocents, being born with
original sin, the first sheet wherein they are wrapped is woven
of sin, shame, blood, and filth. Eze 16:4, etc. They are said to
sin as they were in the loins of Adam, just as Levi is said to
pay tithes to Melchizedek, even in the loins of his forefather
Abraham Heb 7:9-10; otherwise infants would not die, for death
is the wages of sin Ro 6:23; and the reign of death is procured
be the reign of sin, which hath reigned over all mankind except
Christ. All are sinners, infected with the guilt and filth of
sin; the rot (according to the vulgar saying) over runs the
whole flock. Hence David reflects upon original sin as the cause
of all his actual, saying, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Thus man's malady
begind betimes, even in our conception; this subtle serpent
sowed his tares very early, so that we are all "born in
sin." Joh 9:34. Christopher Ness's "Divine Legacy,
"1700.
Verse 5. 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. Adam
Clarke.
Verse 6. Behold. Before he entereth on any of
the parts of the verse he useth the particle of admiration, Behold;
which he never useth but in some remarkable manner, thereby the
more to raise us up to the contemplation of such great matters
to be told. Archibald Symson.
Verse 6. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.
Thou lovest truth, not shadows or images, but realities;
thou lovest truth in the inward parts, inside truth, a
true heart, a pure conscience: he is a Christian who is one
inwardly. Ro 2:29. John Bull.
Verse 6. Truth in the inward parts. A great
French pear is called le bon hretien, the good Christian,
because they say it is never rotten at the core. George
Swinnock.
Verse 6. In the hidden part thou shalt make me to
know wisdom. Piscator, in his annotations on this Psalm,
puts this sense upon it, that David should bless God for having
made him to know this special wisdom in this hidden thing or
matter, and had brought the knowledge thereof home, as a point
of saving wisdom, to the hidden man of his heart, so as to see
fully and clearly this native corruption as the cause of all
sin, and on that account to cause him to lay it to heart. Thomas
Goodwin.
Verse 6. In the hidden part thou shalt make me to
know wisdom. It is one thing to be wise headed and wise
tongued, and another to be wise hearted, and therefore in
Scripture nothing more ordinary than to set forth wisdom that is
true indeed by the heart. God himself is said to be wise of
heart. Foolish creatures are like Ephraim, "a silly
dove without heart." They may have head enough,
notion enough, flashing light, appearing to others
enough, but they are without a heart; they have not the great
work there, a new head and an old heart, a full
head and an empty heart, a light and burning
profession, and a dark, dead, and cold heart; he that takes
up in such a condition is a fool and an errant fool. John
Murcot, 1657.
Verse 6. And in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Some read it, "In the hidden part thou hadst
made me to know wisdom; "that thou hadst done it,
but I have fallen from my high state, marred thy handiwork.
"By one plunge into lust I have fallen and fouled
myself." Arthur Jackson.
Verse 6. The copulative particle which connects the
two clauses, implies the correspondence between the revelation
of the divine will on the one part and the desire and prayer of
the penitent heart on the other. Thou desirest truth in the
inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know
wisdom. "What I want thou hast promised to give."
Repentance and faith are the gifts of God, and the awakened mind
is conscious that they are so. Thomas T. Biddulph.
Verses 6-8. The right conviction of sin comprehends
its being acknowledged not only in our works, but also in
our entire being. Agustus F. Tholuck.
Verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness. This
is the exceeding great love of the Lord toward his children,
that he hath not only provided a sure salvation for them through
the remission of their sins in Christ Jesus, but also seals up
in their heart the testimony thereof by his Holy Spirit of
adoption, that for their present consolation, lest they should
be swallowed up of heaviness through continual temptations.
Though he speak not to all his children as he did to Daniel, by
an angel, "O man, greatly beloved of God, "nor as he
did to the blessed Virgin Mary, "Hail, Mary, freely
beloved, "yet doth he witness the same to the hearts of his
children by an inward testimony: when they hear it they are
alive; when they want it they are but dead; their souls refuse
all other comforts whatsoever. William Cowper.
Verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness. As a
Christian is the most sorrowful man in the world, so there is
none more glad than he. For the cause of his joy is greatest. In
respect his misery was greatest, his delivery greatest,
therefore his joy greatest. From hell and death is he freed, to
life in heaven is he brought...The person from whom he seeketh
this joy is God: Make me to hear, saith he; whereby he
would teach us that this joy cometh only from God; it is he who
is the fountain of joy and all pleasure, for "all good
things come from above." Natural joys proceed from a
natural and fleshly fountain; spiritual joys spring only from
God: so he who seeketh those joys beneath seeketh hot water
under cold ice. Archibald Symson.
Verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness.
Another reference to the expiation of the leper, whose ear was
to be touched with the blood of the trespass offering and the
oil, as well as thumb and toe, to show that his faculties were
now prepared for the service of God; so David prays that his
ears may be sanctified to the hearing of joy and gladness; this
an unsanctified heart can never receive. W. Wilson.
