Psalm 51 commentary

PSALM 51 COMMETARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
When the prophet athan came to him after
David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
ITRODUCTIO
SPURGEO, "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 athan 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.
Divisions. 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.
ELLICOTT, "This psalm has been so identified with David, that to surrender the
tradition which ascribes it to him seems a literary crime. Indeed, the character of
the man has been react so constantly through the medium of Psalms 32, 51, that we

must admit that a personality, dear to all the religious world, recedes and becomes
less distinct before the criticism which questions the genuineness of the Davidic
authorship of either of them. Yet in the case before us we must either break this
long cherished association, or admit the last two verses of the psalm to be a later
addition for liturgical use.
But the question of authorship does not affect the estimation in which this psalm has
always been held, and always will be held, in the Church, as the noblest expression
of penitence. Even if it was not originally, directly, and exclusively the expression of
an individual’s repentance, but rather the voice of the people of Israel deploring,
during the exile, its ancient errors and sins (the only conclusion which completely
x4O_Pv:GtTGP_“GteuzqBtGxxtc.mx"BtP:,tOpP7v:jtI.ptPtnew lease of covenant?favour, yet
the associations of the psalm with individual experience of sin and repentance from
it are now far too close to be broken, and it must ever remain in the truest sense one
of the penitential psalms, suited for private use as well as for that of the Church. It
presents as has been rightly said, the Hebrew and Christian idea of repentance; not
remorse, not mere general confession of human depravity, not minute confessions of
minute sins dragged to light by a too impulsive casuistry, but change of life and
mind; and, in the words of Carlyle, “all earnest souls will ever discern in it the
faithful struggle of an earnest human soul towards what is good and best.” The
parallelism is distinct and well sustained.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
BARES, "Have mercy opon me, O God -This is the utterance of a full heart; a
heart crushed and broken by the consciousness of sin. The psalmist had been made to
see his great guilt; and his first act is to cry out for mercy. There is no attempt to excuse
his sin, or to apologise for it; there is no effort to vindicate his conduct; there is no
complaint of the righteousness of that holy law which condemned him. It was “guilt”
that was before his mind; guilt only; deep and dreadful guilt. The appeal properly
expresses the state of a mind that is overwhelmed at the remembrance of crime, and that
comes with earnestness to God to plead for pardon. The only hope of a sinner when
crushed with the consciousness of sin is the mercy of God; and the plea for that mercy
will be urged in the most earnest and impassioned language that the mind can employ.

“Accordingly to thy Iovingkindness.” On the meaning of the word used here, see the
notes at Psa_36:7.
(a) The “ground” of his hope was the compassion of God:
(b) the “measure” of that hope was His boundless beneficence; or, in other words, he
felt that there was need of “all” the compassion of a God.
His sin was so great, his offence was so aggravated, that he could have no hope but in a
Being of infinite compassion, and he felt that the need of mercy in his case could be
measured and covered “only” by that infinite compassion.
According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies -The same idea occurs
here also. The psalmist fixed his eye on the “vastness” of the divine mercy; on the
numberless “acts” of that mercy toward the guilty; here he found his hope, and here
alone. Every instance of extraordinary mercy which had occurred in the world furnished
him now with an argument in his appeal to God; was an encouragement to him “in” that
appeal; was a ground of hope that his appeal would not be rejected. So to us: every
instance in which a great sinner has been forgiven is evidence that we may be forgiven
also, and is an encouragement to us to come to God for pardon. See the notes at 1Ti_
1:16.
Blot out my transgressions -In allusion to an account that is kept, or a charge
made, when such an account is wiped away, erased, or blotted out. Compare Exo_32:32-
33; see the notes at Isa_43:25; notes at Isa_44:22; notes at Col_2:14. Never was a more
earnest appeal made by a sinner than that which is made in this verse; never was there a
more sincere cry for mercy. It shows us where we should “begin” in our prayers when we
are pressed down with the consciousness of sin - with a cry for “mercy,” and not an
appeal to “justice;” it shows us what is to be the “ground” and the “measure” of our hope
- the mere compassion of an infinitely benevolent God; it shows us the place which we
must take, and the argument on which we must rely - a place among sinners, and an
argument that God has been merciful to great sinners, and that therefore he may be
merciful to us.
CLARKE, "Have mercy upon me, O God -Without mercy I am totally, finally
ruined and undone.
According to thy loving-kindness -Mark the gradation in the sense of these three
words, Have Mercy on me,
יננח chonneni; thy Loving-Kindness, ךדסח chasdecha; - thy
Tender Mercies, ךימחר rachameycha, here used to express the Divine compassion. The
propriety of the order in which they are placed deserves particular observation.
The first, rendered have mercy or pity, denotes that kind of affection which is
expressed by moaning over an object we love and pity; that natural affection and
tenderness which even the brute creation show to their young by the several noises they
respectively make over them.
The second, rendered loving-kindness, denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and
liberal disposition, to goodness and compassion, powerfully prompting to all instances
of kindness and bounty; flowing as freely as waters from a perpetual fountain. This
denotes a higher degree of goodness than the former.
The third, rendered tender mercies, denotes what the Greeks called splagcnizesqai,
that most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which

argues the highest degree of compassion of which nature is susceptible. See Chandler.
Blot out my transgressions -החמ mecheh, wipe out. There is a reference here to an
indictment: the psalmist knows what it contains; he pleads guilty, but begs that the
writing may be defaced; that a proper fluid may be applied to the parchment, to
discharge the ink, that no record of it may ever appear against him: and this only the
mercy, loving-kindness, and tender compassions of the Lord can do.
GILL, "Have mercy upon me, O God ,.... David, under a sense of sin, does not run
away from God, but applies unto him, and casts himself at his feet, and upon his mercy;
which shows the view he had of his miserable condition, and that he saw there was
mercy in God, which gave him hope; and upon his bended knees, and in the exercise of
faith, he asks for it;
according to thy lovingkindness; not according to his merits, nor according to the
general mercy of God, which carnal men rely upon; but according to his everlasting and
unchangeable love in Christ; from which as the source, and through whom as the
medium, special mercy comes to the children of men. The acts of special mercy are
according to the sovereign will of God: he is not moved to mercy neither by the merits
nor misery of men, but by his free grace and favour; it is love that sets mercy to work:
this is a most glaring gleam of Gospel light, which none of the inspired writers besides,
except the Apostle Paul, saw,
Eph_2:4;
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my
transgressions; for his sin was complicated, attended with many others; and, besides,
upon a view of this, he was led to observe all his other sins; and particularly the
corruption of his nature, his original sin, which he mentions, Psa_51:5. These he desires
might be "blotted out"; out of the book of account, out of God's debt book; that they
might not stand against him, being debts he was not able to pay or make satisfaction for;
and out of the table of his own heart and conscience, where they were ever before him,
and seemed to be engraven; that they might be caused to pass from him, and he might
have no more conscience of them; or that they might be blotted out, as a cloud by the
clear shining of the sun of righteousness, with the healing of pardoning grace in his
wings; or that they might be wiped away, as any faith is wiped from any person or thing:
and all this "according to the multitude of his tender mercies". The mercy of God is
plenteous and abundant; he is rich in it, and various are the instances of it; and it is
exceeding tender, like that of a father to his children, or like that of a mother to the son
of her womb; and from this abundant and tender mercy springs the forgiveness of sin,
Luk_1:77. The psalmist makes mention of the multitude of the mercies of God, because
of the multitude of his sins, which required a multitude of mercy to forgive, and to
encourage his hope of it.
HERY 51?52, "The title has reference to a very sad story, that of David's fall. But,
though he fell, he was not utterly cast down, for God graciously upheld him and raised
him up. 1. The sin which, in this psalm, he laments, was the folly and wickedness he
committed with his neighbour's wife, a sin not to be spoken of, nor thought of, without
detestation. His debauching of Bathsheba was the inlet to all the other sins that

followed; it was as the letting forth of water. This sin of David's is recorded for warning
to all, that he who thinks he stands may take heed lest he fall. 2. The repentance which,
in this psalm, he expresses, he was brought to by the ministry of Nathan, who was sent
of God to convince him of his sin, after he had continued above nine months (for aught
that appears) without any particular expressions of remorse and sorrow for it. But
though God may suffer his people to fall into sin, and to lie a great while in it, yet he will,
by some means or other, recover them to repentance, bring them to himself and to their
right mind again. Herein, generally, he uses the ministry of the word, which yet he is not
tied to. But those that have been overtaken in any fault ought to reckon a faithful reproof
the greatest kindness that can be don them and a wise reprover their best friend. Let the
righteous smite me, and it shall be excellent oil.3. David, being convinced of his sin,
poured out his soul to God in prayer for mercy and grace. Whither should backsliding
children return, but to the Lord their God, from whom they have backslidden, and who
alone can heal their backslidings? 4. He drew up, by divine inspiration, the workings of
his heart towards God, upon this occasion, into a psalm, that it might be often repeated,
and long after reviewed; and this he committed to the chief musician, to be sung in the
public service of the church. (1.) As a profession of his own repentance, which he would
have to be generally taken notice of, his sin having been notorious, that the plaster might
be as wide as the wound. Those that truly repent of their sins will not be ashamed to own
their repentance; but, having lost the honour of innocents, they will rather covet the
honour of penitents. (2.) As a pattern to others, both to bring them to repentance by his
example and to instruct them in their repentance what to do an what to say. Being
converted himself, he thus strengthens his brethren (Luk_22:32), and for this cause he
obtained mercy,1Ti_1:16.
In these words we have,
I. David's humble petition, Psa_51:1, Psa_51:2. His prayer is much the same with that
which our Saviour puts into the mouth of his penitent publican in the parable: God be
merciful to me a sinner!Luk_18:13. David was, upon many accounts, a man of great
merit; he had not only done much, but suffered much, in the cause of God; and yet,
when he is convinced of sin, he does not offer to balance his evil deeds with his good
deeds, nor can he think that his services will atone for his offences; but he flies to God's
infinite mercy, and depends upon that only for pardon and peace: Have mercy upon me,
O God! He owns himself obnoxious to God's justice, and therefore casts himself upon his
mercy; and it is certain that the best man in the world will be undone if God be not
merciful to him. Observe,
1. What his plea is for this mercy: “have mercy upon me, O God! not according to the
dignity of my birth, as descended from the prince of the tribe of Judah, not according to
my public services as Israel's champion, or my public honours as Israel's king;” his plea
is not, Lord, remember David and all his afflictions, how he vowed to build a place for
the ark (Psa_132:1, Psa_132:2); a true penitent will make no mention of any such thing;
but “Have mercy upon me for mercy's sake. I have nothing to plead with thee but,” (1.)
“The freeness of thy mercy, according to thy lovingkindness, thy clemency, the goodness
of thy nature, which inclines thee to pity the miserable.” (2.) “The fulness of thy mercy.
There are in thee not only lovingkindness and tender mercies, but abundance of them, a
multitude of tender mercies for the forgiveness of many sinners, of many sins, to
multiply pardons as we multiply transgressions.”
2. What is the particular mercy that he begs - the pardon of sin. Blot out my
transgressions, as a debt is blotted or crossed out of the book, when either the debtor
has paid it or the creditor has remitted it. “Wipe out my transgressions, that they may
not appear to demand judgment against me, nor stare me in the face to my confusion

and terror.” The blood of Christ, sprinkled upon the conscience, to purify and pacify
that, blots out the transgression, and, having reconciled us to God, reconciles up to
ourselves, Psa_51:2. “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity; wash my soul from the
guilt and stain of my sin by thy mercy and grace, for it is only from a ceremonial
pollution that the water of separation will avail to cleanse me. Multiple to wash me; the
stain is deep, for I have lain long soaking in the guilt, so that it will not easily be got out.
O wash me much, wash me thoroughly. Cleanse me from my sin.” Sin defiles us, renders
us odious in the sight of the holy God, and uneasy to ourselves; it unfits us for
communion with God in grace or glory. When God pardons sin he cleanses us from it, so
that we become acceptable to him, easy to ourselves, and have liberty of access to him.
Nathan had assured David, upon his first profession of repentance, that his win was
pardoned. The Lord has taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die,2Sa_12:13. Yet he prays,
Wash me, cleanse, blot out my transgressions; for God will be sought unto even for that
which he has promised; and those whose sins are pardoned must pray that the pardon
may be more and more cleared up to them. God had forgiven him, but he could not
forgive himself; and therefore he is thus importunate for pardon, as one that thought
himself unworthy of it and knew how to value it.
JAMISO 1?4,"
Psa_51:1-19. On the occasion, compare 2Sa_11:12. The Psalm
illustrates true repentance, in which are comprised conviction, confession, sorrow,
prayer for mercy, and purposes of amendment, and it is accompanied by a lively faith.
A plea for mercy is a confession of guilt.
blot out— as from a register.
transgressions— literally, “rebellions” (Psa_19:13; Psa_32:1).
K&D 1?2, "Prayer for the remission of sin. Concerning the interchangeable names for
sin, vid., on Psa_32:1. Although the primary occasion of the Psalm is the sin of adultery,
still David says T pm gx ,v, not merely because many other sins were developed out of it, as his
guilt of blood in the case of Uriah, the scandal put into the mouths of the enemies of
Jahve, and his self-delusion, which lasted almost a whole year; but also because each
solitary sin, the more it is perceived in its fundamental character and, as it were,
microscopically discerned, all the more does it appear as a manifold and entangled skein
of sins, and stands forth in a still more intimate and terrible relation, as of cause and
effect, to the whole corrupt and degenerated condition in which the sinner finds himself.
In ה ֵח ְמ sins are conceived of as a cumulative debt (according to Isa_44:22, cf. Isa_43:25,
like a thick, dark cloud) written down (Jer_17:1) against the time of the payment by
punishment. In TIh wc ,“ p” (from c G“ I”, πλύνειν, to wash by rubbing and kneading up,
distinguished from ץ ַח ָר,λούειν, to wash by rinsing) iniquity is conceived of as deeply
ingrained dirt. In יִנ ֵר ֲהֽ ַט, the usual word for a declarative and de factomaking clean, sin is
conceived of as a leprosy, Lev_13:6, Lev_13:34. the Kerî runsTIh wc ,“ p”BE Gd G. (imperat. Hiph.,
like ף ֶר ֶה, Psa_37:8), “make great or much, wash me,” i.e., (according to Ges. §142, 3, b)
wash me altogether, penitus et totum, which is the same as is expressed by the Chethîb
. p“ ,d p. (prop. multum faciendo = multum, prorsus, Ges. §131, 2). In ESd ,” (Isa_63:7) and
ב ֶר ֶה is expressed the depth of the consciousness of sin; profunda enim malitia, as Martin
Geier observes, insolitam raramque gratiam postulat.

CALVI, "1.Have mercy upon me. David begins, as I have already remarked, by
praying for pardon; and his sin having been of an aggravated description, he prays
with unwonted earnestness. He does not satisfy himself with one petition. Having
mentioned the loving?kindness of the Lord, he adds the multitude of his
compassions, to intimate that mercy of an ordinary kind would not suffice for so
great a sinner. Had he prayed God to be favorable, simply according to his clemency
or goodness, even that would have amounted to a confession that his case was a bad
one; but when he speaks of his sin as remissible, only through the countless
multitude of the compassions of God, he represents it as peculiarly atrocious. There
is an implied antithesis between the greatness of the mercies sought for, and the
greatness of the transgression which required them. Still more emphatical is the
expression which follows, multiply to wash me Some take הברה ,)258 ) herebeh, for a
noun, but this is too great a departure from the idiom of the language. The sense, on
that supposition, would indeed remain the same, That God would wash him
abundantly, and with multiplied washing; but I prefer that form of expression
which agrees best with the Hebrew idiom. This, at least, is certain from the
expression which he employs, that he felt the stain of his sin to be deep, and to
require multiplied washings. ot as if God could experience any difficulty in
cleansing the worst sinner, but the more aggravated a man’s sin is, the more earnest
naturally are his desires to be delivered from the terrors of conscience.
The figure itself, as all are aware, is one of frequent occurrence in Scripture. Sin
resembles filth or uncleanness, as it pollutes us, and makes us loathsome in the sight
of God, and the remission of it is therefore aptly compared to washing This is a
truth which should both commend the grace of God to us, and fill us with
detestation of sin. Insensible, indeed, must that heart be which is not affected by it!
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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. umberless
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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
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 athan 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 SIER'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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 1. Have mercy. The Hebrew word here translated have mercy. signifieth
without cause or desert; Ps 35:19 69:4 Ezekiel 14:23; and freely, without paying any
price, Exodus 21:11. And it is made use of in Leviticus 6:8, where oah 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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. 1 Kings 3:26. Charles D. Coetlogon.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 1. Blot out, or, as it is used in Exodus 17:14, utterly extirpate, so as that there
shall not be any remembrance of them forever. Isa 43:25 44:22. Charles de
Coetlogon.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 1,5. Transgressions...iniquity...sin.
1. It is transgressions, (evp), pesha, rebellion.
2. It is iniquity, (we), avon, crooked dealing.
3. It is sin, (tajx), chattath, error and wandering. Adam Clarke.
HITS 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.
Ver. 1.
1. The Prayer.
1. 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.
2. For pardon, not pity merely, but forgiveness.
II. The plea.
1. For the pardon of great sins on account of great mercies, and lovingkindness.
2. 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."
COKE, "Title. חצנמל רומזמ דודל lamnatseach mizmor ledavid.— o one can read this
psalm of David, but must see all the characters of true repentance in the person who
wrote it, and the marks of the deepest sorrow and humiliation for the sins of which
he had been guilty. How earnestly does he plead for mercy, and acknowledge his

own unworthiness! How ingenuous the confessions that he makes of his offences!
How heavy the load of that guilt which oppressed him! The smart of it pierced
through his very bones, and the torture that he felt was as though they had been
broken and crushed to pieces. He owns that his sins were of too deep a dye for
sacrifices to expiate the guilt, and that he had nothing but a broken heart and
contrite spirit to offer to that God whom he had so grievously offended. How earnest
his prayers, that God would create in him a clean heart, and renew a right spirit
within him! How does he dread the being deserted of God! How earnestly deprecate
the being deprived of his favour, the joy of his salvation, and the aids and comforts
of his holy spirit! Let but this psalm be read without prejudice, and with a view only
to collect the real sentiments expressed in it, and the disposition of heart which
appears throughout the whole; and no man of candour will ever suspect that it was
the dictate of hypocrisy, or could be penned from any other motive than a strong
conviction of the heinousness of his offence, and the earnest desire of God's
forgiveness, and restraint from the commission of the like transgressions for the
future. Those who reflect upon David's character on account of his conduct in the
matter of Uriah, though they cannot too heartily detest the sin, and must severely
censure the offender; yet surely may find some room in their hearts for compassion
towards him, when they consider how he was surprised into the first crime, and how
the fear and dread of a discovery, and his concern for the life of the woman whom
he had seduced, led him on to farther degrees of deceit and wickedness, till he
completed his guilt by the destruction of a great and worthy man; especially when
they see him prostrate before God, confessing his sin, and supplicating forgiveness;
and even exempted by God himself from the punishment of death which he had
incurred, upon his ingenuously confessing, I have sinned against the Lord;
2 Samuel 12:13 an evident proof that his repentance was sincere, as it secured him
immediate forgiveness from God, whom he had offended. See Chandler.
Psalms 51:1. Have mercy upon me, &c.— The gradation in the sense of the three
words here made use of to express the divine compassion, and the propriety of the
order in which they are placed, deserves particular observation. The first, rendered
have mercy, or pity, denotes that kind of affection which is expressed by moaning
over any object that we love and pity; that στοργη, 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 voice of
the camel, by which it testifies its love to its foal. The second, rendered loving?
kindness, denotes a strong proneness, a ready, large, and liberal disposition to
goodness and compassion; powerfully prompting to all instances of kindness and
bounty; flowing as freely 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, rendered tender mercies, denotes what the Greeks express by σπλαγχνιζεσθαι,
that most tender pity which we signify by the moving of the heart and bowels, which
argues the highest degree of compassion whereof 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 burthen of the most heinous, complicated guilt, and the fear of the divine

displeasure and vengeance! The original word, החמ mecheh, which we render blot
out, properly signifies to wipe out, or wipe any thing absolutely clean, as a person
wipes a dish. The original meaning is preferred, 2 Kings 21:13. The purport 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. Chandler.
BESO, "Psalms 51:1. Have mercy upon me, O God — O thou, who art the
supreme Lawgiver, Governor, and Judge of the world, whom I have most highly
offended many ways, and, therefore, may most justly be condemned to suffer the
effects of thy severest displeasure; I cast myself down before thee, and humbly
supplicate for mercy. O pity, help, and answer me in the desires I am now about to
spread before thee; according to thy loving? kindness — Thy known clemency and
infinite compassions. For I pretend to no merit: I know my desert is everlasting
destruction of body and soul; but I humbly implore the interposition of thy free
grace and unmerited goodness. According to the multitude of thy tender mercies —
Hebrew, hימחר, rachameicha, thy bowels of mercies, yearning over thy fallen, sinful,
and miserable creatures. Thy mercies are infinite, and, therefore, sufficient for my
relief: and such mercies, indeed, do I now need. “How reviving,” says Chandler, “is
the belief and consideration of these abundant and tender compassions of God, to
one in David’s circumstances; whose mind laboured under the burden of the most
heinous, complicated guilt, and the fear of the divine displeasure and vengeance!”
Blot out — החמ, mechee, deleto, absterge, destroy, wipe away, my transgressions —
That is, entirely and absolutely forgive them; so that no part of the guilt I have
contracted may remain, and the punishment of it may be wholly remitted. The word
properly signifies to wipe out, or to wipe any thing absolutely clean, as a person
wipes a dish: see 2 Kings 21:13 . Blot out my transgressions — As a debt is blotted
or crossed out of the book, when either the debtor has paid it, or the creditor has
remitted it; wipe them out — That they may not appear to demand judgment
against me, nor stare me in the face to my confusion and terror. Give me peace with
thee, by turning away thine anger from me, and taking me again into thy favour;
and give me peace in my own conscience, by assuring me thou hast done so.
ELLICOTT, "(1) Blot out.—The figure is most probably, as in Exodus 32:32?33,
taken from the custom of erasing a written record (comp. umbers 5:23; Psalms
69:28). So LXX. and Vulg. Isaiah, however (Isaiah 44:22) uses the same word in a
different connection, “I will blot out thy sins as a cloud.” A fine thought that the
error and guilt that cloud the mind and conscience can be cleared off like a mist by
a breath from heaven.
Transgressions.—See Psalms 32:1. The word seems to imply a wilful throwing off of
authority or restraint, perhaps here the breach of the covenant?relation irrespective
of any particular sin by which the breach was brought about. Whether it is an
individual or the community that speaks, the prayer is that Jehovah would act
according to His chesed or covenant?favour towards the suppliant, and wipe out
from His records whatever has intervened between the covenant parties.

