Psalms 51 · The Lantern

Unto the end. The understanding of David.

ON PSALM FIFTY. — The Fiftieth Psalm is placed here not according in chronological order, but according to rationale. For its title is governed not by number, but by meaning. As far as history is concerned, it comes before the third. For the prophet Nathan rebuked him for his sin before his son Absalom rose up against him to deprive him of both life and kingdom.

Hear therefore these words, and say thou with him: "Have pity upon me, O God, after Thy great mercy" [Psalm 51:1]. He that imploreth great mercy, confesseth great misery. Let them seek a little mercy of Thee, that have sinned in ignorance: "Have pity," he saith, "upon me, after Thy great mercy." Relieve a deep wound after Thy great healing.

In the preceding Psalms of this decade, the Psalmist seems to have treated of those things that pertain to the state of the kingdom, whose glory he described and to which he invited others. But now, because the glory of this kingdom has been impeded by sin, he treats of the abolition of sin. Here two things must be considered.

When Doeg the Edomite came and reported to Saul, David went to the house of Ahimelech.

"More and more wash me from mine unrighteousness" [Psalm 51:2]. What is, "More and more wash"? One much stained. More and more wash the sins of one knowing. Thou that hast washed off the sins of one ignorant. Not even thus is it to be despaired of Your mercy. "And from my delinquency purge Thou me." According to the manner in which He is physician, offer a recompense.

"Wash me yet more." Here he asks for the removal of the uncleanness of guilt. A person who has a well-disposed mind abhors the uncleanness of guilt more than the severity of punishment; and therefore he says, "wash me yet more"; as if to say: I ask that you blot out the punishment; but more than that, I ask that you cleanse the stain. Or, "wash me more" than I understand. Rom.

Why do you glory in malice, you who are powerful in iniquity?

He too who has sinned, and after the sin remembers that he has sinned, ought to say these things, just as David himself said in the fiftieth psalm: "And my sin is ever before me." There are certain people who, when they have sinned, are utterly secure, and do not think about their sin, nor does it come to their senses what evil they have done, but they live as though they had c…

Singing to the Lord, we have asked Him to turn away His face from our sins, and to blot out all our crimes. But you can notice, Brothers, that in the same psalm we have heard: For I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is ever before me. However, it is said to God elsewhere: Do not turn away your face from me, to whom we have said: Turn your face away from my sins.

"Because." Here he confesses his guilt. And first, he confesses the guilt. Second, he shows this confession to be acceptable to God. First, therefore, he confesses the guilt.

All day long your tongue thinks up injustice. Like a sharp razor, you have wrought deceit.

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

"Against You alone have I sinned, and before You an evil thing have I done" [Psalm 51:4]. What is this? For before men was not another's wife debauched and husband slain? Did not all men know what David had done? [2 Samuel 11:4, 15] What is, "Against You alone have I sinned, and before You an evil thing have I done." Because You alone are without sin.

"Against you alone have I sinned." Above, the Psalmist set forth the recognition of his own guilt; here he aggravates his guilt; and regarding this he does two things. First, he aggravates it. Second, he sets forth what follows from the aggravation, at "that you may be justified." He aggravates this guilt by comparison to God; and in two ways, as is said in Jer.

You have loved malice above goodness, and iniquity more than speaking righteousness.

But if it pleases you to hear what the other saints also thought concerning that nativity, hear David saying: "In iniquities," he says, "was I conceived, and in sins did my mother bear me," showing that whatever soul is born in the flesh is polluted with the filth "of iniquity and sin"; and that on this account was said what we have already mentioned above, that: "No one is cle…

So it is because of this quite unique innocence that the psalm says, "Against you alone have I sinned and done what is evil in your presence, that you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged," because he could find not a hint of evil in you [Jesus Christ]. Why could he find it in you, though, O human race?

"Behold indeed." Here he sets forth the root of the guilt. The root of all actual guilt is original sin, which is contracted from parents infected with that sin; this infection was in the father of David and in his mother.

You have loved all precipitous words, you deceitful tongue.

Because of this, God will destroy you in the end. He will pull you up, and he will remove you from your tabernacle and your root from the land of the living.

After this white robes were given to you as a sign that you were putting off the covering of sins and putting on the chaste veil of innocence, of which the prophet said, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow." For one who is baptized is seen to be purified according to the law and according to the gospel: according to the…

"You shall sprinkle me," he says, "with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed" [Psalm 51:7]. Hyssop we know to be a herb humble but healing: to the rock it is said to adhere with roots. Thence in a mystery the similitude of cleansing the heart has been taken.

"You shall sprinkle me with hyssop." Above, the Psalmist commemorated the benefit of God granted to him as to the grace of prophecy, from which he was raised to hope; here he shows what he hoped for from God. And there were two things. First, he hopes for the removal of the evils he had incurred through sin.

The just will see and be afraid, and they will laugh over him, and say:

“Behold the man who did not set God as his helper. But he hoped in the multitude of his riches, and so he prevailed in his emptiness.”

But I, like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God unto eternity, and forever and ever.

People are in error who think that the priests of the Lord, after a lapse, although they may have exhibited true repentance, are not capable of ministering to the Lord and engaging their honorable offices, even though they may lead a good life thereafter and perform their priesthood correctly.

It would be better to be defiled with unclean mud than with sins. A person who is defiled with mud can wash it off in a short time and become like one who had never fallen into that mire at all.

"A clean heart." Above, the Psalmist asked for sin to be removed; here he asks for the effects of sin to be removed, which are two: namely, the defilement of the soul and the disorder of the affections. The first effect occurs because a person is attached to earthly things; hence he asks for cleanness of heart. Mt.

I will confess to you forever, because you have accomplished it. And I will wait on your name, for it is good in the sight of your saints.

Psalms51