Verse 8. The bones which thou hast broken. God,
in favour to his children, doth afflict them for sin; and the
very phrase of breaking his bones, though it express extremity
of misery and pain, yet it hath hope in it, for broken bones by
a cunning hand may be set again and return to their former use
and strength; so that a conscience distressed for sins is not
out of hope; yet upon that hope no wise man will adventure upon
sin, saying, though I am wounded, yet I may be healed again;
though I am broken, I may be repaired; for let him consider—1.
Who breaks his bones—Thou; he that made us our bones
and put them in their several places, and tied them together
with ligaments, and covered them with flesh; he that keepeth all
our bones from breaking; it must be a great matter that must
move him to break the bones of any of us. The God of all
consolation, that comforteth us in all our distresses, when he
cometh to distress us, this makes affliction weigh heavy...2.
The pain of the affliction expressed so feelingly in the
breaking of bones, which, as is said, is the anguish of the soul
for sin, and fear of the consuming fire of God's wrath, and the
tempest, as Job calls it, of anger. 3. The pain of setting these
bones again: for, though bones dislocated may be put in joint,
and though bones broken may be set again, yet this is not done
without pain and great extremity to the patient. Repentance
setteth all our broken, pained bones; it recovers the soul from
the anguish thereof; but he that once feels the smart of a true
repentance, will say, the pleasures of sin, which are but for a
season, are as hard a bargain as ever he made, and as dear
bought; they cost tears, which are sanguis vulnerati cordis,
the blood of a wounded heart; they cost sighs and groans which
cannot be expressed; they cost watching, fasting, taming of the
body to bring it in subjection, even to the crucifying of the
flesh with the lusts thereof. Therefore, let no man adventure
his bones in hope of setting them again. Samuel Page.
Verse 8. That the bones which thou hast broken may
rejoice. The displeasure which God expressed against the
sins he had been guilty of, and the deep sense he had of the
aggravated nature of them, filled him with those pains and
agonies of mind, as that he compares them to that exquisite
torture he must have felt had all his bones been crushed, for
the original word (tykd), signifies more than broken, namely,
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 arise from the
instantaneous restoring and healing those bones, after they had
been thus broken and crushed to pieces. Samuel Chandler.
Verse 9. Hide thy face from my sins. The verb (rtk)
properly signifies to veil, or hide with a veil. Samuel
Chandler.
Verse 9. Hide thy face from my sins. He said in
the third verse, that his sin was always in his sight; and now
he prays that God would put it out of his sight. This is a very
good order. If we hold our sins in our eyes to pursue them, God
will cast them behind his back to pardon them: if we remember
them and repent, he will forget them and forgive: otherwise, peccatum
unde homo non advertit Deus: et si advertit, animadvertit—the
sin from which man turns not, God looks to it; and if he look to
it, sure he will punish it. William Cowper.
Verse 9. All mine iniquities. See how one sin
calleth to mind many thousands, which though they lie asleep a
long time, like a sleeping debt, yet we know not how soon they
may be reckoned for. Make sure of a general pardon, and take
heed of adding new sins to the old. John Trapp.
Verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God. O
you that created the first heaven and the first earth of
nothing! O you that will create the new heaven and the new
earth (wherein dwells righteousness), when sin had made the
creature worse than nothing! O you that creates the new
creature, the new man, fit to be an inhabitant of the new
world, of the new Jerusalem! O thou that hast said,
"Behold, I make all things new:" create thou in
me, even in me, a clean heart; and renew a right spirit
within me. Matthew Lawrence.
Verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God,
etc. David prayeth the Lord to create him a new heart,
not to correct his old heart, but to create him a new heart;
showing that his heart was like an old garment, so rotten and
tattered that he could make no good of it by patching or
piecing, but even must cut it off, and take a new. Therefore
Paul saith, "Cast off the old man; "not pick him and
wash him till he be clean, but cast him off and begin anew, as
David did. Will ye know what this renewing is? It is the
repairing of the image of God, until we be like Adam when he
dwelt in Paradise. As there is a whole old man, so there must be
a whole new man. The old man must change with the new man,
wisdom for wisdom, love for love, fear for fear; his worldly
wisdom for heavenly wisdom, his carnal love for spiritual love,
his servile fear for Christian fear, his idle thoughts for
sanctified works. Henry Smith.
Verse 10. Create in me a clean heart. Creating,
to speak properly, is to make of nought, and is here used
improperly. The prophet speaketh according to his own feeling
and present judgement of himself, as though he had lost all, and
had no goodness in himself. No doubt the prophet's heart was in
part clean, though not so much as he desired. These things thus
opened, here cometh a question first to be answered. Quest.