TRAPP, "Psalms 51:1 « To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when athan the
prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. » Have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out my transgressions.
A Psalm of David] Who was not ashamed to do open penance here in a white sheet,
as it were; so did Theodosius the emperor, at the reprehension of Ambrose, after the
slaughter at Thessalonica; he spent eight months, saith Theodoret, in weeping and
lamentation; he fell down on his face in the place of the penitents, and said, My soul
is glued to the earth, &c. Henry IV (then king of avarre only, afterwards of France
also), having abused the daughter of a gentleman in Rochel, by whom he had a son,
was persuaded by Monsieur Du?Plessis to make a public acknowledgment of his
fault in the church, which also he did before all the nobility of his army. This
counsel being thought by some to be too rigorous, Du?Plessis made this answer, That
as a man could not be too courageous before men, so he could not be too humble in
the presence of God (Life of Phil. de Morn., by Mr Clark).
When athan the prophet came unto him] Rousing him out of a long lethargy, into
which sin and Satan had cast him. See here the necessity of a faithful ministry, to be
to us as the pilot was to Jonah, as the cock to Peter, &c.; as also of a friendly
admonitor, such as David had prayed for, Psalms 141:5, and here he is answered.
David had lain long in sin without repentance to any purpose; some remorse he had
felt, Psalms 32:3, but it amounted not to a godly sorrow, till athan came; and in
private, dealing plainly with him, more prevailed than all the lectures of the law or
other means had done all that while.
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, 2
Samuel 11:1?27; 2 Samuel 12:1?25, and beware.
Ver. 1. Have mercy upon me, O God] It was wont to be, O my God, but David had
now sinned away his assurance, wiped off his comfortables; he dares not plead
propriety in God, nor relation to him, as having forfeited both. At another time,
when he had greatly offended God by numbering the people, God counted him but
plain David, "Go and say to David," 2 Samuel 24:12, whereas before, when he
purposed to build God a temple, then it was, "Go tell my servant David," 2 Samuel
7:5. Sin doth much impair and weaken our assurance of God’s favour; like as a
drop of water falling on a burning candle dimmeth the light thereof. The course that
David taketh for recovery of this last evil is confession of sin, and hearty prayer for
pardoning and purging grace. In the courts of men it is safest (saith Quintilian) to
plead on feci, ot guilty; not so here, but Ego feci, miserere miserrimi peccatoris,
misericors Deus. Guilty, Lord, have mercy, &c.
Per miserere mei tollitur ira Dei.

According to the multitude of thy tender mercies] They are a multitude of them, and
David needeth them all, for the pardon of his many and mighty sins; that where sin
had abounded grace might superabound, it may have a superpleonasm, 1 Timothy
1:14.
Blot out my transgressions] Out of thy debtbook; cross out the black lines of my sins
with the red lines of Christ’s blood; cancel the bond, though written in black and
bloody characters.
SIMEO, "TRUE PEITECE DESCRIBED
Psalms 51:1?3. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving?kindness;
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions!
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I
acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.
SI is, for the most part, thought a light and venial evil, especially amongst the
higher ranks of society: as though the restraints of religion were designed only for
the poor; and the rich had a dispensation granted them to live according to their
own will. But sin, by whomsoever committed, will, sooner or later, be as the gall of
asps within us; nor can all the charms of royalty silence the convictions of a guilty
conscience. View the Psalmist. He had been elevated, from the low condition of a
shepherd’s boy, to a throne: yet, when he had offended God in the matter of Uriah,
there was not found in his whole dominions a more miserable wretch than he.
Before his repentance became deep and genuine, “his bones waxed old through his
roaring all the day long: for day and night God’s hand was heavy upon him; and his
moisture was turned into the drought of summer [ote: Psalms 32:3?4; Psalms 38:2?
8.].” Even in his penitence we may see how heavy a load was laid upon his mind.
This psalm was written on that occasion: and the words before us, whilst they
declare the workings of his mind, will serve to shew us, in a general view, the true
penitent:
I. In his occasional approaches to the throne of grace—
“Mercy” is the one object of his desire and pursuit. Observe,
1. His petitions—
[“Have mercy upon me, O God; blot out my transgressions! wash me throughly
from mine iniquities; and so cleanse me from my sin,” that no stain of it may remain
upon my soul! Here he views his sins both individually and collectively; and,
spreading them before the Lord with conscious guilt, he implores the forgiveness of
them: dreading lest so much as one should be retained in the book of God’s

remembrance, as a ground of procedure against him in the last day — — — Thus
will every true penitent come to God: and plunge, as it were, into the fountain of the
Redeemer’s blood, “the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness” — — —]
2. His pleas—
[Though David had, till the time of his grievous fall, served God with a more than
ordinary degree of zeal and piety, he makes no mention of any past merits, nor does
he found his hope on any future purposes. He relies only on the free and sovereign
grace of God, as displayed towards sinners in the gift of his only dear Son: and to
that he looks, as the ground and measure of the blessings he implores. This is the
view which every true penitent must have. He should see that God is of his own
nature inclined to mercy [ote: Exodus 34:6?7.]; and that all which Christ has done
for us is the fruit of the Father’s love [ote: John 3:16. Ephesians 2:4?5. Titus 3:4?
5.]. Such are the pleas which God approves; and such will surely prevail in the court
of Heaven.]
But, view the penitent farther,
II. In the daily habit of his mind—
Repentance is not a mere occasional expression of the mind, but a state or habit that
is fixed and abiding in the soul. The true penitent, wherever he goes, carries with
him,
1. A sense of guilt—
[“His sin is ever before him:” indeed, he wishes it to be so: he desires to be humbled
under a sense of it: and though he longs to have his transgressions blotted out of
God’s book, he would never have them effaced from his memory; or cease, if he
could help it, to have as deep an impression of their odiousness and malignity, as if
they had been but recently committed — — — To his latest hour he would “walk
softly” before God, in the remembrance of them.]
2. A sense of shame—
[He is ashamed when he reflects on his conduct throughout the whole of his life; yea,
“he blushes and is confounded before God [ote: Ezra 9:6.],” and even lothes and
abhors himself in dust and ashes [ote: Job 42:6.].” or does a sense of God’s
pardoning love produce any difference; except, indeed, as enhancing the
lothesomeness of his character in his own eyes [ote: Ezekiel 36:31; Ezekiel
16:63.].” The name which, in sincerity of heart, he acknowledges as most
appropriate to him, is that which the Apostle Paul assumed, “The chief of sinners.”]
Address—
1. Those who are not conscious of having committed any flagrant

transgression—
[Many, doubtless, are of this character. But have they, on that account, any reason
to boast? Who is it that has kept them? “Who is it that has made them to differ?”
Will they themselves deny that the seeds of all evil are in them? or that, if they had
been subjected to the same temptations as others, they might have proved as frail as
they? Are they better than David previous to his fall? Let them, then, confess their
obligations to God; and remember, that if in outward act they have less reason for
humiliation than others, they have the same depravity in their hearts, and are in
reality as destitute of vital piety as others; and, consequently, have the same need of
humiliation and contrition as they.]
2. Those who are deeply sensible of their guilt before God—
[What a consolation must it be to you, to see that there was mercy even for such a
transgressor as David. Greater enormity than his can scarcely be conceived: yet not
even his prayers were poured forth in vain. Two things, then, I would say to you.
The first is, Do not attempt to extenuate your own guilt, as though you would
thereby bring yourselves more within the reach of mercy. The other is, Do not
presume to limit God’s mercy, as though it could not extend to such a sinner as you.
You never need be afraid of beholding your wickedness in all its extent, if only you
will bear in mind that God’s mercy in Christ Jesus is fully commensurate with your
utmost necessities or desires. “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin:” and
the more you feel your need of it, the more shall you experience its unbounded
efficacy. Only humble yourselves as David did; and, like him, you shall experience
all the riches of redeeming grace.]
3. Those who have obtained mercy of the Lord—
[Happy, beyond expression, are ye! as David says; “Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, and whose sin is covered.” Be joyful, then, in God your
Saviour. But still remember, that you have need at all times to watch and pray. If
David, after all his high attainments, fell, who is secure? “Let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall.” And learn from him to guard against the very first
approaches of evil. It was by a look that his corruptions were inflamed: and from
the progress of evil in his heart, you may learn to make a covenant with your eyes,
yea, and with your hearts too. You see in him “how great a matter a little fire
kindleth.” Walk humbly, then, before God; and cry to him day and night, “Hold up
my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not!”]
BI 1?19, "
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness.
The fifty-first psalm
A darker guilt you will scarcely find—kingly power abused—worst passions yielded to.
Yet this psalm breathes from a spirit touched with the finest sensibilities of spiritual
feeling. Two sides of our mysterious twofold being here. Something in us near to hell;
something strangely near to God. It is good to observe this, that we rightly estimate:

generously of fallen humanity; moderately of highest saintship. The germs of the worst
crimes are in us all. In our deepest degradation there remains something sacred,
undefiled, the pledge and gift of our better nature.
I. Scripture estimate of sin.
1. Personal accountability. “My sin.” It is hard to believe the sins we do are our own.
We lay the blame anywhere but on ourselves. But here David owns it as his.
2. Estimated as hateful to God. The simple judgment of the conscience. But another
estimate, born of the intellect, comes in collision with this religion and bewilders it.
Look over life, and you will find it hard to believe that sin is against God: that it is not
rather for Him. No doubt, out of evil comes good; evil is the resistance in battle, out
of which good is created and becomes possible; it is the parent of all human industry.
Even moral evil is generative of good. Thoughts such as these, I doubt not, haunt and
perplex us all. Conscience is overborne by the intellect. “Perhaps evil is not so bad
after all—perhaps good—who knows?” Remember, therefore, in matters practical,
conscience, not intellect, is our guide. Unsophisticated conscience ever speaks this
language of the Bible.
3. Sin estimated as separation from God. It is not that suffering and pain follow it,
but that it is a contradiction of our own nature and God’s will. This is the feeling of
this psalm. Do you fancy that men like David, shuddering in sight of evil, dreaded a
material hell? Into true penitence the idea of punishment never enters. If it did it
would be almost a relief; but oh! those moments in which a selfish act has appeared
more hideous than any pain which the fancy of a Dante could devise I when the idea
of the strife of self-will in battle with the loving will of God prolonged for ever, has
painted itself to the imagination as the real infinite Hell! when self-concentration
and the extinction of love in the soul has been felt as the real damnation of the devil-
nature!
II. Restoration.
1. Sacrifice of a broken spirit. Observe the accurate and even Christian perception of
the real meaning of sacrifice by the ancient spiritually-minded Jews. It has its origin
in two feelings: one human, one divine. The feeling that there must be something
surrendered to God, and that our best, is true; but men have mixed up with it the
false thought that this sacrifice pleases God because of the loss or pain which it
inflicts. Hence, the heathen idea of appeasement, to buy off his wrath, to glut his
fury. See story of Iphigenia, Zaleucus, etc. These notions were mixed with Judaism,
and are even now found in common views of Christ’s sacrifice. But men like David
felt that what lay beneath all sacrifice as its ground and meaning was surrender to
God’s will: that a man’s best is himself; and to sacrifice this is the true sacrifice.
Learn, then, God does not wish pain, but goodness; not suffering, but you—
yourself—your heart. Even in the sacrifice of Christ, God wished only this. It was
precious not because it was pain, but because the pain, the blood, the death, were the
last and highest evidence of entire surrender.
2. Spirit of liberty. “Thy free spirit”—literally, princely. A princely is a free spirit,
unconstrained—“the royal law of liberty.” (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The exceeding sinfulness of sin
I. The nature of sin in the eyes of one who sees God. Just as one crime against the State

can set all the machinery of our civilization against us, on which our existence now runs
so smoothly; and the network of law, which secured us freedom of motion in the right
path, serves only to trip us up when we have left it; so, one great act of sin against God
has the power to pervert all the spiritual relationships of our life. In an ethical study by a
popular writer, in the form of a story; at a critical moment the heroine is vouchsafed a
vision of a successful sin in all its hideous nature, and shrinks back appalled. David sees
it here, but, alas I too late to save his life from the shadow which never again left it.
II. Where iniquity did abound, grace did much more abound. The penitent, having laid
bare his sin, now asks for God’s grace. First he asks for mercy. When the foe lay
vanquished in the power of the conqueror, to cry, “Mercy!” meant “Ransom!”—“Spare
my life and take a ransom! What a meaning it may have to us if, when we cry, “Mercy!”
we feel that we are asking God to take a ransom! “The soul that sinneth it shall die;” but
He in His pity allows me to plead those precious merits, and so obtain pardon and peace.
But he goes on to ask God to do away his offences; to “blot them out,” as we read
elsewhere. Sin remains as a witness against us, and only God can blot it out. This is what
we mean by Absolution. But David goes even further. It is a bold prayer, an awful prayer:
“Wash me throughly”—more and more. Have we courage to pray thus? Alas! we soon cry
out.
III. The grounds on which he asks for pardon.
1. There is the multitude of God’s mercies. Each day we live is an argument in our
favour. God sent me here; God has rescued me so often; God is always helping me;
though I fall, I shall not be cast away. Hope is a great power. We seem like people
forced to climb higher and higher up the face of the cliff by the sea driven in before
the gale. It seems impossible to climb any further, and the spray is dashing in their
faces, and the rock quivers to its base as the waves are shivered upon it. And then
they find, it may be, at their feet, grass and flowers in the cleft of the rock, which
could only grow above the highest water-mark, and at once they feel there is hope,
and with hope comes an access of strength. So there are flowers in the lives of all of
us here, which could only grow at a height above the devouring level of mortal sin.
Let us hope.
2. He has told God everything; he has concealed nothing.
3. He acknowledges the true relation of sin to God. It is not the injury done to Uriah
or to society; it is the insult done to God. God knows how weak we are. “Behold, I
was shapen in wickedness;” and therefore “the truth in the inward parts” can only be
reached when the plenitude of mercy touches the magnitude of sin. (Canon
Newbolt.)
David’s repentance
I. The cry of contrition. Like a perfect master of medicine, unfolding in his clinical
teaching, feature after feature Of the special ease under treatment till the very hereditary
taint is manifest, David searches out this worst sickness; like the stern, skilful prosecutor
summing up the damning evidence against a criminal, David lays bare fact after fact of
his unmitigated guilt; like a faithful, solemn judge according just recompense to the
evildoer, David pronounces on himself the penalty of God’s righteous law.
II. The cry for cleansing. This cry for cleansing is twofold—cleanse the record, cleanse
myself. Two faces are bent over the proofs of his sin—God’s and David’s. From each

gazer these sins must be hidden—from the one that there may be no condemnation,
from the other that there may be full consolation. Cleanse me, wash me, make me whiter
than snow. What orderliness, what Spirit-taught wisdom in this prayer! A polluted
stream may be run off, but a poisoned spring must be cured. The wells of Marsh and the
springs of Jericho call for their Maker’s hand. So does my heart. What a terrible but
fruitful view of sin!
III. The cry of consecration. These new powers shall not be wasted. The new heart and
the new spirit long for work. This fresh and unstinted grace to David fills his soul with
thankfulness, and thankfulness embodies itself in toil for God and man. Praise is not
wanting. But works surpass words. Grace from God always produces giving to God.
Labour is as love, and love is as forgiveness. Where there is no condemnation there
should be full consecration. (J. S. Macintosh, D. D.)
The prayer of the penitent
I. The prayer. It was both general and specific. He desired mercy, and he desired it to be
specifically manifested in several ways, which he enumerates.
1. The general petition. “Have mercy upon me.” He did not plead right or merit; he
did not plead a mitigation Of the righteous law of God. He knew exactly what he
needed; and so, like the publican, he sent the arrow of his prayer straight go the
mark of his need;
2. The specific petition.
(1) “Blot out my transgressions.” All of them; the covetousness, the adultery, the
murder. To blot out carries with it the idea primarily of forgiveness (Isa_43:25;
Isa_44:22). 42) “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.” This is a prayer for
justification, as the former petition was for forgiveness. Forgiveness is an act of
the gracious and sovereign will of God; but to justify a man from his iniquity is to
do so on the ground of some expiation. Hence David’s allusion to the ceremonial
law (Psa_51:7). (Compare Lev_14:4; Lev_14:9; Num_19:18; Heb_9:22.) The
allusion may be illuminated if we remember the word of Isaiah to sinful Israel
(Isa_1:18), and the ascription of praise to the Lord Jesus (Rev_1:5).
(3) “Cleanse me from my sin.” This is a prayer for sanctification. Sin is an offence
against God, against the law, and it leaves a stain deep and dark on our souls.
God’s mercy provides for this also, and we are assured of such Cleansing (Eph_
5:25-27).
II. The confession.
1. Frank acknowledgment. No excuses; no justification. “I have sinned”—that is the
long and the short of it. He did not lay the blame on Bathsheba, as Adam on Eve.
2. A standing offence. Unforgiven sin is before us and before God; but forgiven sin is
cast behind God’s back, and is among the things upon which we also may turn our
backs.
3. An offence against God. God was more wronged even than man, and while no
doubt he sorrowed that he had wronged his friend and his friend’s wife, he most
bitterly grieved that he had wronged God in them.
4. Deep conviction. “Behold I was shapes in iniquity,” etc. David is convinced that an

inherent depravity of nature is the evil root from which all sin springs. So herein he
confesses his sinful nature as well as his sinful deeds. It is out of the heart that all evil
proceeds. Hence his further prayer, “Behold Thou desirest truth in the inward parts,”
etc. In this we have a strong hint of regeneration. The nature that is spoiled by sin
must be renewed inwardly.
III. Renewed petition. He repeats his prayer for purging and washing, just as
oftentimes, even after we are forgiven, the memory of the bitter sins still remains, and
we are in some doubt whether it is all gone. It is like the burning of a wound that is
healed. It is the sign of returning health; the desire of the soul for an after bath in the
cleansing tide.
1. Joy and gladness.
2. He prays for a new heart.
3. He prays for the restoration of salvation’s joy.
4. A vow of consecration. (G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)
A petition and an argument
I. The petition “Have mercy upon me,” etc.
1. Forgiveness of sin is mainly desirable of every sinner.
(1) It frees us from the greatest evil—sin.
(2) It entitles us to the greatest good-forgiveness.
(3) It comforts in the greatest-afflictions incident to us.
(4) It sweetens all other comforts.
2. This serves to stir up our affections and desires in this particular.
3. And the sooner we do this, the better. It is not good or safe for any to suffer sin to
be festering in their souls, but to be rid of it as soon as may be, and of the guilt
adherent to it; by humiliation of themselves before God, and seeking to Him.
(1) Confession and acknowledgment of miscarriages.
(2) Prayer and seeking to God.
(3) Forsaking it and turning from it.
(4) Forgiveness of others. By these, and the like means, we see how we may
attain to this mercy of pardon and forgiveness of our sins.
II. The argument. “According to thy lovingkindness,” etc.
1. Here is something supposed; viz. that there is in God lovingkindness and a
multitude of tender mercies.
(1) Lovingkindness, i.e. grace (Psa_116:5; Psa_86:15; Psa_145:9). Here is matter
of praise and acknowledgment. We may take notice of it also in a way of
information, that we may be able rightly to discern of God’s love and affection to
us; we cannot judge of it by His kindness, for that is general and common to all;
and there are none (though never so bad) but they do in a degree partake of it,
thereby to stop their mouths against Him, and to leave them without excuse.

God’s kindness is a lesson to us, to teach us go follow His example.
(2) Mercy or compassion.
(a) The tenderness of God’s mercy is seen in—
(i.) His prudent consideration of the state and condition of the person
who sins against Him (Psa_103:13).
(ii.) His deferring and forbearing to punish and correct, where,
notwithstanding, there is ground for it (Psa_86:15; Joe_2:13; Jon_4:2;
Nah_1:3).
(iii.) The moderating of His corrections (Jer_30:11). Severity knows no
limits when once it begins; but tenderness puts a restraint upon itself;
and this also is in God (Psa_103:10; Ezr_9:13).
(iv.) The seasonable removal; there’s tenderness in that also (Psa_103:9).
(b) The greatness of it (Psa_57:10; Psa_119:156).
(i.) In regard of the object of it. It extends to the pardoning and forgiving
of great sins (Isa_1:18; 1Ti_1:13).
(ii.) For the freeness of it (Rom_9:17; Isa_43:25).
(iii.) For the duration (Isa_54:7-8; Psa_103:17; Lam_3:22).
(c) The number and plurality. He has mercy for:
(i.) Many persons.
(ii.) Many offences.
(iii.) Many times of offending (Isa_55:7; Jas_2:13; Rom_5:20; Hos_
14:4; Psa_103:3).
2. The inference.
(1) Our knowledge of God is then right, and as it should be, when it is improved
and drawn down to practice and our own spiritual comfort and advantage.
(2) The best of us stand in need of mercy in their approaches to God.
(3) Great sinners require great mercies for the pardoning and forgiving of them
(Thomas Horton, D. D.)
The psalmist’s prayer for mercy
I. To whom the prayer is addressed. He does not address himself to God under the name
Jehovah; but makes use of the plural title, which is commonly employed in Scripture
when the gracious intercourse of Deity with fallen creatures is spoken of. The title
implies the covenant relation to sinful man which God has been pleased to reveal
through Jesus Christ our Lord. In our Litany mercy is implored by the use of this title
from each of the three Persons in the adorable Trinity separately; and from the Trinity,
as three in One.
II. The object which a penitent sinner proposes to himself in drawing near to God; and
the spirit or frame of mind in which he addresses Him. A recovery of Divine favour is the
grand object of desire to those who are made conscious of its value and of its forfeiture.