Whether David could have lost the cleanness of heart, having
once had it? Ans. No. The gifts and calling of God, that
is (as I take it), the gifts of effectual calling, are such as
God never repenteth of or taketh away. Faith, hope, and charity
are abiding gifts, as sure as the election of God, which is
unchangeable. Indeed, the children of God, if we only considered
them in themselves with their enemies, night fall away, but
being founded upon the unchangeable nature of God, and
immutability of his counsel, they cannot, the gates of hell
shall not prevail against them, the elect cannot be deceived or
plucked out of Christ's hands. Nay, certain it is that David did
not actually leave his former cleanness. For sure it is, his
heart smiting him (as here it did), so doing before in less
matters, it was not wholly void of cleanness. And again, it
could not pray for cleanness if it were not somewhat clean. This
is most sure, that by grievous sins much filthiness cometh to
the soul, as by a boisterous wind a tree may lose his leaves and
some branches, so as that the party sinning may be brought into
as great passions almost as if he had lost all, but the desire
of grace is an infallible certainty of some grace of that kind.
The prophet therefore desireth not a clean heart because he had
it not in any sort, but because he could not so well perceive it
in himself, and take such comfort in it as he had dome before,
and for that he desired it a great deal more than now he had it.
So learned, so rich men, think themselves not learned, not rich,
in respect of that which they do desire, and when the sun is up,
the moon seemeth to have no light. George Estey, in
"Certain Godly and Learned Expositions," 1603.
Verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God,
etc. This "creation" is from nothing. David uses the
same word of our creation which Moses uses of "the creation
of the heaven and the earth." Our creation "in Jesus
Christ" is no mere strengthening of our powers, no mere
aiding of our natural weakness by the might of the grace of God,
it is not a mere amendment, improvement of our moral habits; it
is a creation out of nothing, of that which we had not before.
There was nothing in us whereof to make it. We were decayed,
corrupt, dead in trespasses and sins. What is dead becometh not
alive, except by the infusion of what it had not. What is
corrupt receiveth not soundness, save by passing away itself and
being replaced by a new production. "The old man"
passeth not into the new man, but is "put off." It is
not the basis of the new life, but a hindrance to it. It must be
"put off" and the new man "put on, "created
in Christ Jesus. E. B. Pusey, D.D., 1853.
Verse 10. (first clause). He used the word creat
(Heb. Bara), a word only used of the work of God, and
showing that the change in him could be wrought only by God. Christopher
Wordsworth.
Verse 10. A clean heart. The priest was
required to make a strict examination of the skin of the leper
before he could pronounce him clean; David prays God to make his
heart clean. W. Wilson.
Verse 10. A right spirit. A steadfast spirit, i.e.,
a mind steady in following the path of duty. French and
Skinner.
Verses 10-12. Who was to do this work? Not himself;
God alone. Therefore, he prays: "O God, create—O lord,
renew; uphold by thy Spirit." Adam Clarke.
Verse 11. Cast me not away from thy presence.
David lamented before that sin had slain him, and made him like
a dead man, wanting a heart or quickening spirit; and now he
fears lest, as the dead are abhorred by the living, so the Lord
should cast him as a dead and abominable thing out of his
presence. Whereof we learn this is one of the just punishments
of sin; it procures the casting out of a man from the face of
God; and it may let us see how dear bought are the pleasures of
sin when a man to enjoy the face of the creature deprives
himself of the comfortable face of the Creator; as David here,
for the carnal love of the face of Bathsheba, puts himself in
danger to be cast out forever from the presence of the Lord his
God. If a man could remember this in all Satan's temptations,
what it is that the deceiver offers, and what it is again that
he seeks, he would be loath to buy the perishing pleasures of
sin upon such a price as Satan selleth them, but would answer
him as the apostle did Simon Magus, "Thy money, with
thyself, go into perdition; "thy gain, thy glory, thy
pleasure, and whatever thou wouldst give me to offend the Lord
my God, go with thyself into perdition, for what canst thou
offer me comparable to that which thou wouldst steal from me?
But how is it that he prays, Cast me not out from thy
presence? May a man be cast any way from it? Saith he not
himself, "What way can I flee from thy presence?" This
is soon answered by distinguishing his twofold presence—one in
mercy, wherewith he refresheth and comforteth his own, and this
without intermission they enjoy who are in heaven; another, in
wrath, whereby he terrifies and torments without intermission
the damned in hell. As to them who are upon the earth, certain
it is he is displeased with many, who, because they see not his
angry face, regard it not, borne out with temporal recreations
of the creature, which will fail them; and there are many,
again, to whom he looks as a loving father in Christ, and yet
they see not his merciful face by reason of many interjected
veils; but to them who once have felt the sweetness of his
favourable face it is death to want it. William Cowper.
Verse 11. Cast me not away from thy presence.
Like the leper who is banished from society till cleansed, or as
Saul was rejected from being king, because he obeyed not the
word of the Lord. 1Sa 15:23. David could not but feel that his
transgression would have deserved a similar rejection. W.