“In Thy favour is life.” Guilt, natural and acquired, constitutes the impenetrable veil
which separates between God and the contrite sinner; and the mediation of Christ, the
light of life, is regarded as the only agency by which the dense veil can be swept away.
III. The measure or rule, according to which a penitent sinner desires to be dealt with in
the expected answer to his prayer, “According to Thy lovingkindness.” How delightful is
this co-operation of the persons of the Godhead in effecting the salvation of sinners! The
grace of the Father provided and has accepted the needful atonement; the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the work of propitiation; and the grace of the Holy
Ghost enables us to pray for an interest in that atonement, and then reveals it, in all its
freeness and sufficiency, to the afflicted heart. Thus is the life that is restored to a sinner,
in every point of view, “the life of God in the soul of man.” The term “lovingkindness”
seems literally to import a confluence of streams to form one vast river. And is not this
the view which faith takes of Divine grace—a river deep and wide which is formed by a
confluence of all the perfections of the Godhead? Omnipotence, omniscience, infinite
justice and holiness all flow into this “river of the water of life.” (T. Biddulph, M. A.)
The greatness of sin to a true penitent
1. The true penitent sees sin as against God.
2. The penitent sees in his sin a corruption of nature. “Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity.”
3. The penitent acknowledges that all his religous acts are a mockery of God. “Thou
desirest not sacrifice . . . Thou delightest not in burnt offering.” If religious acts,
offerings, prayers, labours, penances, could cover sin, how gladly would he bring
them! We have made clean the outside. God desireth truth in the inward parts.
4. The penitent sees that sin deprives him of joy, and thus of spiritual power.
5. The penitent sees his sin as destructive to the Church. To the opened eyes of David
his sin had, as it were, thrown down the walls of Zion. “Build thou,” he prays, “the
walls of Jerusalem!” Every backslider’s sin has this destroying power.
6. The true penitent offers no extenuation for sin. Beware of palliations. They may
exist. Let others find them. Let God allow for them if He will. But in the penitent they
always indicate that the work in him has not been thorough.
7. The penitent sees that the evil of sin is its sinfulness. He felt himself, by his sin,
separated from God.
8. The penitent sees that public sin demands a full and public confession. Perhaps
there are sins in our lives, which in our confessions we have slighted. They were
known to others; they had publicity. And men who knew us said, “If he ever repents
he will confess that sin. That shall be the test with us of the genuineness of his
repentance.” But we did not confess. We tried. Often it troubles us.
9. The true penitent justifies God in His judgment upon sin.
10. The penitent acknowledges that sin requires a great remedy. He needed inward
cleansing. “ Purge me with hyssop “ refers to the Levitical sacrifice which prefigured
the atonement. Only when we make sin great do we give the sacrifice of Christ its due
honour. (Monday Club Sermons.)

The prayer of the Penitent
I. The guilt of sin. Titles of lighter meaning have been substituted in its place—“vice” as
though it were merely an evil against self alone; “crime “ or an offence against society. All
such subterfuges are simply a glossing over of what is a moral evil in its relations to God.
You cannot touch man without touching God; cannot wrong him without wronging God.
II. The Divine forgiveness, Between blinding one’s eyes against the guilt of sin and
seeking infinite mercy to overcome such guilt, there is almost an infinite remove. It
exalts the Divine character to know His readiness to forgive sin, while at the same time
God can be justified when he speaks, and be clear when He judges.
III. The new heart. There must be more than the outward cleansing of the cup to make it
clean. All things must become new in the new creature in Christ Jesus.
IV. The fruits of the new life.
1. He seeks first the personal rest freed from the goadings of his sin. He longs for the
joy he once had, but which is now lost. He seeks a strength other than his own.
2. He recognizes the connection between the character of the leaders and the
followers in the service of God. “Then will I teach transgressors,” etc. (David O.
Mears.)
The moan of a king
The prayers of the Bible are among its sublimest treasures. Prayer does not set forth
merely what I am, but what I would be; it is my ideal life; it is a glimpse and a struggling
after a higher mode of being. “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me
from my sin.” Mark the thoroughness of this desire. Not only must sin be blotted out,
but the sinner himself must be washed and cleansed. There must not be merely a change
of state, but a change of nature. Not only must the debt be forgiven, but all disposition to
contract further debt must be eradicated. David at the outset of the psalm appeals for
mercy. No penitent asks for justice. The Pharisee may, not the publican. But for sin we
should never have known the merciful side of the Divine government. We should have
known nothing but law. As we are indebted to the storm for the rainbow, so we are
indebted to sin for the better boon of earth-encircling mercy. “I acknowledge my
transgressions.” Confession is a necessary basis for forgiveness, and is a convergence of
right judgment, right feeling, right action. But there are many kinds of expression which
are wholly unavailing. As the selfish confession of the criminal who turns king’s
evidence. The defiant confession of the man who glories in his crime. The careless
confession made with an air of indifference and is insensible of the turpitude of his
crime. But David’s is far other than these. “My sin is ever before me.” The point to be
noted here is the distinct personal relation which every man sustains to his own sin. Try
for a moment to embody sin. Personify iniquities! Let each transgression assume
material manifestation. Covetousness—a lean, gaunt, spectral image; with outstretched
bony fingers; with eager eyes, in which is written the expression of an insatiable hunger.
Look at that and call it your sin. Unholy anger, with swollen lips and fire-lit eyes, and
heaving breast; oaths and blasphemies might well burn on such lips and glare out of
such eyes. That unholy anger is yours (verse 4). “Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned.”
Some sins exclusively against God, others against man also; but none are exclusively
against man. But whosoever sins against man sins against God. Let all oppressors heed

this. While it is true, therefore, that you can sin against God without directly sinning
against man, yet it is equally true that you cannot sin against God without diminishing
your power to promote the highest interests of man; so that sin is an enemy in every
respect—hateful to God, hurtful to man, darkening the heavens, burdening the earth!
What shall be our prayer in relation to it? “Wash me throughly,” etc. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The penitent sinner
I. The penitent’s prayer.
1. A prayer of pity. Three ways of treating sin: indifference, severity, mercy. God’s
way, as revealed specially by Christ, unites both justice and mercy.
2. A prayer for pardon. Sin must be blotted out before peace can be restored.
3. A prayer for purification. There is here a recognition—
(1) Of his perilous position; and
(2) Of his personal accountability: “nay sin.”
II. The penitent’s plea. He does not plead past purity, pious parentage, public position,
princely prowess; but the plenitude of God’s mercy. A “multitude” of tender mercies!
(Homilist.)
Lessons
1. To fly to God is the only true way to find comfort in the time of spiritual distress.
(1) There is a commandment for it (Psa_50:15).
(2) There is a promise of success (Isa_65:24).
(3) There is ability in God to give a gracious issue to all our distresses (Pro_18:8;
Eph_3:20).
(4) He is ready both to be found and to afford that which is desired (Psa_46:1;
Mic_7:18; Psa_145:18).
(5) Because He would have all His diligent in this course, He hath furnished
them with the Spirit of prayer (Gal_4:6; Rom_8:26).
2. The mercy of God in the pardon of sin is a blessing of exceeding worth. It is the
hungry soul that can best judge of the worth of good. It is he which lieth sick upon
his couch, and not able to stir for weakness, that can tell the worth of health. When
thy soul is pained with the horror of sin, then thou wilt be fit to apprehend the truth
of this doctrine, and then thou wilt need but little quickening to this kind of suit.
3. In forgiving of sin, there is an utter abolishment on God’s part of the guilt of sin
(Psa_32:1-2; Isa_44:22; Mic_7:18-19; Jer_31:34; Jer_50:20).
4. Man hath no plea but the freedom of God’s grace in making suit for the pardon of
his sins (Psa_130:4; Ezr_9:6; Ezr_9:10; Ezr_9:15). (S. Hieron.)

The prayer for mercy
1. The true suppliant believes that there is mercy with God. This is the greatest
wonder of the Divine being. The omniscience of God is a wonder. The omnipotence
of God is a wonder. God’s spotless holiness is a wonder. None of these things can we
understand. But the greatest wonder of all is the mercy of God. In heaven men are
humbled at the thought of it, and never cease to adore and thank God for His mercy.
For there God is known as the Holy One.
2. The suppliant also feels that he has need of mercy; that nothing but free grace
alone can be his hope.
3. He desires also that mercy may be shown to him. That God is merciful, he cries,
that I know there is great mercy with God, that there is mercy for all son still bring
me no rest. What I need to make the anxious heart peaceful is, that I should know
God is merciful to me, Be merciful to me, yes, to me, O God of mercy.
4. This longing is in full harmony with what God’s Word teaches us on these points.
The Word speaks always of finding mercy, obtaining mercy, receiving mercy,
partaking of mercy, having mercy; and looked at from the side of God as an action, it
is called giving mercy, showing mercy. (Andrew Murray.)
God’s lovingkindness
God’s kindness is more than ordinary, and more than extraordinary; it must be called
“loving.” The kindness is loving, and the love is kind. There is no love like His, no
kindness like His. All kindness but this, if you use it often, wears out. However great the
kindness of a neighbour be, if you keep daily drawing upon it you will soon exhaust it.
The kindness of a friend has limits which are soon reached and passed, The kindness of a
father or a mother—for that is the kindest that this world possesses—that, even that, has
its limits. God’s kindness is loving. It is the strong band of love that makes it so long and
so lasting. You cannot break that cord, it is so fine and yet so strong. (T. Alexander, M.
A.)
According unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my
transgressions.
God’s mercy
The greatest comfort that Christians have in their trouble is, that they have to do with a
merciful God, and not rigorous, nor one who will chide with us continually, but, one who
is slow to anger, ready to forgive, whose name is mercy, whose nature is merciful, who
hath promised to be merciful, who is the Father of mercies. The earth is full of His
mercies, they are above the heavens and the clouds; His mercy is above all His works,
extending to a thousand generations, whose mercy endureth for ever. (A. Symson.)
God’s-tender mercies
They are unbounded, and they are “tender.” Our mercy is not tender. What little mercy
you find in man is often harsh and hard. It is a common saying among us, “I forgive, but
I do not forget.” There is often harshness, hardness, unkindness in the way in which our

mercy is bestowed. And even when that is not so, but when man bestows his kindness
and vouchsafes his mercy in his blandest way, you could never think of calling it
“tender.” But God forgives; and when He forgives He does it tenderly. There is no
upbraiding. He blots out the trangression, and there is no more remembrance of it at all.
He forgets as soon as He forgives. It is done in a gentle way. “Be of good cheer; thy sins
are forgiven thee.” The sin is swept away; it is cast behind His, back into the depths of
the sea. God’s mercies are very tender. And then they are a multitude. Tender in their
nature, they are a multitude in their number. They are numberless, measureless,
endless. Like the stars, man cannot count them. Like the grains of sand that cushion
yonder wave-beaten shore, no man knows how many they be. God’s mercies, beginning
with our birth, are heaped up around and upon us all day long, and all through our life
journey. (T. Alexander, D. D.)
God’s former dealings a plea for mercy
These words, “According to Thy lovingkindness and tender mercies,” may be taken not
only absolutely but respectively in reference to his own former experiences of the
goodness of God towards him. David had found and felt how gracious God had been to
him in former time, in divers mercies which He had bestowed upon him in several kinds
and ways; and more particularly in the pardoning and forgiving of sin unto him, and in
the assuring of him also of this pardon; and now he deals with God upon terms of His
wonted goodness, which he desires still may be continued to him. This shows us the
advantage of God’s children in this particular, that they can deal with God upon the
account of former goodness; that having justified their persons in general, He should
remit their special transgression to them; and having forgiven them the sins of their
nature, He should therefore consequently forgive to them likewise the sins of their lives.
The reason of it is this, because He is still like Himself, and changes not, so that he that
hath done the one, will not stick to do the other with it; God’s mercies are so linked and
chained together that we may reason in this manner from them. (Thomas Horton, D. D.)
“Blot out my trangressions”
The general prayer for mercy is not enough. The Lord desires that we should know and
say what we would have mercy to do for us. And the first thing is this, “According to the
multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” The law of God takes
reckoning of every transgression that we commit. In the great account-book of heaven
they stand against us as a record of our guilt. David knew that there could be no
intercourse with the holy and righteous God so long as this old guilt was not abolished,
was not blotted out. He knew that mercy could not convert or change the sinner, or bring
him to heaven, unless his guilt was first blotted out. The wrath of God must first be
appeased. The old guilt of the past must first be taken out of the way. The sinner must
have acquittal and the forgiveness of his sins. This is the first work of Divine grace.
Without this, God the Holy Judge cannot receive the sinner into His friendship; and
therefore he prays, “Have mercy upon me. Blot out my transgressions.” (Andrew
Murray.)
Sin blotted out

A boy ran in to his mother one day after he had read that promise, “I will blot out, as a
thick cloud, thy transgressions.” And he said: “Mother, what does God mean when He
says He will blot out my sins? What is He going to do with them? I can’t see how God can
really blot them out and put them away. What does it mean—blot out?” The mother, who
is always the best theologian for a child, said to the boy, “Didn’t I see, you yesterday
writing on your slate?” “Yes,” he said. “Well, show it to me. He brought his slate to his
mother, who, holding it out in front of him, said, “Where is what you wrote? Oh,” he
said, “I rubbed it out.” “Well, where is it?” “Why, mother, I don’t know.” “But how could
you put it away if it was really there?” “Oh, mother, I don’t know. I know it was there,
and it is gone.” “Well,” she said, “that is what God meant when He said, ‘I will blot out
thy transgressions.’” (Campbell Morgan, D. D.)
MACLARE, "DAVID’S CRY FOR PARDO
Psalms 51:1 ? Psalms 51:2.
A whole year had elapsed between David’s crime and David’s penitence. It had been
a year of guilty satisfaction not worth the having; of sullen hardening of heart
against God and all His appeals. The thirty?second Psalm tells us how happy David
had been during that twelvemonth, of which he says, ‘My bones waxed old through
my roaring all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy on me.’ Then
wP“xtcPmgP:t(vmgtgvGtPO._.j”xBtP:,t(vmgtmgPmt,Pp2tmhreatening that ‘the sword
should never depart from his house,’ the fulfilment of which became a well?head of
sorrow to the king for the rest of his days, and gave a yet deeper poignancy of
anguish to the crime of his spoiled favourite Absalom. The stern words had their
effect. The frost that had bound his soul melted all away, and he confessed his sin,
and was forgiven then and there. ‘I have sinned against the Lord’ is the confession
PGtpxw.p,x,tv:tmgxtgvGm.pvwP_t)..2G5tP:,BtGP7GtcPmgan, ‘The Lord hath made to pass
from thee the iniquity of thy sin.’ Immediately, as would appear from the narrative,
that very same day, the child of Bathsheba and David was smitten with fatal disease,
and died in a week. And it is after all these events?the threatening, the penitence, the
pardon, the punishment?that he comes to God, who had so freely forgiven, and
likewise so sorely smitten him, and wails out these prayers: ‘Blot out my
transgressions, wash me from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin.’
One almost shrinks from taking as the text of a sermon words like these, in which a
broken and contrite spirit groans for deliverance, and which are, besides, hallowed
by the thought of the thousands who have since found them the best expression of
their sacredest emotions. But I would fain try not to lose the feeling that breathes
through the words, while seeking for the thoughts which are in them, and hope that
the light which they throw upon the solemn subjects of guilt and forgiveness may
not be for any of us a mere cold light.
I. Looking then at this triad of petitions, they teach us first how David thought of his
sin.
You will observe the reiteration of the same earnest cry in all these clauses, and if
you glance over the remainder of this psalm, you will find that he asks for the gifts
of God’s Spirit, with a similar threefold repetitio:Atc.(tmgvGtwgPpPwmxpvGmvwt.Itmgxt

whole psalm is worth notice in the outset. It is not a mere piece of Hebrew
parallelism. The requirements of poetical form but partially explain it. It is much
more the earnestness of a soul that cannot be content with once asking for the
blessings and then passing on, but dwells upon them with repeated supplication, not
because it thinks that it shall be heard for its ‘much speaking,’ but because it longs
for them so eagerly.
And besides that, though the three clauses do express the same general idea, they
express it under various modifications, and must be all taken together before we get
the whole of the Psalmist’s thought of sin.
otice again that he speaks of his evil as ‘transgressions’ and as ‘sin,’ first using the
plural and then the singular. He regards it first as being broken up into a multitude
of isolated acts, and then as being all gathered together into one knot, as it were, so
that it is one thing. In one aspect it is ‘my transgressions’?’that thing that I did
about Uriah, that thing that I did about Bathsheba, those other things that these
dragged after them.’ One by one the acts of wrongdoing pass before him. But he
does not stop there. They are not merely a number of deeds, but they have, deep
down below, a common root from which they all came?a centre in which they all
inhere. And so he says, not only ‘Blot out my transgressions,’ but ‘Wash me from
mine iniquity.’ He does not merely generalise, but he sees and he feels what you and
I have to feel, if we judge rightly of our evil actions, that we cannot take them only
in their plurality as so many separate deeds, but that we must recognise them as
coming from a common source, and we must lament before God not only our ‘sins’
but our ‘sin’?not only the outward acts of transgression, but that alienation of heart
from which they all come; not only sin in its manifold manifestations as it comes out
in the life, but in its inward roots as it coils round our hearts. You are not to confess
acts alone, but let your contrition embrace the principle from which they come.
Further, in all the petitions we see that the idea of his own single responsibility for
the whole thing is uppermost in David’s mind. It is my transgression, it is mine
iniquity, and my sin. He has not learned to say with Adam of old, and with some so?
called wise thinkers to?day: ‘I was tempted, and I could not help it.’ He does not talk
about ‘circumstances,’ and say that they share the blame with him. He takes it all to
himself. ‘It was I did it. True, I was tempted, but it was my soul that made the
occasion a temptation. True, the circumstances led me astray, but they would not
have led me astray if I had been right, and where as well as what I ought to be.’ It is
a solemn moment when that thought first rises in its revealing power to throw light
into the dark places of our souls. But it is likewise a blessed moment, and without it
we are scarcely aware of ourselves. Conscience quickens consciousness. The sense of
transgression is the first thing that gives to many a man the full sense of his own
individuality. There is nothing that makes us feel how awful and incommunicable is
that mysterious personality by which every one of us lives alone after all
companionship, so much as the contemplation of our relations to God’s law. ‘Every
man shall bear his own burden.’ ‘Circumstances,’ yes; ‘bodily organisation,’ yes;
‘temperament,’ yes; ‘the maxims of society,’ ‘the conventionalities of the time,’ yes,?
all these things have something to do with shaping our single deeds and with
influencing our character; but after we have made all allowances for these
influences which affect me, let us ask the philosophers who bring them forward as
diminishing or perhaps annihilating responsibility, ‘And what about that me which

these things influence?’ After all, let me remember that the deed is mine, and that
every one of us shall, as Paul puts it, give account of himself unto God.
Passing from that, let me point for one moment to another set of ideas that are
involved in these petitions. The three words which the Psalmist employs for sin give
prominence to different aspects of it. ‘Transgression’ is not the same as ‘iniquity,’
and ‘iniquity’ is not the same as ‘sin.’ They are not aimless, useless synonyms, but
they have each a separate thought in them. The word rendered ‘transgression’
literally means rebellion, a breaking away from and setting oneself against lawful
authority. That translated ‘iniquity’ literally means that which is twisted, bent. The
word in the original for ‘sin’ literally means missing a mark, an aim. And this
threefold view of sin is no discovery of David’s, but is the lesson which the whole
Old Testament system had laboured to print deep on the national consciousness.
That lesson, taught by law and ceremonial, by denunciation and remonstrance, by
chastisement and deliverance, the penitent king has learned. To all men’s
wrongdoings these descriptions apply, but most of all to his. Sin is ever, and his sin
especially is, rebellion, the deflection of the life from the straight line which God’s
law draws so clearly and firmly, and hence a missing the aim.
Think how profound and living is the consciousness of sin which lies in calling it
rebellion. It is not merely, then, that we go against some abstract propriety, or break
some impersonal law of nature when we do wrong, but that we rebel against a
rightful Sovereign. In a special sense this was true of the Jew, whose nation stood
under the government of a divine king, so that sin was treason, and breaches of the
law acts of rebellion against God. But it is as true of us all. Our theory of morals will
be miserably defective, and our practice will be still more defective, unless we have
learned that morality is but the garment of religion, that the definition of virtue is
obedience to God, and that the true sin in sin is not the yielding to impulses that
belong to our nature, but the assertion in the act of yielding, of our independence of
God and of our opposition to His will. And all this has application to David’s sin. He
was God’s viceroy and representative, and he sets to his people the example of
revolt, and lifts the standard of rebellion. It is as if the ruler of a province declared
war against the central authority of which he was the creature, and used against it
the very magazines and weapons with which it had intrusted him. He had rebelled,
and in an eminent degree, as athan said to him, given to the enemies of God
occasion to blaspheme.
ot less profound and suggestive is that other name for sin, that which is twisted, or
bent, mine ‘iniquity.’ It is the same metaphor which lies in our own word ‘wrong,’
that which is wrung or warped from the straight line of right. To that line, drawn by
God’s law, our lives should run parallel, bending neither to the right hand nor to
the left. But instead of the firm directness of such a line, our lives show wavering
deformity, and are like the tremulous strokes in a child’s copy?book. David had the
pattern before him, and by its side his unsteady purpose, his passionate lust, had
traced this wretched scrawl. The path on which he should have trodden was a
straight course to God, unbending like one of these conquering Roman roads, that
will turn aside for neither mountain nor ravine, nor stream nor bog. If it had been
thus straight, it would have reached its goal. Journeying on that way of holiness, he
would have found, and we shall find, that on it no ravenous beast shall meet us, but
with songs and everlasting joy upon their lips the happy pilgrims draw ever nearer

to God, obtaining joy and gladness in all the march, until at last ‘sorrow and sighing
shall flee away.’ But instead of this he had made for himself a crooked path, and
had lost his road and his peace in the mazes of wandering ways. ‘The labour of the
foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to come to the city.’
Another very solemn and terrible thought of what sin is, lies in that final word for it,
which means ‘missing an aim.’ How strikingly that puts a truth which siren voices
are constantly trying to sing us out of believing! Every sin is a blunder as well as a
crime. And that for two reasons, because, first, God has made us for Himself, and to
take anything besides for our life’s end or our heart’s portion is to divert ourselves
from our true destiny; and because, second, that being so, every attempt to win
satisfaction or delight by such a course is and must be a failure. Sin misses the aim if
we think of our proper destination. Sin misses its own aim of happiness. A man
never gets what he hoped for by doing wrong, or, if he seem to do so, he gets
something more that spoils it all. He pursues after the fleeing form that seems so
fair, and when he reaches her side, and lifts her veil, eager to embrace the tempter, a
hideous skeleton grins and gibbers at him. The siren voices sing to you from the
smiling island, and their white arms and golden harps and the flowery grass draw
you from the wet boat and the weary oar; but when a man lands he sees the fair
form end in a slimy fish, and she slays him and gnaws his bones. ‘He knows not that
the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.’ Yes! every sin is a
mistake, and the epitaph for the sinner is ‘Thou fool!’
II. These petitions also show us, in the second place, How David thinks of
forgiveness.
As the words for sin expressed a threefold view of the burden from which the
Psalmist seeks deliverance, so the triple prayer, in like manner, sets forth that
blessing under three aspects. It is not merely pardon for which he asks. He is
making no sharp dogmatic distinction between forgiveness and cleansing.
The two things run into each other in his prayer, as they do, thank God! in our own
experience, the one being inseparable, in fact, from the other. It is absolute
deliverance from the power of sin, in all forms of that power, whether as guilt or as
habit, for which he cries so piteously; and his accumulative petitions are so
exhaustive, not because he is coldly examining his sin, but because he is intensely
feeling the manifold burden of his great evil.
That first petition conceives of the divine dealing with sin as being the erasure of a
writing, perhaps of an indictment. There is a special significance in the use of the
word here, because it is also employed in the description of the Levitical ceremonial
of the ordeal, where a curse was written on a scroll and blotted out by the priest.
But apart from that the metaphor is a natural and suggestive one. Our sin stands
written against us. The long gloomy indictment has been penned by our own hands.
Our past is a blurred manuscript, full of false things and bad things. We have to
spread the writing before God, and ask Him to remove the stained characters from
its surface, that once was fair and unsoiled.
Ah, brethren! some people tell us that the past is irrevocable, that the thing once
done can never be undone, that the life’s diary written by our own hands can never
be cancelled. The melancholy theory of some thinkers and teachers is summed up in
the words, infinitely sad and despairing when so used, ‘What I have written I have
written.’ Thank God! we know better than that. We know who blots out the