Wilson.
Verse 11. Cast me not away. Lord, though I,
alas! have cast thee from me, yet cast me not away: hide not thy
face from me, although I so often have refused to look at thee;
leave me not without help, to perish in my sins, though I have
aforetime left thee. Fra Thomé de Jesu.
Verse 11. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. The
words of this verse imply that the Spirit had not altogether
been taken away from him, however much his gifts had been
temporarily obscured...Upon one point he had fallen into a
deadly lethargy, but he was not "given over to a reprobate
mind; "and it is scarcely conceivable that the rebuke of
Nathan the prophet should have operated so easily and suddenly
in arousing him had there been no latent spark of godliness
still remaining...The truth on which we are now insisting is an
important one, as many learned men have been inconsiderately
drawn into the opinion that the elect, by falling into mortal
sin, may lose the Spirit altogether, and be alienated from God.
The contrary is clearly declared by Peter, who tells us that the
word by which we are born again is an incorruptible seed 1Pe
1:23; and John is equally explicit in informing us that the
elect are preserved from falling away altogether. 1Jo 3:9.
However much they may appear for a time to have been cast off by
God, it is afterwards seen that grace must have been alive in
their breasts even during that interval when it seemed to be
extinct. Nor is there any force in the objection that David
speaks as if he feared that he might be deprived of the Spirit.
It is natural that the saints, when they have fallen into sin,
and have thus done what they could to expel the grace of God,
should feel an anxiety upon this point; but it is their duty to
hold fast the truth, that grace is the incorruptible seed of
God, which never can perish in any heart where it has been
deposited. This is the spirit displayed by David. Reflecting
upon his offence, he is agitated with fears, and yet rests in
the persuasion that, being a child of God, he would not be
deprived of what, indeed, he had justly forfeited. John
Calvin.
Verse 12. Restore. It is no small comfort to a
man that hath lost his receipt for a debt paid when he remembers
that the man he deals with is a good and just man, though his
discharge is not presently to be found. That God whom thou hast
to deal with is very gracious; what thou hast lost he is ready
to restore (the evidence of thy grace I mean). David begged
this, and obtained it. Yea, saith faith, if it were true what
thou fearest, that thy grace was never true, there is mercy
enough in God's heart to pardon all thy former hypocrisy if thou
comest in the sincerity of thy heart; and so faith persuades the
soul by an act of adventure to cast itself upon God in Christ.
Wilt not thou, saith faith, expect to find as much mercy at
God's hands, as thou canst look for at a man's? It is not beyond
the line of created mercy to forgive many unkindnesses, much
falseness and unfaithfulness, upon an humble, sincere
acknowledgment of the same. The world is not so bad but it
abounds with parents who can do thus much for their children,
and masters for their servants; and is that hard for God to do
which is so easy in his creature? Thus faith vindicates God's
name. And so long as we have not lost sight of God's merciful
heart, our head will be kept above water, though we want the
evidence of our own grace. William Gurnall.
Verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,
etc. How can God restore that which he took not away? For, can I
charge God with the taking away the joy of his salvation from
me? O gracious God, I charge not thee with taking it, but myself
with losing it; and such is the miserable condition of us poor
wretches, that if thou shouldest restore no more to us than what
thou takest from us, we should quickly be at a fault in our
estates, and our ruin would be as sudden as inevitable. But what
am I so earnest for restoring? for what good will restoring do
me? and how shall I more keep it being restored, than I kept it
before being enjoyed? and if I so enjoy it, as still to fear to
lose it, what joy can there be in such enjoying? O therefore,
not restore it only, but establish me with thy free spirit;
that as by thy restoring I may enjoy it entirely, so by thy
establishing I may enjoy it securely. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 12. Uphold me. I am tempted to think that
I am now an established Christian, that I have overcome this or
that lust so long that I have got into the habit of the opposite
grace, so that there is no fear; I may venture very near the
temptation, nearer than other men. This is a lie of Satan. I
might as well speak of gunpowder getting by habit a power of
resisting fire, so as not to catch the spark. As long as powder
is wet it resists the spark, but when it becomes dry it is ready
to explode at the first touch. As long as the Spirit dwells in
my heart, he deadens me to sin, so that if lawfully called
through temptation I may reckon upon God carrying me through.
But when the Spirit leaves me, I am like dry gunpowder. Oh, for
a sense of this! Robert Murray Macheyne.
Verse 12. Uphold ne with thy free spirit. A
loving mother chooses a fitting place, and a fitting time, to
let her little child fall; it is learning to walk, it is getting
over confident, it may come to a dangerous place, and if
possessed of all this confidence, may fall and destroy itself.
So she permits it to fall at such a place, and in such a way as
that it may be hurt, wholesomely hurt, but not dangerously so.