handwriting ‘that is against us, nailing it to His Cross.’ We know that of God’s
great mercy our future may ‘copy fair our past,’ and the past may be all obliterated
and removed. And as sometimes you will find in an old monkish library the fair
vellum that once bore lascivious stories of ancient heathens and pagan deities turned
into the manuscript in which a saint has penned his Contemplations, an Augustine
his Confessions, or a Jerome his Translations, so our souls may become palimpsests.
The old wicked heathen characters that we have traced there may be blotted out,
and covered over by the writing of that divine Spirit who has said, ‘I will put My
laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts.’ As you run your pen through
the finished pages of your last year’s diaries, as you seal them up and pack them
away, and begin a new page in a clean book on the first of January, so it is possible
for every one of us to do with our lives. otwithstanding all the influence of habit,
notwithstanding all the obstinacy of long?indulged modes of thought and action,
notwithstanding all the depressing effect of frequent attempts and frequent failures,
we may break ourselves off from all that is sinful in our past lives, and begin afresh,
saying, ‘God helping me! I will write another sort of biography for myself for the
days that are to come.’
We cannot erase these sad records from our past. The ink is indelible; and besides
all that we have visibly written in these terrible autobiographies of ours, there is
much that has sunk into the page, there is many a ‘secret fault,’ the record of which
will need the fire of that last day to make it legible, Alas for those who learn the
black story of their own lives for the first time then! Learn it now, my brother! and
learn likewise that Christ can wipe it all clean off the page, clean out of your nature,
clean out of God’s book. Cry to Him, with the Psalmist, ‘Blot out my
transgressions!’ and He will calm and bless you with the ancient answer, ‘I have
blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.’
Then there is another idea in the second of these prayers for forgiveness: ‘Wash me
throughly from mine iniquity.’ That phrase does not need any explanation, except
that the word expresses the antique way of cleansing garments by treading and
beating. David, then, here uses the familiar symbol of a robe, to express the ‘habit’
of the soul, or, as we say, the character. That robe is all splashed and stained. He
cries to God to make it a robe of righteousness and a garment of purity.
And mark that he thinks the method by which this will be accomplished is a
protracted and probably a painful one. He is not praying for a mere declaration of
pardon, he is not asking only for the one complete, instantaneous act of forgiveness,
but he is asking for a process of purifying which will be long and hard. ‘I am ready,’
says he, in effect, ‘to submit to any sort of discipline, if only I may be clean. Wash
me, beat me, tread me down, hammer me with mallets, dash me against stones, rub
me with smarting soap and caustic nitre?do anything, anything with me, if only
those foul spots melt away from the texture of my soul!’ A solemn prayer, my
brethren! if we pray it aright, which will be answered by many a sharp application
of God’s Spirit, by many a sorrow, by much very painful work, both within our own
souls and in our outward lives, but which will be fulfilled at last in our being clothed
like our Lord, in garments which shine as the light.
We know, dear brethren! who has said, ‘I counsel thee to buy of Me white raiment,
that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear.’ And we know well who were the
great company before the throne of God, that had ‘washed their robes and made

them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ ‘Wash me
throughly from mine iniquity.’
The deliverance from sin is still further expressed by that third supplication,
‘Cleanse me from my sin.’ That is the technical word for the priestly act of declaring
ceremonial cleanness?the cessation of ceremonial pollution, and for the other
priestly act of making, as well as declaring, clean from the stains of leprosy. And
with allusion to both of these uses, the Psalmist employs it here. That is to say, he
thinks of his guilt not only as a blotted past record which he has written, not only as
a garment spotted by the flesh which his spirit wears, but he thinks of it too as
inhering in himself, as a leprosy and disease of his own personal nature. He thinks
of it as being, like that, incurable, fatal, twin sister to and precursor of death; and he
thinks of it as capable of being cleansed only by a sacerdotal act, only by the great
High Priest and by His finger being laid upon it. And we know who it was that?
when the leper, whom no man in Israel was allowed to touch on pain of uncleanness,
came to His feet?put out His hand in triumphant consciousness of power, and
touched him, and said, ‘I will! be thou clean.’ Let this be thy prayer, ‘Cleanse me
from my sin’; and Christ will answer, ‘Thy leprosy hath departed from thee.’
III. These petitions likewise show us whence the Psalmist draws his confidence for
such a prayer.
‘According to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.’ His
whole hope rests upon God’s own character, as revealed in the endless continuance
of His acts of love. He knows the number and the greatness of his sins, and the very
depth of his consciousness of sin helps him to a corresponding greatness in his
apprehension of God’s mercy. As he says in another of his psalms, ‘Innumerable
evils have compassed me about; they are more than the hairs of my head. . . . Many,
O Lord my God! are Thy wonderful works. . . . They are more than can be
numbered.’ This is the blessedness of all true penitence, that the more profoundly it
feels its own sore need and great sinfulness, in that very proportion does it recognise
the yet greater mercy and all?sufficient grace of our loving God, and from the lowest
depths beholds the stars in the sky, which they who dwell amid the surface?
brightness of the noonday cannot discern.
God’s own revealed character, His faithfulness and persistency, notwithstanding all
our sins, in that mode of dealing with men which has blessed all generations with
His tender mercies?these were David’s pleas. And for us who have the perfect love of
God perfectly expressed in His Son, that same plea is incalculably strengthened, for
we can say, ‘According to Thy tender mercy in Thy dear Son, for the sake of Christ,
blot out my transgressions.’ Is the depth of our desire, and is the firmness of our
confidence, proportioned to the increased clearness of our knowledge of the love of
our God? Does the Cross of Christ lead us to as trustful a penitence as David had, to
whom meditation on God’s providences and the shadows of the ancient covenant
were chiefest teachers of the multitude of His tender mercies?
Remember further that a comparison of the narrative in the historical books seems
to show, as I said, that this psalm followed athan’s declaration of the divine
forgiveness, and that therefore these petitions of our text are the echo and response
to that declaration.
Thus we see that the revelation of God’s love precedes, and is the cause of, the truest

penitence; that our prayer for forgiveness is properly the appropriating, or the
effort to appropriate, the divine promise of forgiveness; and that the assurance of
pardon, so far from making a man think lightly of his sin, is the thing that drives it
home to his conscience, and first of all teaches him what it really is. As long as you
are tortured with thoughts of a possible hell because of guilt, as long as you are
troubled by the contemplation of consequences affecting your happiness as ensuing
upon your wrongdoing, so long there is a foreign and disturbing element in even
your deepest and truest penitence. But when you know that God has forgiven?when
you come to see the ‘multitude of Thy tender mercies,’ when the fear of punishment
has passed out of your apprehension, then you are left with a heart at leisure from
dread, to look the fact and not the consequences in the face, and to think of the
moral nature, and not of the personal results, of your sin. And so one of the old
prophets, with profound truth, says, ‘Thou shalt be ashamed and confounded, and
never open thy mouth any more because of thy sin, when I am pacified towards thee
for all thou hast done.’
Dear friends! the wheels of God’s great mill may grind us small, without our coming
to know or to hate our sin. About His chastisements, about the revelation of His
wrath, that old saying is true to a great extent: ‘If you bray a fool in a mortar, his
folly will not depart from him.’ You may smite a man down, crush him, make his
bones to creep with the preaching of vengeance and of hell, and the result of it will
often be, if it be anything at all, what it was in the case of that poor wretched Judas,
who, because he only saw wrath, flung himself into despair, and was lost, not
because he had betrayed Christ, but because he believed that there was no
forgiveness for the man that had betrayed.
But Love comes, and ‘Love is Lord of all.’ God’s assurance, ‘I have forgiven,’ the
assurance that we do not need to plead with Him, to bribe Him, to buy pardon by
tears and amendment, but that it is already provided for us?the blessed vision of an
all?mighty love treasured in a dying Saviour, the proclamation ‘God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them’?Oh!
these are the powers that break, or rather that melt, our hearts; these are the keen
weapons that wound to heal our hearts; these are the teachers that teach a ‘godly
sorrow that needeth not to be repented of.’ Think of all the patient, pitying mercy of
our Father, with which He has lingered about our lives, and softly knocked at the
door of our hearts! Think of that unspeakable gift in which are wrapped up all His
tender mercies?the gift of Christ who died for us all! Let it smite upon your heart
with a rebuke mightier than all the thunders of law or terrors of judgment. Let it
unveil for you not only the depths of the love of God, but the darkness of your own
selfish rebellion from Him. Measure your crooked lives by the perfect rightness of
Christ’s. Learn how you have missed the aim which He reached, who could say, ‘I
delight to do Thy will, O my God!’ And let that same infinite love that teaches sin
announce frank forgiveness and prophesy perfect purity. Then, with heart fixed
upon Christ’s Cross, let your cry for pardon be the echo of the most sure promise of
pardon which sounds from His dying lips; and as you gaze on Him who died that we
might be freed from all iniquity, ask Him to blot out your transgressions, to wash
you throughly from your iniquity, and to cleanse you from your sins. Ask, for you
cannot ask in vain; ask earnestly, for you need it sorely; ask confidently, for He has
promised before you ask; but ask, for unless you do, you will not receive. Ask, and

the answer is sent already?’The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.’
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
BARES, "Wash me throughly from mine iniquity - literally, “Multiply to
wash me.” The word rendered “throughly” is a verb, either in the infinitive or imperative
mood, and suggests the idea of “multiplying” or “increasing.” The reference is to that
which might need constant or repeated washings in order to remove a stain adverbially
to denote intensity, or thoroughness. On the word wash as applicable to sin, see the
notes at
Isa_1:16.
And cleanse me from my sin -Remove it entirely. Make me wholly pure. See the
notes at Isa_1:16. In what manner he hoped that this would be done is shown in the
following portions of the psalm. It was -
(a) by forgiveness of the past, Psa_51:9; and
(b) by making the heart pure and holy through the renewing and sanctifying
influences of the Holy Spirit, Psa_51:10-11.
CLARKE, "Wash me throughly -ינסבכ,הברה harbeh,cabbeseni, “Wash me again and
again, - cause my washings to be multiplied.” My stain is deep; ordinary purgation will
not be sufficient.
GILL, "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity ,.... Which supposes defilement
by sin, and that very great, and such as none can remove but the Lord himself; who,
when he takes it in hand, does it effectually and thoroughly; see
Eze_36:25. David's sin
had long lain upon him, the faith of it had as it were eaten into him, and spread itself
over him, and therefore he needed much washing: "wash me much", all over, and
thoroughly:
and cleanse me from my sin: which only the blood of Christ can do, 1Jo_1:7. The

psalmist makes use of three words to express his sin by, in this verse Psa_51:1; עשפ,
which signifies "rebellion", as all sin has in it rebellion against God the lawgiver, and a
contempt of his commandments; ןוע, "perverseness", "crookedness", sin being a going
out of the plain way of God's righteous law; and תאטח, "a missing the mark"; going
besides it or not coming up to it: and these he makes rise of to set forth the malignity of
sin, and the deep sense he had of the exceeding sinfulness of it; and these are the three
words used by the Lord in Exo_34:7; when he declares himself to be a sin forgiving God;
so that David's sin came within the reach of pardoning mercy.
JAMISO,"Wash me— Purity as well as pardon is desired by true penitents.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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
mgxtOpvG.:Atc.mtG.t;P3v,ztgxtvGtGvw2t.ItGv:tPGtGv:5 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.
n!Tsicioafltcaonhtic;tZHidcothildckh
Ver. 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.
Ver. 2. Wash me, etc. (Mbk) is peculiarly applied to the washing and cleansing of
garments, as fullers wash and cleanse their cloths. 2 Kings 18:7, Exodus 19:10,
Leviticus 17:15. Samuel Chandler.
Ver. 2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity. o 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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. eale's Commentary.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:2. Wash me thoroughly, &c.— The original הברב ינסבכ hereb
kabseini is, multiply, or, in multiplying, wash me from mine iniquity, and cleanse me
from my sin; for the word multiply refers to both verbs, wash me and cleanse me,
and is well rendered in our version by thoroughly wash me; as a garment often
washed is thoroughly cleansed from its impurity. This form of expression is frequent

in the Old Testament. See Isaiah 1:16. The meaning of the Psalmist is, that God, by
repentance and faith, would recover him from all his past transgressions, and
enable him to live free from the practice of them for the future.
BESO, "Psalms 51:2. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, &c. — “I have
made myself exceeding loathsome by my repeated and heinous acts of wickedness,
which, like a stain that hath long stuck to a garment, is not easily purged away; but
do not, therefore, I beseech thee, abhor me, but rather magnify thy mercy in
purifying me perfectly, and cleansing me so thoroughly, that there may be no spot
remaining in me.” — Bishop Patrick. Hebrew, ינסבכ הברה, harbeh chabbeseeni, is
literally, multiplica, lava me, multiply, wash me: that is, Wash me very much. By
which phrase he implies the greatness of his guilt, the insufficiency of all legal
washing, and the absolute necessity of some other and better means of cleansing him
from it, even God’s grace and the atoning blood of Christ; which as Abraham saw
by faith, John 8:56, so did David, as is sufficiently evident (allowance being made
for the darkness of the Old Testament dispensation) from divers passages of his
Psalms. Observe, reader, sin defiles us, renders us odious in the sight of the holy
God, and uneasy to ourselves; it unfits us for communion with God, in grace or
glory. But when God pardons sin, he cleanses us from it, so that we become
acceptable to him, easy to ourselves, and have liberty of access to him. athan had
assured David, upon his first profession of repentance, that his sin was pardoned.
The Lord has taken away thy sin, thou shalt not die, 2 Samuel 12:13 : yet he prays,
Wash me, cleanse me, blot out my transgressions; for God will be sought unto, even
for that which he has promised; and those whose sins are pardoned, must pray that
the pardon may be more and more evidenced to them. God had forgiven him, but he
could not forgive himself, and therefore he is thus importunate for pardon as one
that thought himself unworthy of it.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Wash me thoroughly.—Literally, Wash me much, whether we
follow the Hebrew text or the Hebrew margin. The two clauses of the verse are not
merely antithetic. The terms wash and cleanse seem to imply respectively the actual
and the ceremonial purification, the former meaning literally to tread, describing
the process of washing clothes (as blankets are washed to this day in Scotland) by
trampling them with the feet, the latter used of the formal declaration of cleanliness
by the priest in the case of leprosy (Leviticus 13:6?34). (For the iniquity and sin, see
Psalms 32:1.)
TRAPP, "Ver. 2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity] Heb. Multiply, wash me;
so Isaiah 55:7. God is said to multiply pardon as much as we multiply sin. David
apprehended his sin so exceeding sinful, his stain so inveterate, so engrained, that it
would hardly be ever gotten out till the cloth were almost rubbed to pieces; that God
himself would have somewhat to do to do it. He had been in a deep ditch, Proverbs
23:27, and was pitifully defiled; he therefore begs hard to be thoroughly rinsed, to
be bathed in that blessed fountain of Christ’s blood, that is opened for sins and for
uncleanness, Zechariah 13:1; to be cleansed not only from outward defilements, but
from his swinish nature; for though a swine be washed never so clean, if she retain
her nature, she will be ready to wallow in the next guzzle. The time of our being

gxpxtvGtadsct`[tZ\[u[\[vBtPGtcPNvP:Nx:twP__xmgtvmBti.e. our washing time. Wash thy
heart, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be clean, Jeremiah 4:14, not by thinking to set
off with God, and to make amends by thy good deeds for thy bad; this is but lutum
luto purgare, to wash off one filth with another; but by the practice of mortification,
and by faith in Christ’s meritorious passion; for he hath washed us from our sins in
his own blood, Revelation 1:5. Other blood defileth, but this purifieth from all
pollutions of flesh and spirit, 1 John 1:7.
And cleanse me from my sin] In like manner as the leper under the law was
cleansed. Leprosy, frenzy, heresy, and jealousy, are by men counted incurable; Sed
omnipotenti medico nullus insanabilis occurrit morbus, saith Isidore, to an
Almighty physician no disease is incurable. There iGtv:,xx,tPt:Pm”pP_tc.3PmvP:vG“t
in the timorous consciences of convinced sinners, to doubt and question pardon for
sins of apostasy, and falling after repentance; but there need be no such doubting,
since God, who hath bidden us to forgive a repenting brother seventy times seven
times in one day, will himself much more. All sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven
to the sons of men, &c., Matthew 12:31.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
BARES, "For I acknowledge my transgressions -literally, I know, or make
known. That is, he knew that he was a sinner, and he did not seek to cloak or conceal
that fact. He came with the knowledge of it himself; he was willing to make
acknowledgment of it before God. There was no attempt to conceal it; to excuse it.
Compare the notes at
Psa_32:5. The word ““for”” does not imply that he referred to his
willingness to confess his sins as an act of merit, but it indicates a state of mind which
was necessary to forgiveness, and without which he could not hope for pardon.
And my sin is ever before me -That is, It is now constantly before my mind. It had
not been so until Nathan brought it vividly to his recollection (2Sa_12:1ff); but after that
it was continually in his view. He could not turn his mind from it. The memory of his
guilt followed him; it pressed upon him; it haunted him. It was no wonder that this was
so. The only ground of wonder in the case is that it did not occur “before” Nathan made
that solemn appeal to him, or that he could have been for a moment insensible to the
greatness of his crime. The whole transaction, however, shows that people “may” be
guilty of enormous sins, and have for a long time no sense of their criminality; but that
“when” the consciousness of guilt is made to come home to the soul, nothing will calm it

down. Everything reminds the soul of it; and nothing will drive away its recollection. In
such a state the sinner has no refuge - no hope of permanent peace - but in the mercy of
God.
CLARKE, "For I acknowledge my transgressions -I know, I feel, I confess that
I have sinned.
My sin is ever before me -A true, deep, and unsophisticated mark of a genuine
penitent. Wherever he turns his face, he sees his sin, and through it the eye of an angry
God.
GILL, "For I acknowledge my transgressions,.... Before God and man.
Acknowledgment of sin is what the Lord requires, and promises forgiveness upon, and
therefore is used here as a plea for it; and moreover the psalmist had done so before, and
had succeeded in this way, which must encourage him to take the same course again; see
Psa_32:5;
and my sin is ever before me; staring him in the face; gnawing upon his conscience,
and filling him with remorse and distress; so that his life was a burden to him: for
though God had put away sin out of his own sight, so that he would not condemn him
for it, and he should not die; notwithstanding as yet it was not caused to pass from
David, or the guilt of it removed from his conscience.
HERY 3?4, ". David's penitential confessions,
Psa_51:3-5.
1. He was very free to own his guilt before God: I acknowledge my transgressions;
this he had formerly found the only way of easing his conscience, Psa_32:4, Psa_32:5.
Nathan said, Thou art the man. I am, says David; I have sinned.
2. He had such a deep sense of it that the was continually thinking of it with sorrow
and shame. His contrition for his sin was not a slight sudden passion, but an abiding
grief: “My sin is ever before me, to humble me and mortify me, and make me continually
blush and tremble. It is ever against me” (so some); “I see it before me as an enemy,
accusing and threatening me.” David was, upon all occasions, put in mid of his sin, and
was willing to be so, for his further abasement. He never walked on the roof of his house
without a penitent reflection on his unhappy walk there when thence he saw Bathsheba;
he never lay down to sleep without a sorrowful thought of the bed of his uncleanness,
never sat down to meat, never sent his servant on an errand, or took his pen in hand, but
it put him in mind of his making Uriah drunk, the treacherous message he sent by him,
and the fatal warrant he wrote and signed for his execution. Note, The acts of
repentance, even for the same sin, must be often repeated. It will be of good use for us to
have our sins ever before us, that by the remembrance of our past sins we may be kept
humble, may be armed against temptation, quickened to duty, and made patient under
the cross.
(1.) He confesses his actual transgressions (Psa_51:4): Against thee, thee only, have I
sinned. David was a very great man, and yet, having done amiss, submits to the
discipline of a penitent, and thinks not his royal dignity will excuse him from it. Rich and
poor must here meet together; there is one law of repentance for both; the greatest must
be judged shortly, and therefore must judge themselves now. David was a very good
man, and yet, having sinned, he willingly accommodates himself to the place and

posture of a penitent. The best men, if they sin, should give the best example of
repentance. [1.] His confession is particular; “I have done this evil, this that I am now
reproved for, this that my own conscience now upbraids me with.” Note, It is good to be
particular in the confession of sin, that we may be the more express in praying for
pardon, and so may have the more comfort in it. We ought to reflect upon the particular
heads of our sins of infirmity and the particular circumstances of our gross sins. [2.] He
aggravates the sin which he confesses and lays a load upon himself for it: Against thee,
and in thy sight. Hence our Saviour seems to borrow the confession which he puts into
the mouth of the returning prodigal: I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
Luk_15:18. Two things David laments in his sin: -First, That it was committed against
God. To him the affront is given, and he is the party wronged. It is his truth that by wilful
sin we deny, his conduct that we despise, his command that we disobey, his promise that
we distrust, his name that we dishonour, and it is with him that we deal deceitfully and
disingenuously. From this topic Joseph fetched the great argument against sin (Gen_
39:9), and David here the great aggravation of it: Against thee only. Some make this to
intimate the prerogative of his crown, that, as a king, he was not accountable to any but
God; but it is more agreeable to his present temper to suppose that it expresses the deep
contrition of his soul for his sin, and that it was upon right grounds. He here sinned
against Bathsheba and Uriah, against his own soul, and body, and family, against his
kingdom, and against the church of God, and all this helped to humble him; but none of
these were sinned against so as God was, and therefore this he lays the most sorrowful
accent upon: Against thee only have I sinned. Secondly, That it was committed in God's
sight. “This not only proves it upon me, but renders it exceedingly sinful.” This should
greatly humble us for all our sins, that they have been committed under the eye of God,
which argues either a disbelief of his omniscience or a contempt of his justice. [3.] He
justifies God in the sentence passed upon him - that the sword should never depart
from his house,2Sa_12:10, 2Sa_12:11. He is very forward to own his sin, and aggravate
it, not only that he might obtain the pardon of it himself, but that by his confession he
might give honour to God. First, That God might be justified in the threatenings he had
spoken by Nathan. “Lord, I have nothing to say against the justice of them; I deserve
what is threatened, and a thousand times worse.” Thus Eli acquiesced in the like
threatenings (1Sa_3:18), It is the Lord. And Hezekiah (2Ki_20:19), Good is the word of
the Lord, which thou hast spoken. Secondly, That God might be clear when he judged,
that is, when he executed those threatenings. David published his confession of sin that
when hereafter he should come into trouble none might say God had done him any
wrong; for he owns the Lord is righteous: thus will all true penitents justify God by
condemning themselves. Thou art just in all that is brought upon us.
CALVI, "3.For If know my sins (259) He now discovers his reason for imploring
pardon with so much vehemency, and this was the painful disquietude which his
sins caused him, and which could only be relieved by his obtaining reconciliation
with God. This proves that his prayer did not proceed from dissimulation, as many
will be found commending the grace of God in high terms, although, in reality, they
care little about it, having never felt the bitterness of being exposed to his
displeasure. David, on the contrary, declares that he is subjected by his sin to
constant anguish of mind, and that it is this which imparts such an earnestness to
his supplications. From his example we may learn who they are that can alone be
said to seek reconciliation with God in a proper manner. They are such as have had
their consciences wounded with a sense of sin, and who can find no rest until they

have obtained assurance of his mercy. We will never seriously apply to God for
pardon, until we have obtained such a view of our sins as inspires us with fear. The
more easily satisfied we are under our sins, the more do we provoke God to punish
them with severity, and if we really desire absolution from his hand, we must do
more than confess our guilt in words; we must institute a rigid and formidable
scrutiny into the character of our transgressions. David does not simply say that he
will confess his sins to man, but declares that he has a deep inward feeling of them,
such a feeling of them as filled him with the keenest anguish. His was a very
different spirit from that of the hypocrite, who displays a complete indifference
upon this subject, or when it intrudes upon him, endeavors to bury the recollection
of it. He speaks of his sins in the plural number. His transgression, although it
sprung from one root, was complicated, including, besides adultery, treachery and
cruelty; nor was it one man only whom he had betrayed, but the whole army which
had been summoned to the field in defense of the Church of God. He accordingly
recognises many particular sins as wrapt up in it.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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. ot 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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. athaneal Hardy.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 3. My SI. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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 athane, before athan; 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:3. For I acknowledge my transgressions— עדא adang; I know, I
am conscious of my transgression. When David saw himself in the parable, and had
pronounced his own condemnation, he then saw his sins in their proper
aggravations, and his iniquity was ever before him. His own conscience condemned
him, and he was in perpetual fear of the effects of the divine displeasure. Dr.
Chandler; who, differing in sentiment from Dr. Delaney, thinks that David was
greatly insensible of his guilt, and enjoyed the fruits of his crimes without remorse
many months after he had committed the sins that he now confesses. o man could
call him to account, or had courage enough to put him in mind of his heinous

offences; and even God had not yet interposed to awaken his conscience, and bring
him to a becoming sense of the guilt that he had contracted; so that he hoped for
impunity, and continued easy in the prospect of it, till awakened by athan.
WHEDO, "3. In Psalms 51:3?5 are brought out more distinctly the psalmist’s clear
sense of guilt, and his free confessions.
I acknowledge—Literally, I will know. The word is expressive of clear internal
perception of sin. The willingness to know sin is the first step towards repentance,
and the open expression of this knowledge is the exact idea of acknowledge, confess.
Transgressions—He uses the plural here as in Psalms 51:1. He had caused the death
of Uriah, used deceit, covered his sin, hardened his heart, dishonoured his family,
and weakened his kingdom, added to the breach of the seventh commandment. Thus
one sin never stands alone, but, as Perowne says, “each single transgression is the
mother of many.” Each sin has a malignant and multiform embryonic vitality.
BESO, "Psalms 51:3. For I acknowledge my transgressions — With grief, and
shame, and abhorrence of myself and of my sins, which hitherto I have dissembled
and covered. And, being thus truly penitent, I hope and beg that I may find mercy
with thee. This David had formerly found to be the only way of obtaining
forgiveness and peace of conscience, Psalms 32:4?5, and he now hoped to find the
same blessings in the same way. And my sin is ever before me — That sin, which I
had cast behind my back, is now constantly in my view, to humble and mortify, and
make me continually to blush and tremble. We see here David’s contrition for his
sin was not a slight, sudden passion, but all abiding grief. He was put in mind of his
crimes on all occasions; they were continually in his thoughts: and he was willing
they should be so for his further abasement. Let us learn from hence, that our acts
of repentance, for the same sin, ought to be often repeated, and that it is very
expedient, and will be of great use for us, to have our sins ever before us, that by the
remembrance of those that are past, we may be armed against temptations for the
future, and may be kept humble, quickened to duty, and made patient under the
cross.
ELLICOTT, "(3) For I.—There is an emphatic pronoun in the first clause which we
may preserve, at the same time noticing the difference between the violation of the
covenant generally in the term transgressions in the first clause, and the offence
which made the breach in the second. (See ote Psalms 51:1.) Because I am one who
is conscious of my transgressions, and (or, possibly, even) my offence is ever before
me.
The thought that he had been unfaithful to the covenant was an accusing conscience
to him, keeping his sin always before his eyes, and until, according to his prayer in
Psalms 51:1?2, he was received back into conscious relationship again, his offence
must weigh upon his mind. This explanation holds, whether an individual or the
community speaks.

TRAPP, "Psalms 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin [is] ever
before me.
Ver. 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions] And therefore look for pardon,
according to thy promise. Homo agnoseit, Deus ignoscit.
And my sin] My twisted sin and sadly accented; mine accumulative sin, voluminous
wickedness, that hath so many sins bound up in it, as Cicero saith of parricide.
Is ever before me] To my great grief and regret, my conscience twitteth me with it,
and the devil layeth it in my dish. This maketh him follow God so close, resolved to
give him no rest till he hath registered and enrolled the remission of his sins in the
book of life, with the bloody lines of Christ’s soul saving sufferings, and golden
characters of his own eternal love.
K&D 3?4, "
Substantiation of the prayer by the consideration, that his sense of sin is more than
superficial, and that he is ready to make a penitential confession. True penitence is not a
dead knowledge of sin committed, but a living sensitive consciousness of it (
Isa_59:12),
to which it is ever present as a matter and ground of unrest and pain. This penitential
sorrow, which pervades the whole man, is, it is true, no merit that wins mercy or favour,
but it is the condition, without which it is impossible for any manifestation of favour to
take place. Such true consciousness of sin contemplates sin, of whatever kind it may be,
directly as sin against God, and in its ultimate ground as sin against Him alone (א ָט ָח with
,ְלof the person sinned against, Isa_42:24; Mic_7:9); for every relation in which man
stands to his fellow-men, and to created things in general, is but the manifest form of his
fundamental relationship to God; and sin is “that which is evil in the eyes of God” (Isa_
65:12; Isa_66:4), it is contradiction to the will of God, the sole and highest Lawgiver and
Judge. Thus it is, as David confesses, with regard to his sin, in order that... This ן ַע ַמ ְל
must not be weakened by understanding it to refer to the result instead of to the aim or
purpose. If, however, it is intended to express intention, it follows close upon the moral
relationship of man to God expressed in ,ָך ְ9 ַב ְל, ָך ְל and BgaTGhT wm ,“Bm pd g., - a relationship, the aim of
which is, that God, when He now condemns the sinner, may appear as the just and holy
One, who, as the sinner is obliged himself to acknowledge, cannot do otherwise than
pronounce a condemnatory decision concerning him. When sin becomes manifest to a
man as such, he must himself say Amen to the divine sentence, just as David does to that
passed upon him by Nathan. And it is just the nature of penitence so to confess one's self
to be in the wrong in order that God may be in the right and gain His cause. If, however,
the sinner's self-accusation justifies the divine righteousness or justice, just as, on the
other hand, all self-justification on the part of the sinner (which, however, sooner or
later will be undeceived) accuses God of unrighteousness or injustice (Job_40:8): then
all human sin must in the end tend towards the glorifying of God. In this sense Psa_51:6
is applied by Paul (Rom_3:4), inasmuch as he regards what is here written in the Psalter
-:πως,=ν,δικαιωθBς,Cν,τοEς,λόγοις,σου,,καK,νικLσεες,Cν,τM,κρίνεσθαί,σε (lxx) - as the goal

towards which the whole history of Israel tends. Instead of Bga ,d ,E gn ,“ (infin. like ,ָך ֶח ְל ָשׁ, Gen_
38:17, in this instance for the sake of similarity of sound
(Note: Cf. the following forms, chosen on account of their accord: -יוּשָׂנ, Psa_32:1;
ףּ9ְנ ִה, Psa_68:3; הָני ֶא ְצ, Son_3:11; תות ָשׁ, Isa_22:13; םי ָח ֻמ ְמ, ib. Psa_25:6; טוּU ַה, ib. Psa_
25:7.)
instead of the otherwise usual form d w“ pL), in Thy speaking, the lxx renders Cν,τοEς,λόγοις,
σου = BgaT Gd gE ,n I“; instead of Bga GH ,- gx ,“, Cν,τM,κρίνεσθαί,σε = Bga GH ,-) gV I. ,“ (infin. Niph.), provided
κρίνεσθαι is intended as passive and not (as in Jer_2:9lxx, cf. Mat_5:40) as middle. The
thought remains essentially unchanged by the side of these deviations; and even the
taking of the verb ה ָכָז, to be clean, pure, in the Syriac signification νικXν, does not alter it.
That God may be justified in His decisive speaking and judging; that He, the Judge, may
gain His cause in opposition to all human judgment, towards this tends David's
confession of sin, towards this tends all human history, and more especially the history
of Israel.
SBC, "It seldom happens that any person has very deep views of sin till he has learned
something of the power of a Saviour. As soon as he has learned to appropriate the one,
he has learned to appropriate the other; and it is the man who can say, "My Saviour,"
who will be able to say, "My sin."
I. There is an ease and satisfaction—I might almost say there is a pride—in
acknowledging sin generally. We like to say, "Lord, there is none that doeth good, no, not
one." We find in those words a covert for the conscience. Sin, to affect the mind, must be
seen, not in the class, but in the individual.
II. If you desire to cultivate that frame of mind which becomes a sinner before God, you
must labour, not only for self-knowledge, but for very accurate self-knowledge, to go into
the little details of life. Seek more personal views of sin. You will find this a very different
thing from your general confession—much harder, much more humbling, much more
useful.
III. It is a very serious reflection that there is nothing so much our own as our sins. I do
not see on what a man has a title to write, "Thou art mine," unless it be on his sins. Of
sin, thus individual and thus possessed, David said that it was "ever before him."
IV. A man’s sins must come before him at some time or other; and whenever they do
come before him, it is a very solemn time. To some, by God’s grace, that meeting comes
in mid-life; to some on a deathbed; to some, for the first time, as far as their consent
goes, in another world.
V. There are seasons even to a Christian when he must feel, like Job, "I possess the
iniquity of my youth." Still, if these things be, they are certainly exceptions. The sense of
forgiveness is essential to holiness. Our sins are among the things that are behind, which
we are to forget, and to stretch forth to those that are before. "He that is washed needeth
not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit."
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,2nd scries, p. 310.

There are many things in Holy Scripture which teach us that, however natural it may be,
it is not a Christian disposition to be dwelling on our good doings and deservings. A
habit of daily repentance is the right thing for us; we should every day be going anew to
be washed in the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness; in every prayer, whatever else
we ask or omit, we must ask for pardon through Christ, and for the blessed Spirit to
sanctify, because we have our "sin ever before us" when we come to the throne of grace.
Consider what good we may get through doing as David did and having our sins ever
before us. There is no doubt the view is not a pleasant one. Yet things which are painful
are sometimes profitable, and assuredly it is so here.
I. It will make us humble to think habitually of the many foolish and wrong things we
have done. If we would cultivate that grace, essential to the Christian character, of
lowliness in the sight of God, here is the way to cultivate it.
II. The habitual contemplation of our sinfulness will tend to make us thankful to God, to
make us contented with our lot, and to put down anything like envy in our hearts at the
greater success and eminence of others.
III. To feel our sinfulness, to have our sins set before us by God’s Spirit in such a way
that it will be impossible to help seeing them, and seeing them as bad as they really are,
is the thing that will lead us to Christ, lead us to true repentance and to a simple trust in
Him who "saves His people from their sins."
A. K. H. B., Counsel and Comfort Spoken from a City Pulpit, p. 110.
Psalms 51:3
I. If there be indeed such places as heaven and hell, if we are in real earnest our very
selves to be happy or miserable, both soul and body, for ever, then certainly a light way
of regarding our sins must be very dangerous. These sins of ours, which we treat as mere
trifles, are the very things which our adversary the devil rejoices to see; for he knows that
they provoke God, drive away His Holy Spirit, put us out of His heavenly protection, and
lay us open to the craft and malice of the powers of darkness.
II. The New Testament teaches the very serious nature of our sins in the most awful way
of all: by showing us Christ crucified for them. Those which we think matters of sport
are in God’s sight of such deep and fearful consequence, that He parted with His only-
begotten Son in order to make atonement for them.
III. Thinking lightly of the past is the very way to hinder you from real improvement in
time to come. The wholesome sting of conscience will be dulled and deadened in that
man’s mind who refuses to think much of his sins. The warning voice of God’s Holy
Spirit will fall on his ear faint and powerless. Not to spare one’s own faults is the true,
the manly, the practical way of looking at things; even if there were no express promise
of Holy Scripture, one might be sure beforehand that it is the only way to improve.
IV. Through daily knowing more of yourself—that is to say, more of your sins—you will
daily be brought nearer and nearer to Him who alone can save sinners, taught to rely
altogether on Him, and made to partake more and more of the pardon and holiness
which is only to be found in the Cross.

Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. iv., p. 144.
I. When we bid a man, after David’s example, to have his sins ever before him, it is not
that we mean him to dwell on his sins alone, as sometimes men do when their minds and
bodies are distempered, and they wholly swallowed up with a bitter feeling of remorse.
That was not David’s repentance; that is not Christian repentance. He who reads his
Bible humbly and continually, because he has his sins ever before him, will find his
Christian care and fear soon rewarded, even in the way of present peace and consolation.
He will be often withdrawn from himself to contemplate the glorious and engaging
patterns which God’s book will show him among God’s people. He will feel by degrees as
all men, by God’s grace, would feel in such holy society: not less sorry for and ashamed
of his sins, but more and more enabled to mix with his shame and sorrow steady
resolutions of avoiding the same for the future and assured hope, through God’s
assistance, of becoming really and practically better.
II. Above all, you must think much and often of your sins if you would have true and
solid comfort in thinking of the Cross of Christ. Those who do not know something of
the misery to which they would have been left if their justly offended God had passed
them over—how can they ever be duly thankful for His infinite condescension and mercy
in dying for them?
III. By such grave thoughts of ourselves, we keep up a continual recollection of God’s
presence, which to a helpless being, wanting support every moment, must be the
greatest of all consolations.
IV. The remembrance of our sins and unworthiness may help us against worldly anxiety,
and make us very indifferent to worldly things. So also we shall be braced to endure
sorrow, knowing that it is fully deserved, and shall be continually humbled and sobered
by the remembrance of what He suffered who never deserved any ill. And thus, not being
high-minded, but fearing, we shall make every day’s remembrance of our past sins a step
towards that eternal peace in which there will be no need of watching against sin any
more.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. iv., p. 152 (see also J.
Keble, Sundays after Trinity, pp. 188, 200).
References: Psa_51:3.—Bishop Alexander, Bampton Lectures,1876, p. 71; A. C. Tait,
Lessons for School Life, p. 249; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes,1st series, p. 42.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
BARES, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned -That is, the sin, considered
as an offence against God, now appeared to him so enormous and so aggravated, that,
for the moment, he lost sight of it considered in any other of its bearings. It “was” a sin,
as all other sins are, primarily and mainly against God; it derived its chief enormity from
that fact. We are not to suppose that David did not believe and notice that he had done
wrong to people, or that he had offended against human laws, and against the well-being
of society. His crime against Uriah and his family was of the deepest and most
aggravated character, but still the offence derived its chief heinousness from the fact that
it was a violation of the law of God. The state of mind here illustrated is that which
occurs in every case of true penitence. It is not merely because that which has been done
is a violation of human law; it is not that it brings us to poverty or disgrace; it is not that
it exposes us to punishment on earth from a parent, a teacher, or civil ruler; it is not that
it exposes us to punishment in the world to come: it is that it is of itself, and apart from
all other relations and consequences, “an offence against God;” a violation of his pure
and holy law; a wrong done against him, and in his sight. Unless there is this feeling
there can be no true penitence; and unless there is this feeling there can be no hope of
pardon, for God forgives offences only as committed against himself; not as involving us
in dangerous consequences, or as committed against our fellow-men.
And done this evil in thy sight -Or, When thine eye was fixed on me. Compare the
notes at
Isa_65:3. God saw what he had done; and David knew, or might have known,
that the eye of God was upon him in his wickedness. It was to him then a great
aggravation of his sin that he had “dared” to commit it when he “knew” that God saw
everything. The presence of a child - or even of an idiot - would restrain people from
many acts of sin which they would venture to commit if alone; how much more should
the fact that God is always present, and always sees all that is done, restrain us from
open and from secret transgression.
That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest -That thy character might
be vindicated in all that thou hast said; in the law which thou hast revealed; in the
condemnation of the sin in that law; and in the punishment which thou mayest appoint.
That is, he acknowledged his guilt. He did not seek to apologise for it, or to vindicate it.
God was right, and he was wrong. The sin deserved all that God in his law “had” declared
it to deserve; it deserved all that God by any sentence which he might pass upon him
“would” declare it to deserve. The sin was so aggravated that “any” sentence which God
might pronounce would not be beyond the measure of its ill-desert.
And be clear when thou judgest -Be regarded as right, holy, pure, in the
judgment which thou mayest appoint. See this more fully explained in the notes at
Rom_3:4.

CLARKE, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned -This verse is supposed to
show the impropriety of affixing the above title to this Psalm. It could not have been
composed on account of the matter with Bath-sheba and the murder of Uriah; for,
surely, these sins could not be said to have been committed against God Only, if we take
the words of this verse in their common acceptation. That was a public sin, grievous, and
against society at large, as well as against the peace, honor, comfort, and life of an
innocent, brave, and patriotic man. This is readily granted: but see below.
That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest -Perhaps, to save the
propriety of the title, we might understand the verse thus: David, being king, was not
liable to be called to account by any of his subjects; nor was there any authority in the
land by which he could be judged and punished. In this respect, God Alone was greater
than the king; and to him Alone, as king, he was responsible. Nam quando rex deliquit,
Soli Deo reus est; guia hominem non habet qui ejus facta dijudicet, says Cassiodorus.
“For when a king transgresses, he is accountable to God Only; for there is no person who
has authority to take cognizance of his conduct.” On this very maxim, which is a maxim
in all countries, David might say, Against thee only have I sinned. “I cannot be called to
the bar of my subjects; but I arraign myself before thy bar. They can neither judge nor
condemn me; but thou canst: and such are my crimes that thou wilt be justified in the
eyes of all men, and cleared of all severity, shouldst thou inflict upon me the heaviest
punishment.” This view,of the subject will reconcile the Psalm to the title. As to the
eighteenth and nineteenth verses, we shall consider them in their own place; and
probably find that the objection taken from them has not much weight.
GILL, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,.... All sin, though committed
against a fellow creature, being a transgression of the law, is against the lawgiver; and,
indeed, begins at the neglect or contempt of his commandment, as David's sin did,
2Sa_
12:9; and being committed against God, that had bestowed so many favours upon him,
was a cutting consideration to him, which made his sorrow appear to be of a godly sort;
wherefore he makes his humble and hearty confession to the Lord, and who only could
forgive his sin;
and done this evil in thy sight; for with respect to men it was secretly done; and was
only known to God, with whom the darkness and the light are both alike;
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou
judgest; not that David committed this sin that God might be just, and pure, and holy;
but this was the event and consequence of it: God, by taking notice of it, resenting it, and
reproving for it, appeared to be a righteous Being, and of purer eyes than to behold sin
with pleasure; see Exo_9:27. Or these words may be connected with his
acknowledgment and confession of sin; which were done to this end and purpose, to
justify God in his charge of it upon him, and in threatening him with evils on account of
it, by the mouth of Nathan the prophet: or with his petitions for pardoning grace and
mercy; that so he might appear to be just to his promise, of forgiving iniquity,
transgression and sin, to humble penitents; and particularly that he might appear to be
just and faithful to his Son, in forgiving sin for his sake; whom he had set forth, in his
purposes and promises, to be the propitiation for sin, to declare his righteousness,
Rom_3:25; see Rom_3:4.

HERY, ") He confesses his actual transgressions (Psa_51:4): Against thee, thee only,
have I sinned. David was a very great man, and yet, having done amiss, submits to the
discipline of a penitent, and thinks not his royal dignity will excuse him from it. Rich and
poor must here meet together; there is one law of repentance for both; the greatest must
be judged shortly, and therefore must judge themselves now. David was a very good
man, and yet, having sinned, he willingly accommodates himself to the place and
posture of a penitent. The best men, if they sin, should give the best example of
repentance. [1.] His confession is particular; “I have done this evil, this that I am now
reproved for, this that my own conscience now upbraids me with.” Note, It is good to be
particular in the confession of sin, that we may be the more express in praying for
pardon, and so may have the more comfort in it. We ought to reflect upon the particular
heads of our sins of infirmity and the particular circumstances of our gross sins. [2.] He
aggravates the sin which he confesses and lays a load upon himself for it: Against thee,
and in thy sight. Hence our Saviour seems to borrow the confession which he puts into
the mouth of the returning prodigal: I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
Luk_15:18. Two things David laments in his sin: -First, That it was committed against
God. To him the affront is given, and he is the party wronged. It is his truth that by wilful
sin we deny, his conduct that we despise, his command that we disobey, his promise that
we distrust, his name that we dishonour, and it is with him that we deal deceitfully and
disingenuously. From this topic Joseph fetched the great argument against sin (Gen_
39:9), and David here the great aggravation of it: Against thee only. Some make this to
intimate the prerogative of his crown, that, as a king, he was not accountable to any but
God; but it is more agreeable to his present temper to suppose that it expresses the deep
contrition of his soul for his sin, and that it was upon right grounds. He here sinned
against Bathsheba and Uriah, against his own soul, and body, and family, against his
kingdom, and against the church of God, and all this helped to humble him; but none of
these were sinned against so as God was, and therefore this he lays the most sorrowful
accent upon: Against thee only have I sinned. Secondly, That it was committed in God's
sight. “This not only proves it upon me, but renders it exceedingly sinful.” This should
greatly humble us for all our sins, that they have been committed under the eye of God,
which argues either a disbelief of his omniscience or a contempt of his justice. [3.] He
justifies God in the sentence passed upon him - that the sword should never depart
from his house,2Sa_12:10, 2Sa_12:11. He is very forward to own his sin, and aggravate
it, not only that he might obtain the pardon of it himself, but that by his confession he
might give honour to God. First, That God might be justified in the threatenings he had
spoken by Nathan. “Lord, I have nothing to say against the justice of them; I deserve
what is threatened, and a thousand times worse.” Thus Eli acquiesced in the like
threatenings (1Sa_3:18), It is the Lord. And Hezekiah (2Ki_20:19), Good is the word of
the Lord, which thou hast spoken. Secondly, That God might be clear when he judged,
that is, when he executed those threatenings. David published his confession of sin that
when hereafter he should come into trouble none might say God had done him any
wrong; for he owns the Lord is righteous: thus will all true penitents justify God by
condemning themselves. Thou art just in all that is brought upon us.
JAMISO,"Against thee— chiefly, and as sins against others are violations of
God’s law, in one sense only.
that ... judgest— that is, all palliation of his crime is excluded; it is the design in
making this confession to recognize God’s justice, however severe the sentence.