It has now lost its confidence, and clings all the more fondly
and trustingly to the strong hand that is able to hold up all
its goings. So this David, this little child of the great God,
has fallen; it is a sore fall, all his bones are broken, but it
has been a precious and a profitable lesson to him; he has no
confidence any longer in himself, his trust is not now in an arm
of flesh. "Uphold me with thy free spirit." Thomas
Alexander.
Verse 12. (last clause). Let a free spirit
sustain me; that is, let me not be enslaved, as I have been,
by my sinful passions. Henry Dimock, M.A., 1791.
Verse 13. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways,
etc. We see our duty craves that when we have received mercy
from God for ourselves, we should make vantage of it for the
edification of others. Every talent received from God should be
put to profit, but specially the talent of mercy; as it is
greatest, so the Lord requires greater fruit of it, for his own
glory, and for the edification of our brethren. Seeing we are
vessels of mercy, should not the scent and sweet odour of mercy
go from us to others? This duty Christ craved from Peter:
"And thou, when thou art converted, confirm thy
brethren." And this duty, as David here promises, so we may
read how he did perform it: "Come unto me, all ye that fear
God, and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul."
The property of a Christian is, fides per delectionem efficax,
faith worked by love. What availeth it to pretend faith toward
God, where there is no love toward thy neighbour? and wherein
can thy love be declared more than in this, to draw thy
neighbour to the participation of that same merit whereunto God
hath called thee? By the law a man was bound to bring home his
neighbour's wandering beast if he had met with it before; how
much more, then, to turn again his neighbour himself when he
wanders from the Lord his God? If two men walking on the way
should both fall into one pit, and the one being relieved out of
it should go his way and forget his neighbour, might it not
justly be called a barbarous and inhuman cruelty? We have all
fallen into one and the same mire of iniquity; since the Lord
hath put out his merciful hand to draw us out of this prison of
sin, shall we refuse to put out our hand to see if possibly we
may draw up our brethren with us? William Cowper (Bishop).
Verse 14. (first clause). Deliver me from
bloods. The term bloods in Hebrew may denote any
capital crime; and in my opinion he is here to be considered as
alluding to the sentence of death, to which he felt himself to
be obnoxious, and from which he requests deliverance. John
Calvin.
Verse 14. (first clause). The Chaldee reads, Deliver
me from the judgment of murder.
Verse 14. O God, thou God of my salvation. O God,
is a good invocation, for he heareth prayers. Yet to distinguish
him from all false gods he is so particular as to single him
from all other: Thou God. And to magnify him, and to
reenforce his petition, he calleth him Deum salutis,
"the God of my salvation, "which expresses him
able to deliver him; for it is his nature, and his love, and his
glory, to be a preserver of men. And to bring home this joy and
comfort into his own heart, he addeth, salutis meae, "of
my salvation." So it is oratio fervens, and the
apostle telleth us that such a prayer prevaileth much with God.
For God may be a Saviour and a deliverer, and yet we may escape
his saving hand, his right hand may skip us. We can have no
comfort in the favours of God, except we can apply them at home;
rather we may "think on God and be troubled." Samuel
Page.
Verse 14. And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy
righteousness. Hierom, Basil, Euthymius, and other ancient
doctors observe that natural corruptions and actual sins are the
very rampiers which stop the free passage of song Ps 51:15. So
David doth himself expound himself: Deliver me from
bloodguiltiness, O God: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy
righteousness. His lack of thankfulness did cry, his
adultery cry, his murder cry unto the Lord for revenge; but
alas! himself was mute, till God in exceeding great mercy did
stop the mouths of his clamorous adversaries, and gave him leave
to speak. John Boys.
Verse 14. Aloud. This for God, for himself, for
the church. 1. For God, that his honour may be
proclaimed, therefore they borrowed the voice of still and loud
instruments...2. For himself. Having received such a
benefit, he cannot contain himself, this new wine of spiritual
joy which filleth his vessel must have a vent. All passions are
loud. Anger chides loud, sorrow cries loud, fear shrieks loud,
and joy sings loud. So he expresses the vehemency of his
affection; for to whom much is forgiven, they love much. 3. For
others. Iron sharpens iron—examples of zeal and devotion
affect much, and therefore solemn and public assemblies do
generally tender the best service to God, because one provoketh
another. Samuel Page.
Verse 15. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth
shall shew forth thy praise. As man is a little world in the
great, so the tongue is a great world in the little. Nihil
habet medium; aut grande malum est, aut grande bonum.