CALVI, "4.Against thee, thee only, have I sinned (260) It is the opinion of some
that he here adverts to the circumstance of his sin, although it was committed
against man, being concealed from every eye but that of God. one was aware of the
double wrong which he had inflicted upon Uriah, nor of the wanton manner in
which he had exposed his army to danger; and his crime being thus unknown to
men, might be said to have been committed exclusively against God. According to
others, David here intimates, that however deeply he was conscious of having
injured men, he was chiefly distressed for having violated the law of God. But I
conceive his meaning to be, that though all the world should pardon him, he felt that
God was the Judge with whom he had to do, that conscience hailed him to his bar,
and that the voice of man could administer no relief to him, however much he might
be disposed to forgive, or to excuse, or to flatter. His eyes and his whole soul were
directed to God, regardless of what man might think or say concerning him. To one
who is thus overwhelmed with a sense of the dreadfulness of being obnoxious to the
sentence of God, there needs no other accuser. God is to him instead of a thousand.
There is every reason to believe that David, in order to prevent his mind from being
soothed into a false peace by the flatteries of his court, realised the judgment of God
upon his offense, and felt that this was in itself an intolerable burden, even
supposing that he should escape all trouble from the hands of his fellow?creatures.
This will be the exercise of every true penitent. It matters little to obtain our
acquittal at the bar of human judgment, or to escape punishment through the
connivance of others, provided we suffer from an accusing conscience and an
offended God. And there is, perhaps, no better remedy against deception in the
matter of our sins than to turn our thoughts inward upon ourselves, to concentrate
them upon God, and lose every self?complacent imagination in a sharp sense of his
displeasure. By a violent process of interpretation, some would have us read the
second clause of this verse, That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, in
connection with the first verse of the psalm, and consider that it cannot be referred
to the sentence immediately preceding. (261) But not to say that this breaks in upon
the order of the verses, what sense could any attach to the prayer as it would then
run, have mercy upon me, that thou mayest be clear when thou judgest? etc. Any
doubt upon the meaning of the words, however, is completely removed by the
connection in which they are cited in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans,
“For what if some did not believe? Shall God be unjust? God forbid: yea, let God be
true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mayest be justified in thy
sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” — Romans 3:3
Here the words before us are quoted in proof of the doctrine that God’s
righteousness is apparent even in the sins of men, and his truth in their falsehood.
To have a clear apprehension of their meaning, it is necessary that we reflect upon
the covenant which God had made with David. The salvation of the whole world
having been in a certain sense deposited with him by this covenant, the enemies of
religion might take occasion to exclaim upon his fall, “Here is the pillar of the
Church gone, and what is now to become of the miserable remnant whose hopes
rested upon his holiness? Once nothing could be more conspicuous than the glory by
which he was distinguished, but mark the depth of disgrace to which he has been

reduced! Who, after so gross a fall, would look for salvation from his seed?” Aware
that such attempts might be made to impugn the righteousness of God, David takes
this opportunity of justifying it, and charging himself with the whole guilt of the
transaction. He declares that God was justified when he spoke — not when he spoke
the promises of the covenant, although some have so understood the words, but
justified should he have spoken the sentence of condemnation against him for his
sin, as he might have done but for his gratuitous mercy. Two forms of expression
are here employed which have the same meaning, that thou mayest be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest As Paul, in the quotation
already referred to, has altered the latter clause, and may even seem to have given a
new turn to the sentiment contained in the verse, I shall briefly show how the words
were applicable to the purpose for which they were cited by him. He adduces them
to prove that God’s faithfulness remained unaffected by the fact that the Jews had
broken his covenant, and fallen from the grace which he had promised. ow, at first
sight it may not appear how they contain the proof alleged. But their appositeness
will at once be seen if we reflect upon the circumstance to which I have already
adverted. Upon the fall of one who was so great a pillar in the Church, so illustrious
both as a prophet and a king, as David, we cannot but believe that many were
shaken and staggered in the faith of the promises. Many must have been disposed to
conclude, considering the close connection into which God had adopted David, that
he was implicated in some measure in his fall. David, however, repels an insinuation
so injurious to the divine honor, and declares, that although God should cast him
headlong into everlasting destruction, his mouth would be shut, or opened only to
acknowledge his unimpeachable justice. The sole departure which the apostle has
made from the passage in his quotation consists in his using the verb to judge in a
passive sense, and reading, that thou mightest overcome, instead of, that thou
mightest be clear. In this he follows the Septuagint, (262) and it is well known that
the apostles do not study verbal exactness in their quotations from the Old
Testament. It is enough for us to be satisfied, that the passage answers the purpose
for which it was adduced by the apostle. The general doctrine which we are taught
from the passage is, that whatever sins men may commit are chargeable entirely
upon themselves, and never can implicate the righteousness of God. Men are ever
ready to arraign his administration, when it does not correspond with the judgment
of sense and human reason. But should God at any time raise persons from the
depth of obscurity to the highest distinction, or, on the other hand, allow persons
who occupied a most conspicuous station to be suddenly precipitated from it, we
should learn from the example which is here set before us to judge of the divine
procedure with sobriety, modesty, and reverence and to rest satisfied that it is holy,
and that the works of God, as well as his words, are characterised by unerring
rectitude. The conjunction in the verse, that?that thou mayest be justified, denotes
not so much cause as consequence. It was not the fall of David, properly speaking,
which caused the glory of God’s righteousness to appear. And yet, although men
when they sin seem to obscure his righteousness, it emerges from the foul attempt
only more bright than ever, it being the peculiar work of God to bring light out of
darkness.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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. one 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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 OLY 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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. athan 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.

COKE, "Psalms 51:4. Against thee, &c.— Injuries done to private persons are
offences against government, and, as to the right of punishment, offences only
against government. And therefore, though David had injured Bathsheba, whom he
had corrupted, and Uriah, whom he had murdered; yet, as no one could call him to
an account, or punish him for those crimes, but God only, whose immediate
substitute he was, as king of Israel, God himself being properly the supreme
governor, he could say, with great propriety and truth, against thee only have I
sinned: not as if he had not sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, and to extenuate
his sin; but by way of aggravating his guilt, in that, though he was not arraignable
at any earthly tribunal, he was at God's; and that to his punishment he had
rendered himself obnoxious, and was worthy of having it inflicted on him in the
most exemplary manner. For thus it immediately follows; that thou mightest be
justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. When athan had
represented the crying and shameful injustice of the rich man, David declares with
an oath, that he was worthy of death, and therefore condemns himself as deserving
that punishment: and though God mercifully declared, he shall not die, yet he
pronounced a very severe vengeance against him, 2 Samuel 12:11?12. And this
sentence he acknowledges to be just. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and
done this evil, and subjected myself to thy punishment; ( ןעמל lemangan,—ita ut; See
oldius upon the word;) so that thou wilt be just, ֶךרבדב bedabreka, in what thou
hast spoken; i.e. the sentence thou hast pronounced against me; and pure, i.e. free
from all reproach, in judging me; that is, shouldst thou pass sentence of
condemnation and death against me." Houbigant reads the words, Wash me from
mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sins; that thou mayest hereby be justified in
what thou hast spoken, and clear when thou enterest into judgment: And he
explains the words, in what thou hast spoken, of God's promises to David, in
reference to his glory, and the prosperity of his kingdom. But I apprehend this is too
bold a criticism to be easily allowed; nor do I see it at all necessary to vindicate the
apostle's citation of these words, Romans 3:4 for there he quotes them only as
containing this general truth: that God would be justified in the whole of his
procedure with men, and even in the condemnation of the Jews themselves for their
unbelief. And nothing could be more applicable to his purpose, than these words of
the Psalmist, in the sense in which I have explained them: So that thou wilt be just
in thy sentence; thou wilt be pure in the judgment thou hast pronounced. Chandler.
WHEDO, "4. Against thee, thee only—The particle rendered “only,” should here
take its radical signification of separately, apart, as it often does elsewhere. The
sense is, “against thee, against thee” apart, or separately, from all human relations
of my offense, have I sinned. His sin against humanity was great, but he now sees
more clearly than ever that each sin against humanity is a sin against God, and it
was the divine law, the relations of his soul to God, which gave sin its peculiar
turpitude.
That… mightest be justified—The telic use of “that” appears strongly here, and the
doctrine stands thus: From the relation of all souls to God every sin against man lies
primarily against God, to the end, or final consequence, that God, who is the
supreme and ultimate judge of all human conduct, may be justified in his sentence

upon the wicked.
BESO, "Psalms 51:4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned — Which is not to be
understood absolutely, because he had sinned against Bath?sheba and Uriah, and
many others; but comparatively. So the sense is, Though I have sinned against my
own conscience, and against others, yet nothing is more grievous to me than that I
have sinned against thee. And done this evil in thy sight — With gross contempt of
thee, whom I knew to be a spectator of my most secret actions. That thou mightest
be justified — This will be the fruit of my sin, that whatsoever severities thou shalt
use toward me, it will be no blemish to thy righteousness, but thy justice will be
glorified by all men. When thou speakest — Hebrew, in thy words, in all thy
threatenings denounced against me. And be clear when thou judgest — When thou
dost execute thy sentence upon me.
ELLICOTT, "(4) Against thee, thee only . . .—This can refer to nothing but a
breach of the covenant?relation by the nation at large. An individual would have felt
his guilt against the nation or other individuals, as well as against Jehovah. The fact
that St. Paul quotes (from the LXX.) part of the verse in Romans 3:4 (see ote, ew
Testament Commentary) has naturally opened up an avenue for discussion on the
bearing of the words on the doctrines of free?will and predestination. But the
immediate object of his quotation appears to be to contrast the faithfulness of the
God of the covenant with the falsehood of the covenant people (“Let God be true,
and every man a liar”). The honour of God, as God of the covenant, was at stake. It
is this thought which appears in the last clauses of this verse.
That . . .—So that (or, in order that) thou art (or mayest be) justified in thy cause,
and clear in thy judgment. The Hebrew, rendered in the Authorised Version when
thou speakest, is often used of a cause or suit (see (Exodus 18:16?22, “matter,” &c),
and it is here plainly used in this sense and is parallel to judgment. The clause seems
to imply not only a sense of a breach of the covenant, but some manifest judgment
from Jehovah in consequence; and, as usual, it is of its effect on the heathen that the
psalmist thinks. The Divine honour would be justified when the suffering nation
confessed that condemnation and punishment had been deserved. This was
apparently the meaning read in the words by the LXX.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done [this] evil in
thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, [and] be clear when
thou judgest.
Ver. 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned] This he spake in respect of the secresy
of his sins, say some; whence also it followeth, "And done this evil in thy sight."
David sent for Bathsheba by his servants, but they knew not wherefore he sent for
her, saith Kimchi; neither knew any one why letters were sent to Joab to kill Uriah;
but because he refused to obey the king, bidding him go home to his house, &c.
Others thus, Against thee only, that is, thee mainly; for every sin is a violation of
God’s law; the trespass may be against man, but the transgression is ever against
God. Others again thus, Against thee, &c., that is, against thee, so good a God, have

I thus heinously offended, giving thereby thine enemies occasion to blaspheme thee.
This, I take it, is the true meaning.
And done this evil in thy sight] Which was to despise thee, 2 Samuel 12:10, not
caring though thou lookedst on.
That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, &c.] i.e. Declared to be just,
whatever thou hast denounced against me or shalt inflict upon me. The
unrighteousness of man commendeth the righteousness of God, Romans 3:4?5. To
thee, O Lord God, belongeth righteousness, but unto us confusion of face, saith
Daniel, Psalms 9:7.
SBC, "
Modern blasphemy delights to blacken "the man after God’s own heart." His was
a terrible fall, terrible as well as piteous. He, so blameless in youth—could he, when life
had begun to set, be stained so miserably through the passions of youth? It is an intense
mystery of sin that man should admit so black a spot where all around was so fair; it is
an intenser mystery of God’s love that He should have arrested so black a spot from
spreading, and overcasting, and infecting the whole.
I. In one way the sin was irremediable. It changed David’s eternal condition. David, like
the blest robber, the first-fruits of the redeeming blood of Jesus, is, through those same
merits, glorious with the indwelling glory of God; yet his soul, doubtless one of the
highest of much-forgiven penitents, is still a soul which, by two insulated acts, broke to
the uttermost God’s most sacred laws of purity and of love.
II. How then was he restored? Grace had been sinned away. He was left to his natural
self. He had still that strong sense of justice and hatred of the very sins by which he had
fallen, which responded so quickly and so indignantly against cruelty and wrong when
called out by Nathan’s parable. He must have had remorse. Remorse is the fruit of the
most condescending love of our God. Neglected or stifled, it is the last grace by which
God would save the soul; it is the first by which God would prepare the soul which has
forfeited grace to return to Him.
III. But remorse, although a first step to repentance, is not repentance. For remorse
centres in a man’s self. While it is mere remorse it does not turn to God. And so God, in
His love, sent to David the prophet, the very sight of whom might recall to him the
mercies of God in the past, His promises for the future, and the memory of those days of
innocent service and bright aspirations to which the soul overtaken by sin looks back
with such sorrowful yearning. The heavy stone which lay on the choked, dead heart was
rolled away; the dead was alive again; the two-edged sword of God’s word, judgment and
mercy, had slain him to himself that he might live to God. The awakened soul burst forth
in those two words, "I have sinned against the Lord." Then was remorse absorbed,
transformed, spiritualised into penitent love.
IV. But this was the beginning of the renewed life of the soul, not the end. It issued in a
constant longing for a recreation, a reverent fear springing from the sense of what it had
deserved, an earnest craving for a more thorough cleansing from every stain or spot of
sin, a thirst for the purging by the atoning blood, an unvarying sight of his forgiven
sinfulness, spreading far and wide from the core of original sin, a longing to do free,
noble, generous service, and all from God to God, from God’s re-creating, renewing,

enfreedoming, ennobling grace.
E. B. Pusey, Cambridge Lent Sermons,1864, p. 163.
SIMEO, "SI A OFFECE AGAIST GOD
Psalms 51:4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight;
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
THE occasion of this psalm is well known: it refers to one of the most melancholy
transactions that ever took place in the world. In point of enormity, the deed is
almost without a parallel; because it was performed by a man who till that time had
made the highest professions of religion, and had been characterized even by God
himself as “the man after God’s own heart [ote: If this were the subject of a
Magdalen Sermon, it would be proper in a delicate manner to enlarge somewhat on
the crime itself.].” But it is not the crime which David committed, but only the
repentance which followed it, that is the subject of our present consideration. For a
_.:jtmv“xtgvGtgxPpmt(PGtgPp,x:x,zt)”mtPImxptmgPmtcPthan had come from God to
accuse and condemn him, he yielded to the conviction, and humbled himself before
God in dust and ashes. In this psalm is recorded the prayer which David offered
unto God on that occasion: and it was given by David to the Church, that it might
be a pattern, and an encouragement, to penitents in all future ages. The particular
declaration in our text is introduced as an aggravation of his guilt. We are not
however to interpret it so strictly, as if the crime which David had committed were
really no offence against man; for in that view it was as heinous as can possibly be
conceived: it was a sin against Bathsheba, whom he had defiled: against Uriah,
whom he had murdered; against Joab, whom he had made an instrument to effect
the murder; against all the soldiers, who were murdered at the same time; against
the friends and relatives of all who were slain; against his own army, who were
hereby weakened and discouraged; against the whole nation, whose interests were
hereby endangered; against the Church of God, who were hereby scandalized; and
the ungodly world, who were hereby hardened in their iniquities. It was “a sin also
against his whole body [ote: 1 Corinthians 6:18.].” We must therefore understand
the expression rather as comparative; as if it had been said, “Against thee, thee
wgvxI_7BtgP3xtdtGv::x,A8tcx3xpmgx_xGGBtPGtP:t.IIx:we against God, the enormity of the
crime is so great, as almost to swallow up and annihilate every other consideration
of it, as the meridian sun reduces to non?existence, as it were, the twinkling of a star.
It is from this consideration of it that every sin derives its chief enormity. Dropping
therefore any further reference to David’s crime, we shall endeavour to shew in
general,
I. The malignity of sin as an offence against God—
Men in general think little of sin, except as it affects the welfare of society: as an
offence against God, it is scarcely ever deemed worthy of notice. But every sin, of

whatever kind, necessarily strikes at God himself: it implies,
1. A forgetfulness of his presence—
[He is omnipresent; nor is any thing hid from his all?seeing eye — — — But, when
we commit sin, we lose all recollection that God’s eye is upon us: we say in our
hearts, “The Lord shall not see; neither shall the God of Jacob regard it [ote:
Psalms 94:7.]:” “How shall God know? Is there knowledge with the Most High
[ote: Psalms 73:11.]?” “Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he cannot see
[ote: Job 22:13?14.].” This is no deduction of ours, but the declaration of God
himself: and the truth of it is evident: for, if even the presence of a fellow?creature is
sufficient to overawe men, so that they cannot perpetrate crimes to which they are
most strongly tempted; so much more would the presence of Almighty God restrain
us, if we were conscious that he was inspecting and witnessing all the secrets of our
hearts.]
2. A contempt Of his authority—
[God, as the great Lawgiver, requires obedience to his laws, every one of which
bears the impress of divine authority upon it But in violating his commands, we
trample on his authority, and say in effect, “I am at my own disposal: who is Lord
over me [ote: Psalms 12:4.]?” “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? I
know not the Lord: neither will I obey his voice [ote: Exodus 5:2.]:” “I will not
have this man to reign over me [ote: Luke 19:14.].” We have a striking
exemplification of this in the conduct of the Jews, who, contrary to God’s command,
would go down into Egypt: “As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name
of the Lord, (said they to Jeremiah,) we will not hearken unto thee; but we will
certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth [ote: Jeremiah
44:16?17.].” Thus, as God himself says, “We not only forget him, but cast him
behind our back [ote: Ezekiel 23:35.].”
3. A disbelief of his truth—
[God has spoken frequently respecting his determination to punish sin: he has said,
that “he will by no means clear the guilty;” and that, “though hand join in hand, the
wicked shall not pass unpunished.” ow, if we truly believed his word, we could not
rush into sin: the apprehension of such tremendous consequences would deter us
from it. But we are hardened by unbelief. Unbelief was the source of all the
Israelites’ rebellions in the wilderness [ote: Psalms 106:24. Hebrews 3:19.]; and it
is the fruitful spring of all our disobedience: “Ye shall not surely die,” is at the root
of every evil we commit [ote: Genesis 3:4.]. But “God is not a man, that he should
lie, or the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it?
Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good [ote: umbers 23:19.]?” Let us
bear this in mind, that in the commission of sin, and the expectation of impunity, we
“make God himself a liar [ote: 1 John 5:10.].”]
4. A denial of his justice—

[God has represented himself as “a God of judgment, by whom actions are weighed
[ote: 1 Samuel 2:3.];” and has declared his purpose to “call every work into
judgment,” and to “judge every man according to his works.” But, in violating his
laws, “we say, in fact, God will not require it [ote: Psalms 10:13.]:” “The Lord is
altogether such an one as ourselves [ote: Psalms 50:21.];” “he will not do good,
neither will he do evil [ote: Zephaniah 1:12.].” What an indignity is this to offer to
the Governor of the Universe, the Judge of quick and dead! He has spoken of the
last day as “the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God:” but, if the
issue of it were such as we expect, and heaven were awarded to wilful and
impenitent transgressors, it would rather be a day wherein God’swant of justice and
of holiness shall be displayed before the whole assembled universe.]
5. A defiance of his power—
[Men who commit iniquity are represented as “stretching out their hands against
God, and strengthening themselves against the Almighty; yea, as running upon him,
even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his buckler [ote: Job 15:25?26.]:” and to
what a fearful extent this is done, we may see by the testimony of God himself:
“They, the workers of iniquity, say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that
we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come,
that we may know it [ote: Isaiah 5:19.].” Does this appear an exaggerated account
of men’s impiety? See then how they are described by the Psalmist: “The wicked,
through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his
thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above, out of his
sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them [ote: Psalms 10:4?5.].” What an
astonishing height of impiety is this; to puff at God’s threatenings, as if we defied
him to his face! Yet do we see that this is the very conduct of men, whenever we
warn them to flee from the wrath to come: we seem to menace them with judgments
which they have no cause to fear, and to set in array against them an enemy whom
they are at liberty to despise.]
When once we view sin as an offence against God, we shall be prepared to
acknowledge,
II. The equity of his judgments which he has denounced against it—
That God has denounced the heaviest judgments against it, is certain—
[Against sin in general he has denounced eternal misery: “The wicked shall be
turned into hell, and all the people that forget God [ote: Psalms 9:17. Romans
1:18.]” — — — Against every individual that commits it, he has also denounced his
judgments: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die [ote: Ezekiel 18:20. 1 Peter 1:17.]”
— — — Against every particular sin, whatever be men’s excuses for retaining it, the
same awful sentence is proclaimed [ote: Mark 9:42?48.] — — — Death, everlasting
death, is the wages due to sin [ote: Romans 6:23.], and the wages that shall be paid
to every sinner at the last day [ote: Matthew 25:46.] — — —]

In executing these he will be completely justified—
[We are ready to account such denunciations of wrath severe, and to question the
equity of them — — — But thepenal evil of damnation will not appear in the least to
exceed the moral evil of sin, if we duly consider against whom sin is committed.
Consider his greatness. “Great is the Lord,” says the Psalmist, “yea, his greatness is
unsearchable.” If we could conceive the meanest reptile, or the smallest insect,
endued with such a measure of intelligence as to be able in some degree to
appreciate the dignity of a mighty monarch; and then to exalt itself against him, and
to pour all manner of contempt upon him; the atrocity of such presumption would
justly excite our keenest indignation. But the whole universe together is not as the
smallest insect in comparison of God; and yet we, we atom insects of an atom world,
dare to set ourselves against his divine majesty, yea, to defy him to his face. Will
God then be unjust if he execute his judgments on such impious worms? Are we at
liberty to insult him; and is he not at liberty to avenge himself on us? — — —]
But consider also his goodness. O how unbounded has this been! How has he borne
with us in all our rebellion! How has he sent his only?begotten Son, to expiate our
sin, and to open a way for our reconciliation with him! How has he sought to glorify
in our salvation those very perfections, which we have so impiously despised, and
which he might well glorify in our everlasting condemnation! How has he sent his
Holy Spirit, to instruct, renew, and comfort us! How has he sent his word and
ministers, to invite, entreat, expostulate, yea, and, as it were, to “compel us” to
accept of mercy! This he has done from our youth up: this he is doing yet daily and
hourly: and, as if all his own happiness were bound up in ours, he says, “How shall I
give thee up?” “Wilt thou not be made clean? Oh! when shall it once be?” This is
the God against whom we are sinning. This is the God whom we wish extinct [ote:
Psalms 14:1. Omitting the words in Italics.]; and respecting whom we say, “Make
the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” This is he, “whose blessed Son we
trample under foot, and to whose eternal Spirit we do despite [ote: Hebrews
10:29.]:” yea, that very “goodness and long?suffering and forbearance which should
lead us to repentance,” are made by us an occasion of multiplying our offences
against him. Say now whether he will “be unrighteous in taking vengeance?” Were
a fellow?creature to make such returns to us, and to render nothing but evil to us for
all the good we did him, should we think that he had any claim on us? Should we
account ourselves unjust, if we did not acknowledge him as one of our dearest
friends, and place him on a footing with our own beloved children, and make him
an heir of all that we possessed? Should we not feel ourselves amply justified in
rejecting such an absurd and groundless claim as this? Know then, that we have no
claim on God; and, when he shall exclude us from the inheritance or his saints, “he
will be justified” in the judgment that he shall denounce against us. Indeed, in
assigning us this portion, he will only give effect to our own wishes, and answer us in
the desire of our own hearts: we said to him, “Depart from us; we desire not the
knowledge of thee [ote: Job 21:14.];” and he will say to us, “Depart from me;
depart accursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels [ote:

Matthew 25:41.].”]
The whole creation will unite in vindicating these judgments as just and good—
[Doubtless, if it were possible, sinners would urge at the bar of judgment the
objections which here they presume to bring against the justice of their God. But sin
will then appear in all its deformity: it will then be seen what a God we sinned
against, and what mercies we despised. Even in this world, when once persons are
brought to view themselves aright, they justify God in all that he sees fit to inflict
upon them [ote: It is worthy of observation, that God’s goodness to David is
mentioned as the greatest aggravation of his offence. 2 Samuel 12:7?9.]. Aaron
[ote: Leviticus 10:3.], Eli [ote: 1 Samuel 3:18.], Hezekiah [ote: Isaiah 39:8.],
David [ote: Psalms 39:9.], all confessed, that God had a right to deal with them in
the way that he had done. Much more in the day of judgment, when every thing will
be seen in its true light, will the whole universe approve the sentence which God
shall pass on the world of the ungodly: they will make the very punishment of the
wicked a subject of their songs; “saying, Allelujah! salvation, and glory, and
honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his
judgments [ote: Revelation 15:3; Revelation 19:1?2.].” Indeed the miserable
objects themselves, though they cannot join in the song, will be unable to condemn
the sentence. The man who was excluded from the marriage?feast for not having on
a wedding garment, might have urged, that he was brought in before he had time to
procure one: but his plea would have been false and unavailing; and therefore “he
was speechless [ote: Matthew 22:12.];” a striking monument of conscious guilt,
and an awful specimen of a condemned soul [ote: Romans 3:19.].]
In this acknowledgment then of David we may see,
1. The grand constituents of repentance—
[Many may be sorry that they, have subjected themselves to punishment, just as a
criminal may that he has forfeited his life to the laws of his country: but no man can
truly repent, till he sees, that his whole life has been one continued state of rebellion
against God; and that “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” is his
just desert. Till a man has that view of himself, he will never be thoroughly broken
and contrite; he will never lothe and abhor himself for his iniquities; he will never
have that “repentance which is unto life, that repentance which is not to be repented
of.” We entreat you all then to judge of your repentance by these marks. Do not be
satisfied with being humbled on account of sin; but inquire particularly, whether
you are more humbled from a view of it as against man, or a view of it as against
God. These ought to bear no proportion in your estimate of your own character.
Your own nothingness and vileness can only be estimated aright when viewed in
contrast with the majesty you have offended, and the mercy you have despised: and
till you see that everlasting misery in hell is your deserved portion, you can never lie
so low as you ought to lie.]
2. The true preparative for pardon—

[Something we must bring with us to the Saviour: but what is that which we ought
to bring? Must we get a certain portion of good works wherewith to purchase his
GP_3Pmv.:ntc.ztmgvGtvGtPtOpvwxt(gvwgtgxt(v__t”mmxp_y despise. That which we are to
bring is precisely what a patient brings to a physician, a sense of his extreme need of
the physician’s aid. Christ came to save sinners: we then must feel ourselves sinners.
He came to seek and save that which was lost: we then must feel ourselves lost. A
just sense of our guilt and misery is all that he requires: if we come wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, he will give us that gold that has been
tried in the fire, the raiment that shall cover our nakedness, and the eye?salve that
shall restore our eyes to sight. If we come to him full, we shall be sent empty away:
but if we come hungry and empty, we shall “be filled out of his inexhaustible
fulness,” we shall “be filled with all the fulness of our God.”]
3. The best preservative from sin—
[When Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife, he answered her, “How shall I do
this great wickedness, and sin against God [ote: Genesis 39:9.]?” Thus we would
recommend all, when tempted to commit iniquity, to consider, first, what God will
think of it; and next, what they themselves will thv:2t.Itvmtv:tmgxt_PGmt,P7ntc.(tvmt
may appear light and venial, especially if it be not such a heinous sin as adultery or
murder: but when it comes to be seen in its true light, as against an infinitely good
and gracious God; and when the judgments which he has denounced against it come
to be felt; what shall we think of it then? Oh! ask yourselves, ‘What will be my view
of this matter in the last day?’ Then even the sins that now seem of no account, will
appear most heinous, and the price paid for a momentary indulgence, most
prodigal. The selling of a birthright for a mess of pottage is but a very faint emblem
of the folly of those, who for the whole world are induced to barter the salvation of
their souls. View things in any measure now, as you will view them at the last day;
and you will rather die a thousand deaths than sin against your God.]
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
BARES, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity -The object of this important verse
is to express the deep sense which David had of his depravity. That sense was derived

from the fact that this was not a sudden thought, or a mere outward act, or an offence
committed under the influence of strong temptation, but that it was the result of an
entire corruption of his nature - of a deep depravity of heart, running back to the very
commencement of his being. The idea is, that he could not have committed this offence
unless he had been thoroughly corrupt, and always corrupt. The sin was as heinous and
aggravated “as if” in his very conception and birth there had been nothing but depravity.
He looked at his, sin, and he looked back to his own origin, and he inferred that the one
demonstrated that in the other there was no good thing, no tendency to goodness, no
germ of goodness, but that there was evil, and only evil; as when one looks at a tree, and
sees that it bears sour or poisonous fruit, he infers that it is in the very nature of the tree,
and that there is nothing else in the tree, from its origin, but a tendency to produce just
such fruit.
Of course, the idea here is not to cast reflections on the character of his mother, or to
refer to her feelings in regard to his conception and birth, but the design is to express his
deep sense of his own depravity; a depravity so deep as to demonstrate that it must have
had its origin in the very beginning of his existence. The word rendered “I was shapen” -
יתללוח  chôlal
e
tiy- is from a word -לוח  chûl- which means properly, “to turn around, to
twist, to whirl;” and then it comes to mean “to twist oneself with pain, to writhe;” and
then it is used especially with reference to the pains of childbirth. Isa_13:8; Isa_23:4;
Isa_26:18; Isa_66:7-8; Mic_4:10. That is the meaning here. The idea is simply that he
was “born” in iniquity; or that he was a sinner when he was born; or that his sin could be
traced back to his very birth - as one might say that he was born with a love of music, or
with a love of nature, or with a sanguine, a phlegmatic, or a melancholy temperament.
There is not in the Hebrew word any idea corresponding to the word ““shapen,”” as if
he had been “formed” or “moulded” in that manner by divine power; but the entire
meaning of the word is exhausted by saying that his sin could be traced back to his “very
birth;” that it was so deep and aggravated, that it could be accounted for - or that he
could express his sense of it - in no other way, than by saying that he was “born a
sinner.” How that occurred, or how it was connected with the first apostasy in Adam, or
how the fact that he was thus born could be vindicated, is not intimated, nor is it alluded
to. There is no statement that the sin of another was “imputed” to him; or that he was
“responsible” for the sin of Adam; or that he was guilty “on account of” Adam’s sin, for
on these points the psalmist makes no assertion. It is worthy of remark, further, that the
psalmist did not endeavor to “excuse” his guilt on the ground that he was ““born”” in
iniquity; nor did he allude to that fact with any purpose of “exculpating” himself. The
fact that he was thus born only deepened his sense of his own guilt, or showed the
enormity of the offence which was the regular result or outbreak of that carly depravity.
The points, therefore, which are established by this expression of the psalmist, so far as
the language is designed to illustrate how human nature is conceived, are
(1) that people are born with a propensity to sin; and
(2) that this fact does not excuse us in sin, but rather tends to aggravate and deepen
our guilt.
The language goes no further than this in regard to the question of original sin or
native depravity. The Septuagint agrees with this interpretation -]δού,γ^ρ,Cν,ανο_ίαις,
συνελήφθην  idou gar en anomias sunelēfthēn. So the Vulgate: in iniquitatibus conceptus
sum.
And in sin did my mother conceive me -Margin, as in Hebrew, “warm me.” This
language simply traces his sin back to the time when he began to exist. The previous

expression traced it to “his birth;” this expression goes back to the very beginning of
“life;” when there were the first indications of life. The idea is, “as soon as I began to
exist I was a sinner; or, I had then a propensity to sin - a propensity, the sad proof and
result of which is that enormous act of guilt which I have committed.”
CLARKE, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity -A genuine penitent will hide
nothing of his state; he sees and bewails, not only the acts of sin which he has
committed, but the disposition that led to those acts. He deplores, not only the
transgression, but the carnal mind which is enmity against God. The light that shines
into his soul shows him the very source whence transgression proceeds; he sees his
fallen nature, as well as his sinful life; he asks pardon for his transgressions, and he asks
washing and cleansing for his inward defilement. Notwithstanding all that Grotius and
others have said to the contrary, I believe David to speak here of what is commonly
called original sin; the propensity to evil which every man brings into the world with
him, and which is the fruitful source whence all transgression proceeds. The word
יתללוח
cholalti, which we translate shaped, means more properly, I was brought forth from the
womb; and ינתמחי yechemathni rather signifies made me warm, alluding to the whole
process of the formation of the fetus in utero, the formative heat which is necessary to
develope the parts of all embryo animals; to incubate the ova in the female, after having
been impregnated by the male; and to bring the whole into such a state of maturity and
perfection as to render it capable of subsisting and growing up by aliment received from
without. “As my parts were developed in the womb, the sinful principle diffused itself
through the whole, so that body and mind grew up in a state of corruption and moral
imperfection.”
GILL, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,.... This cannot be understood of any
personal iniquity of his immediate parents; since this respects his wonderful formation
in the womb, in which both he and they were wholly passive, as the word here used is of
that form; and is the amazing work of God himself, so much admired by the psalmist,
Psa_139:13; and cannot design any sinfulness then infused into him by his Maker, seeing
God cannot be the author of sin; but of original sin and corruption, derived to him by
natural generation: and the sense is, that as soon as ever the mass of human nature was
shaped and quickened, or as soon as soul and body were united together, sin was in him,
and he was in sin, or became a sinful creature;
and in sin did my mother conceive me; by whom cannot be meant Eve; for though
she is the mother of all living, and so of David, yet could not, with any propriety, be said
to conceive him: this only could be said of his immediate parent, not even of his next
grandmother, much less of Eve, at the distance of almost three thousand years. Nor does
the sin in which he was conceived intend any sin of his parents, in begetting and
conceiving him, being in lawful wedlock; which acts cannot be sinful, since the
propagation of the human species by natural generation is a principle of nature
implanted by God himself; and is agreeably to the first law of nature, given to man in a
state of innocence, "increase and multiply", Gen_1:28. Marriage is the institution of God

in paradise; and in all ages has been accounted "honourable in all, when the bed is
undefiled", Heb_13:4. Nor does it design his being conceived when his mother was in
"profluviis", of which there is no proof, and is a mere imagination, and can answer no
purpose; much less that he was conceived in adultery, as the contenders for the purity of
human nature broadly intimate; which shows how much they are convicted by this text,
to give into such an interpretation of it, at the expense of the character of an innocent
person, of whom there is not the least suggestion of this kind in the Holy Scriptures; but
on the contrary, she is represented as a religious woman, and David valued himself upon
his relation to her as such, Psa_86:16. Besides, had this been the case, as David would
have been a bastard, he would not have been suffered to enter into the congregation of
the Lord, according to the law in Deu_23:2; whereas he often did with great delight,
Psa_42:4. Moreover, it is beside his scope and design to expose the sins of others, much
less his own parents, while he is confessing and lamenting his own iniquities: and to
what purpose should he mention theirs, especially if he himself was not affected by
them, and did not derive a corrupt nature from them? Nor is the sin he speaks of any
actual sin of his own, and therefore he does not call it, as before, "my" iniquity and "my"
sin; though it was so, he having sinned in Adam, and this being in his nature; but
"iniquity" and "sin", it being common to him with all mankind. Hence we learn the
earliness of the corruption of nature; it is as soon as man is conceived and shapen; and
that it is propagated from one to another by natural generation; and that it is the case of
all men: for if this was the case of David, who was born of religious parents, was famous
for his early piety, and from whose seed the Messiah sprung, it may well be concluded to
be the case of all. And this corruption of nature is the fountain, source, and spring of all
sin, secret and open, private and public; and is mentioned here not as an extenuation of
David's actual transgressions, but as an aggravation of them; he having been, from his
conception and formation, nothing else but a mass of sin, a lump of iniquity; and, in his
evangelical repentance for them, he is led to take notice of and mourn over the
corruption of his nature, from whence they arose. The Heathens themselves affirm, that
no man is born without sin (c).
HERY, " He confesses his original corruption (Psa_51:5): Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity. He does not call upon God to behold it, but upon himself. “Come, my soul, look
unto the rock out of which I was hewn, and thou wilt find I was shapen in iniquity. Had I
duly considered this before, I find I should not have made so bold with the temptation,
nor have ventured among the sparks with such tinder in my heart; and so the sin might
have been prevented. Let me consider it now, not to excuse or extenuate the sin -Lord, I
did so; but indeed I could not help it, my inclination led me to it” (for as that plea is
false, with due care and watchfulness, and improvement of the grace of God, he might
have helped it, so it is what a true penitent never offers to put in), “but let me consider it
rather as an aggravation of the sin: Lord, I have not only been guilty of adultery and
murder, but I have an adulterous murderous nature; therefore I abhor myself.” David
elsewhere speaks of the admirable structure of his body (Psa_139:14, Psa_139:15); it was
curiously wrought; and yet here he says it was shapen in iniquity, sin was twisted in
with it; not as it came out of God's hands, but as it comes through our parents' loins. He
elsewhere speaks of the piety of his mother, that she was God's handmaid, and he pleads
his relation to her (Psa_116:16, Psa_86:16), and yet here he says she conceived him in
sin; for though she was, by grace, a child of God, she was, by nature, a daughter of Eve,
and not excepted from the common character. Note, It is to be sadly lamented by every
one of us that we brought into the world with us a corrupt nature, wretchedly
degenerated from its primitive purity and rectitude; we have from our birth the snares of

sin in our bodies, the seeds of sin in our souls, and a stain of sin upon both. This is what
we call original sin, because it is as ancient as our original, and because it is the original
of all our actual transgressions. This is that foolishness which is bound in the heart of a
child, that proneness of evil and backwardness to good which is the burden of the
regenerate and the ruin of the unregenerate; it is a bent to backslide from God.
JAMISO,"His guilt was aggravated by his essential, native sinfulness, which is as
contrary to God’s requisitions of inward purity as are outward sins to those for right
conduct.
CALVI, "5Behold, I was born in iniquity, etc He now proceeds further than the
mere acknowledgement of one or of many sins, confessing that he brought nothing
but sin with him into the world, and that his nature was entirely depraved. He is
thus led by the consideration of one offense of peculiar atrocity to the conclusion
that he was born in iniquity, and was absolutely destitute of all spiritual good.
Indeed, every sin should convince us of the general truth of the corruption of our
nature. The Hebrew word ינתמחי, yechemathni, signifies literally, hath warmed
herself of me, from םחי, yacham, or םמח, chamam, to warm; but interpreters have
very properly rendered it hath conceived me. The expression intimates that we are
cherished in sin from the first moment that we are in the womb. David, then, is here
brought, by reflecting on one particular transgression, to east a retrospective glance
upon his whole past life, and to discover nothing but sin in it. And let us not imagine
that he speaks of the corruption of his nature, merely as hypocrites will occasionally
do, to excuse their faults, saying, “I have sinned it may be, but what could I do? We
are men, and prone by nature to everything which is evil.” David has recourse to no
such stratagems for evading the sentence of God, and refers to original sin with the
view of aggravating his guilt, acknowledging that he had not contracted this or that
sin for the first time lately, but had been born into the world with the seed of every
iniquity.
The passage affords a striking testimony in proof of original sin entailed by Adam
upon the whole human family. It not only teaches the doctrine, but may assist us in
forming a correct idea of it. The Pelagians, to avoid what they considered the
absurdity of holding that all were ruined through one man’s transgression,
maintained of old, that sin descended from Adam only through force of imitation.
But the Bible, both in this and other places, clearly asserts that we are born in sin,
and that it exists within us as a disease fixed in our nature. David does not charge it
upon his parents, nor trace his crime to them, but sists himself before the Divine
tribunal, confesses that he was formed in sin, and that he was a transgressor ere he
saw the light of this world. It was therefore a gross error in Pelagius to deny that sin
was hereditary, descending in the human family by contagion. The Papists, in our
own day, grant that the nature of man has become depraved, but they extenuate
original sin as much as possible, and represent it as consisting merely in an
inclination to that which is evil. They restrict its seat besides to the inferior part of
the soul and the gross appetites; and while nothing is more evident from experience
than that corruption adheres to men through life, they deny that it remains in them

subsequently to baptism. We have no adequate idea of the dominion of sin, unless
we conceive of it as extending to every part of the soul, and acknowledge that both
the mind and heart of man have become utterly corrupt. The language of David
sounds very differently from that of the Papists, I was formed in iniquity, and in sin
did my mother conceive me He says nothing of his grosser appetites, but asserts that
sin cleaved by nature to every part of him without exception.
Here the question has been started, How sin is transmitted from the parents to the
children? And this question has led to another regarding the transmission of the
soul, many denying that corruption can be derived from the parent to the child,
except on the supposition of one soul being begotten of the substance of another.
Without entering upon such mysterious discussions, it is enough that we hold, that
Adam, upon his fall, was despoiled of his original righteousness, his reason
darkened, his will perverted, and that, being reduced to this state of corruption, he
brought children into the world resembling himself in character. Should any object
that generation is confined to bodies, and that souls can never derive anything in
common from one another, I would reply, that Adam, when he was endued at his
creation with the gifts of the Spirit, did not sustain a private character, but
represented all mankind, who may be considered as having been endued with these
gifts in his person; and from this view it necessarily follows that when he fell, we all
forfeited along with him our original integrity. (263)
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 1,5. Transgressions...iniquity...sin.
1. It is transgressions, (evp), pesha, rebellion.
2. It is iniquity, (we), avon, crooked dealing.
3. It is sin, (tajx), chattath, error and wandering. Adam Clarke.
Ver. 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. o; 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? o; 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.
Ver. 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" Romans 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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. Ezekiel 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 Hebrews 7:9?10; otherwise
infants would not die, for death is the wages of sin Romans 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." John 9:34. Christopher ess's "Divine Legacy, "1700.
Ver. 5. otwithstanding 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, &c.— Behold, I was born,
&c. I do not find that the original word יתללוח cholalti, which we render shapen,
does ever so signify. It unquestionably denotes to bring forth, as a woman does her
child; and in all the places where it is rendered shapen, it would better bear another
signification. The rendering in the place before us should be; Behold I was brought
forth in iniquity; and then the ensuing words will contain the reason of it; because
in sin did my mother conceive me. I was brought forth in iniquity. This refers to the
Psalmist himself; to what he was from his birth, and his state as he came into the
world. It was in sin; i.e. with great propensities and dispositions to sin; in a state of
sensuality, with more irregular, and much stronger tendencies to animal and
criminal indulgencies, and the gratification of those lusts which are dishonourable
in themselves, and which, when gratified, are sinful in their nature, and highly
offensive to God, than they would have been, if the parents themselves had been
entirely free from them; and this, as opposed to rectitude of nature, and the
regulation of our portions and appetites, in a depraved sinful state. And I should
think that there is need of no other proof that we are all born in such a state, that
our own experience, and the present condition of the world we live in. or do I see
how it could be otherwise with the Psalmist, if what he says of his mother be true,
that she conceived him in sin, or was herself a sinner, when she first cherished him
in her womb. 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 productions, the difficulty must have been as ancient as the
first man who 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. The sense therefore, as
I apprehend, of the whole passage is, that the Psalmist owns himself to be the
corrupted degenerate offspring of corrupted degenerate parents, agreeable to what
was said long before he was born: Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
ot one. Job 14:4. or is it unusual with good men, when confessing their own sins
before God, to make mention of the sins of their parents, for their greater
mortification and humiliation. See 2 Chronicles 29:6. 2 Kings 22:13. ehemiah 9:16
and elsewhere. So also Horace:
AEtas parentum, pejor avis, tulit os nequiores, mox daturos Progeniem
vitiosiorem. Lib. 3: od. 6.
More vicious than their fathers' age, Our fires begot the present race, Of actions
impious, bold, and base; And yet, with crimes to us unknown, Our sons shall mark
the coming age their own. FRACIS.
I shall only farther observe, that David does not mention the circumstance of his
being born of sinful parents, and born, as hath been explained, in sin himself, as an
excuse for, but rather as an aggravation of his sins; since he ought to have been
more upon his guard, and watched more carefully over his sensual passions and
affections, as he knew his natural tendency to evil, and had been instructed by the
law of God to correct and suppress it; as he more than intimates in the following
verse. See Dr. Chandler; whose observations are here more immediately levelled at
some remarks upon this text by Dr. Taylor, in his Doctrine of Original Sin, p. 31,
&c.
WHEDO, "5. I was shapen in iniquity;… in sin… conceive me—The verb
rendered “shapen” simply denotes the being born. The words “in sin,” etc., do not
imply any thing sinful in the means leading to that birth, but merely the being born
with a sinful nature. The text is of like import with Ephesians 2:3, “And were by
nature the children of wrath, even as others.” This confession of natural depravity
was not made in abatement of actual transgression, but to show that David not only
abandons every plea of self?justification, but also of self?restorative power.
BESO, "Psalms 51:5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity — Hebrew, יתללוח,
cholaleti, I was born, or brought forth: for it does not appear that the word ever
signifies, I was shapen; and then the ensuing words will contain the reason of it; the
sense being, because in sin did my mother conceive me, therefore I was brought
forth in iniquity; that is, with great propensities and dispositions to sin. This verse
is, both by Jewish and Christian, by ancient and later interpreters generally, and
most justly, understood of what we call original sin; which David here mentions, not
as an excuse for, but as an aggravation of, his transgression, inasmuch as the