(Jerome.) It has no mean; it is either a great evil, or a great
good. If good (as Eunapius said of that famous rhetorician) a
walking library, a whole university of edifying knowledge;
but if bad (as St. James doth tell us, Jas 3:6), "a
world of wickedness." No better dish for God's public
service, when it is we; seasoned; again, none worse, when ill
handled. So that if we desire to be doorkeepers in God's house,
let us entreat God first to be a doorkeeper in our house, that
he would shut the wicket of our mouth against unsavoury
speeches, and open the door of our lips, that our mouth may
shew forth his praise. This was David's prayer, and ought to
be thy practice, wherein observe three points especially: who, the
Lord; what, open my lips; why, that my mouth shall
shew forth thy praise. For the first—man of himself cannot
untie the strings of his own stammering tongue, but it is God
only which opened "a door of utterance." Col 4:3. When
we have a good thought, it is (as the school doth speak) gratia
infusa; when a good word, gratia effusa; when a good
work, gratia diffusa. Man is a lock, the Spirit of God
has a key, "which openeth and no man shutteth; "again,
"shutteth and no man openeth." Re 3:7. He did open the
heart of Lydia to conceive well, the ears of the prophet to hear
well, the eyes of Elisha servant to see well, and here the lips
of David to speak well. Ac 16:1-40 Isa 50:1-11 2Ki 6:1-33. And
therefore, whereas in the former verse he might seem too
peremptory, saying, My tongue shall sing aloud of thy
righteousness; he doth, as it were, correct himself by this
later edition and second speech: O Lord, I find myself most
unable to sing or say, but open thou my lips, and touch
thou my tongue, and then I am sure my mouth shall shew forth
thy praise. John Boys.
Verse 15. O Lord, open thou my lips, etc. Again
he seems to have the case of the leper before his mind, with the
upper lip covered, and only crying unclean, unclean; and he
prays as a spiritual leper to be enabled, with freedom and
fulness, to publish abroad the praise of his God. W. Wilson.
Verse 15. (first clause). He prays that his
lips may be opened; in other words, that God would afford
him matter of praise. The meaning, usually attached to the
expression is, that God would so direct his tongue by the Spirit
as to fit him for singing his praises. But though it is true
that God must supply us with words, and that if he do not, we
cannot fail to be silent in his praise, David seems rather to
intimate that his mouth must be shut until God called him to the
exercise of thanksgiving by extending pardon. John Calvin.
Verse 16. For thou desirest not sacrifice; etc.
There may be another reason why David here affirms that God
would not accept of a sacrifice, nor be pleased with a burnt
offering. No particular sacrifices were appointed by the law of
Moses to expiate the guilt of murder and adultery. The person
who had perpetrated these crimes was, according to the divine
law, to be punished with death. David therefore may be
understood as declaring, that it was utterly vain for him to
think of resorting to sacrifices and burnt offerings with a view
to the expiation of his guilt; that his criminality was of such
a character, that the ceremonial law made no provision for his
deliverance from the doom which his deeds of horror deserved;
and that the only sacrifices which would avail were those
mentioned in the succeeding verse, "The sacrifice of a
broken heart." John Calvin.
Verse 16. Else would I give it thee. And good
reason it is, that we who lie daily at the beautiful gate of the
temple begging alms of him, and receiving from his open hand,
who openeth his hand, and filleth with his plenty every living
thing, should not think much to return to him such offerings of
our goods as his law requireth. Samuel Page.
Verses 16-17. And now I was thinking what were fit to
offer to God for all his lovingkindness he has showed me;
and I thought upon sacrifices, for they have sometimes
been pleasing to him, and he hath oftentimes smelt a sweet odour
from them; but I considered that sacrifices were but shadows of
things to come, are not now in that grace they have been; for old
things are past, and new are now come; the shadows are gone,
the substances are come in place. The bullocks that are to be
sacrificed now are our hearts; it were easier for me to give him
bullocks for sacrifice, than to give him my heart. But why
should I offer him that he care not for? my heart, I know, he
cares for; and if it be broken, and offered up by penitence and
contrition, it is the only sacrifice that now he delights in.
But can we think God to be so indifferent that he will accept of
a broken heart? Is a thing that is broken good for anything? Can
we drink in a broken glass? Or can we lean upon a broken staff?
But though other things may be the worse for breaking, yet a
heart is never at the best till it be broken; for till it be
broken we cannot see what is in it; till it be broken, it cannot
send forth its sweetest odour; and therefore, though God loves a
whole heart in affection, yet he loves a broken heart in
sacrifice. And no marvel, indeed, seeing it is himself that
breaks it; for as nothing but goat's blood can break the
adamant, so nothing but the blood of our scapegoat, Jesus
Christ, is able to break our adamantine hearts. Therefore,
accept, O God, my broken heart, which I offer thee with a whole
heart; seeing thou canst neither except against it for being
whole, which is broken in sacrifice, nor except against it for
being broken, which is whole in affection. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, etc. When speaking of
thankfulness, we might have expected him to say, "a joyful
heart, or a thankful heart, " but instead of that he says,
"a contrite heart." For the joy of forgiveness does
not banish sorrow and contrition for sin: this will still
continue. And the deeper the sense of sin, and the truer the
sorrow for it, the more heartfelt also will be the thankfulness
for pardon and reconciliation. The tender, humble, broken heart,
is therefore the best thank offering. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 17. It may be observed that the second word, (xkbn)
which we render contrite, denotes the being bruised and
broken to pieces, as a thing is bruised in a mortar (See Nu
11:8), and therefore, in a moral sense, signifies such a weight
of sorrow as must wholly crush the mind without some powerful
and seasonable relief. Samuel Chandler.
Verse 18. In thy good pleasure. Whatever we
seek must ever be sought under this restriction, Thy good
pleasure. Build thou, but do it in thine own wise time, in
thine own good way. Build thou the walls of separation that
divide the church from the world; let them be in it, not of
it; keep them from its evil. Build thou the walls that bind,
that unite thy people into one city, under one polity, that they
all may be one. Build thou, and raze thou; raze all the inner
walls that divide thy people from thy people; hasten that day
when, as there is but one Shepherd, so shall there be but one
sheepfold. Thomas Alexander.
Verses 18-19. Some few learned Jewish interpreters,
while they assign the Psalm to the occasion mentioned in the
title, conjecture that the 18th and 19th verses were added by
some Jewish bard, in the time of the Babylonish captivity. This
opinion is also held by Venema, Green, Street, French and
Skinner. There does not, however, seem to be any sufficient
ground for referring the poem, either in whole or part, to that
period. Neither the walls of Jerusalem, nor the buildings of
Zion, as the royal palace and the magnificent structure of the
temple, which we know David had already contemplated for the
worship of God (2Sa 7:1, etc.), were completed during his reign.
This was only effected under the reign of his son Solomon. 1Ki
3:1.
The prayer, then, in the 18th verse might have a particular
reference to the completion of these buildings, and especially
to the rearing of the temple, in which sacrifices of
unprecedented magnitude were to be offered. David's fears might
easily suggest to him that his crimes might prevent the building
of the temple, which God had promised should be erected. 2Sa
7:13. "The king forgets not, " observes Bishop Horne,
"to ask mercy for his people as well as for himself; that
so neither his own nor their sins might prevent either the
building and flourishing of the earthly Jerusalem, or, what was
of infinitely greater importance, the promised blessing of
Messiah, who was to descend from him, and to rear the walls of
the New Jerusalem." James Anderson's Note to Calvin, in
loc.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
The Psalm is upon its surface so full of suggestions for
sermons that I have not attempted to offer any of my own, but
have merely inserted a selection from Mr. G. Rogers and others.
Verse 1.
1. The Prayer.
(a) For mercy, not justice. Mercy is the sinner's
attribute—as much a part of the divine nature as justice. The
possibility of sin is implied in its existence. The actual
commission of sin is implied in its display.
(b) For pardon, not pity merely, but forgiveness.
2. The plea.
(a) For the pardon of great sins on account of great mercies,
and lovingkindness.
(b) Many sins on account of multitude of mercies.
3. Hell deserving sins on account of tender mercies. We who
have sinned are human, he who pardons is divine.
"Great God, thy nature hath no bound,
So let thy pardoning love be found."
Verse 3.
1. Confession. "I acknowledge, "etc.
2. Humiliation, not a mere confession with the lips, but ever
before me—in its guilt—defilement—consequences in this
life and hereafter.
Verses 3-4, 11-12, 17.
1. Scripture estimate of sin.
(a) Personal accountability—My sin.
(b) Estimated as hateful to God—Against thee, etc.
(c) Sin estimated as separation from God.
2. Spiritual restoration. First step—Sacrifice of a broken
spirit. Last step—Spirit of liberty. Thy free spirit. F. W.
Robertson.
Verse 6. See T. Goodwin's Treatise, entitled, "An
Unregenerate Man's Guiltiness before God, in respect of Sin and
Punishment." Book 9 cap. 1-2. (Nichol's edition, Vol. X.,
p. 324 et seq.)
Verse 7. Here is,
1. Faith in the act of an atonement for sin. "I shall be
clean."
2. Faith in the method of its application. "Purge me,
"etc. Sprinkled as the blood of sacrifices.
3. Faith in its efficacy. "I shall be whiter, "etc.
Verse 10.
1. The change to be effected.
(a) A clean heart.
(b) A right spirit.
2. The power by which it is accomplished.
(a) A creative power, such as created the world at first.
(b) A renewing power, such as continually renews the face of the
earth.
(c) The acquirement of these blessings. The prayer,
"Create, "etc.
Verses 12-13. A threefold desire.
1. To be happy—"Restore," etc.
2. To be consistent—"Uphold," etc.
3. To be useful—"Then will I teach," etc. —W.
Jackson.
Verse 13.
1. It is not our duty to seek the conversion of others until
we are converted ourselves.
2. The greater enjoyment we have in the ways of God, the more
faithfully and earnestly we shall make them known to others.
3. The more faithfully and earnestly we make them known to
others the more they will be influenced by them.
Verse 15.
1. Confession. His lips are sealed on account—
(a) Of his fall—and well they might be.
(b) Of natural timidity.
(c) Of want of zeal.
2. Petition, "Open thou, "etc. Not my understanding
merely and heart, but "lips."
3. Resolution. Then he would speak freely in God's praise.
Verse 15.
1. When God does not open our lips we had better keep them
closed.
2. When he does open them we ought not to close them.
3. When he opens them it is not to speak in our own praise,
and seldom in praise of others, but always in his own praise.
4. We should use this prayer whenever we are about to speak
in his name. "O Lord, open, "etc.
Verses 16-17.
1. Men would gladly do something towards their own salvation
if they could. "Thou desirest not, "etc., else would I
give it.
2. All that they can do is not of the least avail. All the
ceremonial observances of Jewish or Gentile churches could not
procure pardon for the least transgression of the moral law.
3. The only offering of man which God will not despise is a
broken and a contrite heart.
4. All other requirement for his salvation God himself will
provide.
Verse 18.
1. For whom is the prayer offered—for the church or Zion?
(a) Next to our own welfare we should seek the welfare of
Zion.
(b) All should seek it by prayer.
2. For what is the prayer offered?
(a) The kind of good, not worldly or ecclesiastical, but
spiritual.
(b) The measure of good. "In thy good pleasure."
Thine own love to it, and what thou hast already done for it.
(c) The continuance of good. "Build, "etc. Its
doctrines, graces, zeal.
Verse 19.
1. When we are accepted of God our offerings are
accepted." Then," etc.
2. We should then make the richest offerings in our power,
our time, talents, influence, etc.
(a) Holy obedience.
(b) Self sacrifices, not half offerings, but whole
"burnt offerings; "not lambs merely, but
"bullocks."
(c) Zeal for divine ordinances. "Upon thine altar."
3. God will take pleasure in such services. "Then shalt
thou be pleased."
1. Because from his own redeemed.
2. Because given in the name of the Redeemer. With such
sacrifices God is well pleased.
WORKS UPON THE FIFTY-FIRST PSALM
Exposition of the Fifty-first Psalm, by
MARTIN LUTHER, in "Select works of Martin Luther,
translated by REV. HENRY COLE." Vol. I., pp. 51-197.
"An Exposition upon the 51 Psalm,
"in "Certain Godly and learned Expositions upon
divers parts of Scripture. As they were preached and
afterwards more briefly penned by that worthy man of God,
Maister GEORGE ESTEY...Late preacher of the word of God in St.
Edmund's Burie." 1603. (4to.)
"David's Penitential Psalm opened: in
thirtie severall Lectures thereon. By SAM. HIERON.
1617." (4to.)
"Good News from Canaan; or, An
Exposition on the 51 Psalm, "in "The Workes of Mr.
William Cowper, late Bishop of Galloway." 1629. (Folio.)
"David's Repentance; or, A plaine and
familiar Exposition of the LI. Psalm: first preached, and
now published for the benefit of God's church. Wherein euery
faithful Christian may set before his eyes the Patterne of
vnfeigned Repentance, whereby we may take heed of the falling
into sin again. The eighth edition, newly revised and profitably
amplified by the author, SAMVEL SMITH, preacher of the word of
God at Prittlewell in Essex...1630." (12mo.)
"A Godly and Fruitful Exposition of the
Fifty-one Psalm, the fifth of the Penitential, "in
ARCHIBALD SYMSON'S "Sacred Septenarie." 1638.
"Meditations and Disquisitions upon the
51 Psalm of David, "in "Meditations and
Disquisitions upon the seven Psalms of David, commonly called
the Penitential Psalmes." By SIR RICHARD BAKER, Knight.
1639.
"CLII. Lectures upon Psalm LI. Preached
at Ashby Delazovch, in Leicester Shire. By the late faithful,
and worthy Minister of Jesus Christ, Mr. ARTHUR HILDERSAM.
1642." (Folio.)
"An Exposition of the one-and-fiftieth
Psalm, "in pp. 51-239, of "Sermons with some religious
and divine Meditations. By the Right Reverend Father in God,
ARTHVRE LAKE, late Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells." 1639.
(Folio.)
"David's Broken Heart; or, an Exposition
upon the whole Fifty-one Psalm. By that Reverend divine
Doctor SAMUEL PAGE, late Pastour of Deptford Stroud, in
Kent...1646." (4to.)
Exposition of Psalm LI., in "Chandler's
Life of David." Vol. 2 pg 254-273.
"The Portraiture of the Christian
Penitent: attempted in a course of Sermons upon Psalm LI
...By the Rev. CHA. DE COETLOGON, A.M. 1775."
"Lectures on the Fifty-first Psalm,
delivered in the Parish Church of St. James', Bristol. By
the Rev. THOMAS T. BIDDULPH, A.M. 1835."
"The Penitent's Prayer: a Practical
Exposition of the Fifty-first Psalm. By the Rev. THOMAS
ALEXANDER, M.A., Chelsea."