knowledge which he had of the total corruption of his nature, and its tendency to
evil, ought to have made him more on his guard, and to have watched more
carefully over his sensual passions and affections. And the sense of the place is this:
or is this the only sin which I have reason to acknowledge and bewail before thee;
for this filthy stream leads me to a corrupt fountain. And, upon a serious review of
my heart and life, I find that I am guilty of innumerable other sins; and that this
heinous crime, though drawn forth by external temptations, yet was indeed the
proper fruit of my own vile nature, which, without the restraints of thy providence
or grace, ever was and still will be inclinable and ready to commit ten thousand sins
as occasion offers. Thus, as Dr. Dodd, after Chandler, justly observes, “The psalmist
owns himself to be the corrupted, degenerate offspring, of corrupted, degenerate
parents, agreeable to what was said long before he was born, Who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? ot one, Job 14:4 . or is it unusual with good men, when
confessing their own sins before God, to make mention of the sins of their parents,
for their greater mortification and humiliation.”
ELLICOTT, "(5) Behold, I was shapen . . .—Better, Behold, I was born in iniquity.
The later rabbis, combining this verse with the mystery hanging over the origin and
name of David’s mother, represent him as born in adultery. (See Stanley, Jewish
Church, chap. ii., p. 46, ote.) The word rendered conceived is certainly one
generally used of animal desire. (The marginal warm me is erroneous.) But the verse
is only a statement of the truth of experience so constantly affirmed in Scripture of
hereditary corruption and the innate proneness to sin in every child of man. The
argument for a personal origin to the psalm from this verse seems strong; but in
Psalms 129:1, and frequently, the community is personified as an individual
growing from youth to age, and so may here speak of its far?back idolatrous
ancestry as the mother who conceived it in sin.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me.
Ver. 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity] This he allegeth, viz. his original depravity,
not as an excuse, but as an aggravation of his actual abominations, which he saith
were committed out of the vile viciousness of his nature. See Psalms 58:3?4, . The
Masorites here observe, that the word rendered iniquity is full, written with a
double ו, Vau, to signify the fulness of his sin; {Hebrew Text ote} whole evil being
in every man by nature, and whole evil in man; which, when the saints confess, they
are full in the mouth, as I may so say; they begin with the root of sin (not at the
fingers’ ends, as Adonibezek did), stabbing the old man at the heart first, and laying
the main weight upon original corruption, that indwelling sin, as the apostle calleth
it, Romans 7:14, ; that sin of evil concupiscence, as the Chaldee here; that peccatum
peccans, as the schools. Cicero likewise had heard somewhat of this when he said,
Cum primum nascimur, in omni continuo pravitate versamur, As soon as ever we
are born we are forthwith in all wickedness. Augustine saith, Damnatus homo
antequam natus, Man is condemned as soon as conceived.

And in sin did my mother conceive me] Heb. warm me; this Aben Ezra interpreteth
to be our great grandmother Eve, Quae non parturiebat antequam peccabat. David
meant it doubtless of his immediate mother, and spake of that poison wherewith she
had warmed him in her womb, before the soul was infused. Corruption is conveyed
by the impurity of the seed, Job 14:4, John 3:6; John 3:31. Sin may be said to be in
the seed inception and dispostion, as fire is in the flint. Let us therefore go with
Elisha to the fountain, and cast salt into those rotten and stinking waters. And for
our children, let us labour to mend that by education which we have marred by
propagation.
SIMEO, "ORIGIAL SI
Psalms 51:5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive
me.
OE of the most essential marks of real penitence is, a disposition to see our sins as
God sees them: not extenuating their guilt by vain and frivolous excuses, but
marking every circumstance that tends to aggravate their enormity. During their
impenitence, our first parents cast the blame of their transgression upon others; the
man on his wife; and the woman on the serpent that had beguiled her: but, when
true repentance was given them, they no doubt beheld their conduct in a very
different view, and took to themselves all the shame which it so justly merited. The
sin of David in the matter of Uriah was great, beyond all the powers of language to
express. Yet there were points of view in which none but a real penitent would
notice it, and in which its enormity was aggravated a hundred?fold. This is the light
in which the Royal Penitent speaks of it, in the psalm before us. Having spoken of it
as an offence, not merely against man, but primarily, and almost solely, against
Jehovah himself, he proceeds to notice it, not as an insulated act or course of action,
but as the proper fruit of his inherent, his natural, corruption. We are not to
suppose, that he intended by this to cast any reflection on his mother, of whom he
elsewhere speaks in most respectful terms; nor are we to imagine, that he adduces
the nature which he had derived from her, as an excuse for the wickedness he had
committed: his intention is, to humble himself before God and man as a creature
altogether corrupt, and to represent his wickedness as no other than a sample of
that iniquity or which his heart was full, a stream issuing from an overflowing
fountain. This, we doubt not, is the genuine import of the words which we have now
proposed to consider; “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin hath my mother
conceived me.”
In prosecuting this important subject, we shall endeavour to establish,
I. The truth asserted—
The doctrine of Original Sin is here distinctly affirmed. It is indeed by many denied,
under the idea that it would be inconsistent with the goodness and mercy of God to
send into the world immortal beings in any other state than one of perfect purity.

But it is in vain for us to teach God what he ought to do: the question for us to
consider is, What hath God done? and what account has he himself given us of our
state? And here, if the Scriptures be true, there is no room for doubt: we are the
corrupt off?spring of degenerate parents; from whom we derive a polluted nature,
which alone, since their fall, they could possibly transmit. This we shall proceed to
prove,
1. From concurring testimonies—
[Moses, in his account of the first man that was born into the world, expressly
notices, that Adam begat him not in the likeness of God, in which he himself had
been originally created, but “in his own likeness,” as a fallen and corrupt creature
[ote: Genesis 5:3.]: and how different the one from the other, may be conjectured
from the conduct of this first?born, who imbrued his hands in his brother’s blood.
In his account too, as well of the post?diluvian, as of the ante?diluvian world, he tells
us, that “every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually
[ote: Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21.].” Job, not only affirms the same awful truth, but
shews us that it is impossible in the nature of things to be otherwise: since from a
thing that is radically and essentially unclean, nothing but what is unclean can
proceed [ote: Job 14:4; Job 15:14?16; Job 25:4.]. The testimony of Isaiah and
Jeremiah is altogether to the same effect [ote: Isaiah 6:5. Jeremiah 17:9.]; as is that
also of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes [ote: Chap. 9:3.]. And, in the ew
Testament, our Lord himself teaches us to regard the heart as the proper womb,
where every species of iniquity is generated, and from whence it proceeds [ote:
Mark 7:21.]: and St. Paul declares of himself, as well as all the rest of the human
race, that they “are by nature children of wrath [ote: Ephesians 2:3.].” But how
can we be in such a state by nature, if we are not corrupt? Can God regard as
objects of his wrath creatures that possess his perfect image? o: it is as fallen in
Adam that he views us, and as inheriting a depraved nature that he abhors us [ote:
The subject does not lead us to notice Adam as a federal head; and therefore we
confine ourselves to what lies immediately before us].]
2. From collateral evidence—
[Whence was it that God appointed the painful and bloody rite of circumcision to be
administered to infants of eight days old, but to shew that they brought into the
world with them a corrupt nature, which it was the bounden duty of all who were in
covenant with him to mortify and subdue? Whilst, on the one hand, it sealed to them
the blessings of the covenant, it intimated to them, on the other hand, that they
needed to have “their hearts circumcised, to love the Lord their God.”
Again, how comes it that every child, from the first moment that he begins to act at
all, manifests corrupt tempers and dispositions? If only some, and those the children
of wicked men, evinced such depravity, we might be led to account for it in some
other way: but when, with the exception of one or two who were sanctified from the
womb, this has been the state of every child that has been born into the world, we
are constrained to acknowledge, that our very nature is corrupt, and that, as David

tells us, “we are estranged from the womb, and go astray as soon as we are born
[ote: Psalms 58:3.].”
Further, How can we account for the sufferings and death of infants, but on the
supposition, that they are partakers of Adam’s guilt and corruption? Sufferings and
death are the penalty of sin: and we cannot conceive that God would inflict that
penalty on millions of infants, if they were not in some way or other obnoxious to his
wrath. St. Paul notices this, as an irrefragable proof that all Adam’s posterity fell in
him, and through him are partakers of guilt and misery [ote: Romans 5:12;
Romans 5:14.].
Once more; Whence is it that all need a Saviour? If children are not, in the eye of
God, transgressors of his law, they cannot need to be redeemed from its curse. But
Christ is as much the Saviour of infants as of adults. We find no intimation in the
Scriptures that any are saved without him: on the contrary, it is said, that, “as in
Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive.” In the temple shown to Ezekiel,
there was one door for the prince: it was the door by which the Lord God had
entered: and was to be for ever closed to all except the prince [ote: Ezekiel 44:2?3.].
So Christ alone enters into heaven by his own merits: to all besides him that door is
closed: and Christ alone is the door by which we must enter in; he is the only way to
the Father: nor, as long as the world shall stand, shall any child of man come unto
the Father but by him [ote: John 10:9; John 14:6.].
These things then, especially, as taken in connexion with the many express
declarations before quoted, are decisive proofs, that David’s account of himself was
true, and that it is equally true of all the human race.]
This truth being established, we proceed to mark,
II. The importance of adverting to it in estimating our state before God—
Unless we bear in mind the total corruption of our nature, we can never estimate
aright,
1. Our individual actions—
[Even in common courts of judicature, the great object of inquiry is, not so much the
act that has been done, as the mind of the agent: and, according as that appears to
have been depraved or blameless, the sentence of condemnation or acquittal is
passed upon him. Precisely thus must we judge ourselves in our conduct towards
God. To elucidate this part of our subject, we will suppose two persons to have been
guilty of the same act of treason towards an earthly sovereign, but to have differed
widely from each other in respect of the mind with which they acted: one entered
upon it unwittingly, and without any consciousness that he was doing wrong: the
other knowingly, and aware that he was rebelling against his lawful sovereign. One
did it reluctantly, through the influence of one whom he could not easily withstand;
but the other willingly, as a volunteer in the service, and as following the impulse of

his own mind. One went without premeditation, being taken hastily and off his
guard: the other with a fixed purpose, after much plotting and deliberation. In one
it was a solitary act, altogether contrary to the whole of his former life: in the other
it was frequent, as often as the temptation arose, or the occasion offered. The one
proceeded with moderation, not having his heart at all engaged in it: the other with
a fiery zeal, abhorring in his soul the authority he opposed. The one had his mind
open to conviction, and might easily be prevailed upon to renounce his error: the
other was filled with self?approbation and self?applause, thinking nothing of his
risks and dangers, if he might but help forward the utter subversion of the
government. Take these two persons, and say, whether, notwithstanding their acts
were in appearance the same, there would not be an immense difference between the
measure of their criminality in the estimation of an upright judge? There can be no
doubt on this subject. Take then any other sin whatever, (for all sin is treason
against the King of kings;) and examine how far it has been voluntary, deliberate,
habitual; how far it has been against light and knowledge; and how far it has
proceeded from a heart radically averse to God and holiness. Let sins of omission be
examined in this way, as well as sins of commission: and then the things which now
are accounted light and venial, will appear hateful in the extreme, not merely as
blighted “grapes of a degenerate vine,” but as “grapes of Sodom, and clusters of
Gomorrha:” their enormity will be felt, in proportion to the strength and fixedness
of the principle from which they spring.]
2. Our general character—
[If our actions have not been openly sinful, we are ready to bless ourselves as having
but little ground for shame and remorse. But if we consider “the enmity of the
carnal mind against God,” and view our utter want of all holy affections, and
exceeding proneness to some besetting sins, we shall see but little reason to glory
over the vilest of mankind. We shall see abundant cause indeed for thankfulness to
God, who by his preventing grace has restrained us from many evils into which
others have run: but we shall take no credit to ourselves as better than others. If we
behold bitter fruit produced by others, we shall remember that there is the root of it
all in ourselves: if we see in others the streams of wickedness, we shall bear in mind,
that the fountain of it all is in ourselves also. Thus, however free we may be from
any flagrant enormity, we shall be ready to acknowledge with Paul, that “in us, that
is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing;” and with Job to say, “Behold, I am vile! I
repent, and abhor myself in dust and ashes.” So far from indulging self?preference
and self?esteem, we shall find no names more suited to us than those by which St.
Paul designated his own character, “Less than the least of all saints,” and “The very
chief of sinners [ote: Ephesians 3:8. 1 Timothy 1:15.].”]
From this view of our natural corruption, we may learn,
1. How greatly we need the renewing influence of God’s Spirit—
[Outward amendment might suffice for outward sins: but where the heart itself is so
corrupt, we must have “a new heart given to us,” and “be renewed in the spirit of

our minds.” With such hearts as ours, it would be impossible for us to enter into the
kingdom of heaven, or to enjoy it even if we were there: we could not bear the sight
of so holy a God; nor endure to spend our lives in such holy employments. — — —
Know then, that “old things must pass away; and all things must become new.”
“That which is born of the flesh, is flesh:” the stream can rise no higher than the
fountain head. If ye would enjoy the things of the Spirit, ye must be “born of the
Spirit,” who alone can impart the faculties necessary for that end. Let your prayer
then be like that of David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right
spirit within me [ote: ver. 10.]!”]
2. How carefully we should watch against temptation—
[If we carried about with us a load of powder which a single spark would cause to
explode, we should be extremely careful to avoid whatever might subject us to
danger. Should we not then, with hearts so corrupt, and with temptations so thick
around us, look well to our ways, and pray unto our God to keep us from the evils of
an ensnaring world? Well did our blessed Lord say, “Watch and pray, that ye enter
not into temptation:” “The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak.” Who that
reflects on David’s state previous to his fall, does not fear for himself, and cry
mightily unto God, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe!” “Uphold me with thy
free Spirit, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me!” To all then we say, “Be not high?
minded, but fear:” “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.”]
K&D 5?6, "
David here confesses his hereditary sin as the root of his actual sin. The
declaration moves backwards from his birth to conception, it consequently penetrates
even to the most remote point of life's beginning.
י ִg ְלֽ ָלוּח stands instead of י ִg ְדֽ ָלוּנ, perhaps
(although elsewhere, i.e., in Psa_90:2, the idea of painfulness is kept entirely in the
background) with reference to the decree, “with pain shalt thou bring forth children,”
Gen_3:16(Kurtz); instead of י ִתּא,ה ָת ְרֽ ָה, with still more definite reference to that which
precedes conception, the expression is יִנ ְת ַמ ֱחֶֽי (for יִנ ְת ַמ ֲחֵֽי, following the same interchange
of vowel as in Gen_30:39; Jdg_5:28). The choice of the verb decides the question
whether by ןוֹ ָע and א ְט ֵח is meant the guilt and sin of the child or of the parents. ם ַח ִי (to
burn with desire) has reference to that, in coition, which partakes of the animal, and may
well awaken modest sensibilities in man, without ןויע and אטח on that account
characterizing birth and conception itself as sin; the meaning is merely, that his parents
were sinful human begins, and that this sinful state (habitus) has operated upon his
birth and even his conception, and from this point has passed over to him. What is
thereby expressed is not so much any self-exculpation, as on the contrary a self-
accusation which glances back to the ultimate ground of natural corruption. He is sinful
ןוּי ָר ֵה ֵמוּ,ה ָד ֵU ִמ (Psa_58:4; Gen_8:21), is א ֵמ ָj ִמ,א ֵמ ָט, an unclean one springing from an
unclean (Job_14:4), flesh born of flesh. That man from his first beginning onwards, and
that this beginning itself, is stained with sin; that the proneness to sin with its guilt and
its corruption is propagated from parents to their children; and that consequently in the
single actual sin the sin-pervaded nature of man, inasmuch as he allows himself to be
determined by it and himself resolves in accordance with it, become outwardly manifest-
therefore the fact of hereditary sin is here more distinctly expressed than in any other

passage in the Old Testament, since the Old Testament conception, according to its
special character, which always fastens upon the phenomenal, outward side rather than
penetrates to the secret roots of a matter, is directed almost entirely to the outward
manifestation only of sin, and leaves its natural foundation, its issue in relation to
primeval history, and its demonic background undisclosed. The ן ֵה in Psa_51:7is
followed by a correlative second ן ֵה in Psa_51:8(cf. Isa_55:4., Isa_54:15.). Geier correctly
says: Orat ut sibi in peccatis concepto veraque cordis probitate carenti penitiorem ac
mysticam largiri velit sapientiam, cujus medio liberetur a peccati tum reatu tum
dominio. ת ֶמ ֱא is the nature and life of man as conformed to the nature and will of God (cf.
kλήθεια, Eph_4:21). ה ָמ ְכ ָח, wisdom which is most intimately acquainted with
(eindringlich weiss) such nature and life and the way to attain it. God delights in and
desires truth תוּח ֻj ַב. The Beth of this word is not a radical letter here as it is in Job_12:6,
but the preposition. The reins utpote adipe obducti, here and in Job_38:36, according to
the Targum, Jerome, and Parchon, are called תוּח ֻט (Psychol. S. 269; tr. p. 317). Truth in
the reins (cf. Psa_40:9, God's law in visceribus meis) is an upright nature in man's
deepest inward parts; and in fact, since the reins are accounted as the seat of the
tenderest feelings, in man's inmost experience and perception, in his most secret life
both of conscience and of mind (Psa_16:7). In the parallel member ם ֻת ָס denotes the
hidden inward part of man. Out of the confession, that according to the will of God truth
ought to dwell and rule in man even in his reins, comes the wish, that God would impart
to him (i.e., teach him and make his own), - who, as being born and conceived in sin, is
commended to God's mercy, - that wisdom in the hidden part of his mind which is the
way to such truth.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
BARES, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts -The word
rendered “desirest,” means to have pleasure in; to delight in; and the idea is that this
only is agreeable to God, or this only accords with his own nature. The word rendered
“inward parts,” means properly the reins, and is usually employed to denote the seat of
the mind, the feelings, the intellect. Compare the notes at
Job_38:36. The allusion is to
the “soul;” and the idea is, that God could be satisfied with nothing “but” purity in the
soul. The “connection” is this: David was deeply conscious of his own pollution; his
deep, early, native depravity. This, in his own mind, he contrasted strongly with the

nature of God, and with what God must require, and be pleased with. He “felt” that God
could not approve of or love such a heart as his, so vile, so polluted, so corrupt; and he
felt that it was necessary that he should have a pure heart in order to meet with the favor
of a God so holy. But how was that to be obtained? His mind at once adverted to the fact
that it could come only from God; and hence, the psalm now turns from confession to
prayer. The psalmist pleads earnestly Psa_51:7-10that God “would” thus cleanse and
purify his soul.
And in the hidden part -In the secret part; the heart; the depths of the soul. The
cleansing was to begin in that which was hidden from the eye of man; in the soul itself.
Wisdom, heavenly, saving wisdom, was to have its seat there; the cleansing needed was
not any mere outward purification, it was the purification of the soul itself.
Thou shalt make me to know wisdom - Thou only canst enable me to understand
what is truly wise. This wisdom, this cleansing, this knowledge of the way in which a
guilty man can be restored to favor, can be imparted only by thee; and “thou wilt do it.”
There is here, therefore, at the same time a recognition of the truth that this “must”
come from God, and an act of faith, or a strong assurance that he “would” impart this.
CLARKE, "Behold, thou desirest truth -I am the very reverse of what I should
be. Those desirest truth in the heart, but in me there is nothing but sin and falsity.
Thou shalt make one to know wisdom - Thou wilt teach me to restrain every
inordinate propensity, and to act according to the dictates of sound wisdom, the rest of
my life.
GILL, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,.... With delight and
pleasure, as the word
(d) signifies: meaning either Christ, the truth and the life, formed
and dwelling in the hearts of his people; or the Gospel, the word of truth, which has a
place there; and particularly that branch of it which proclaims pardon to sensible
sinners, and is the ground of hope within them: or else a true and hearty confession of
sin, which David now made; or rather internal holiness and purity of heart, in opposition
to the corruption of nature before acknowledged: this is what is agreeable to the nature
of God, is required by his holy law, and is wrought in the hearts of his people in
regeneration; and this is "truth", real, and not imaginary, genuine and unfeigned; where
it is there is a true sense of sin, a right sight of Christ, unfeigned faith in him, sincere
love to him, hope in him without hypocrisy, and a reverential fear of God upon the heart;
the inward parts are the seat of all this, and in the exercise of it the Lord takes great
delight and pleasure;
and in the hidden part thou shall make me to know wisdom; either Christ, the
wisdom of God; or the Gospel, and particularly that part of it which concerns the pardon
of sin; or a true knowledge of sin, and of the way of life and salvation by Christ, which is
the truest and highest wisdom: and the phrase "hidden" or "secret" may either denote
the nature of the wisdom made known, which is hidden wisdom, the wisdom of God in a
mystery; or the manner in which it is made known; it is in a hidden way, privately, and
secretly, and indiscernibly like the wind, by the Spirit and grace of God; or the seat and
subject of it, "the hidden part", as we supply it; the hidden man of the heart. David

begins to rise in the exercise of his faith in the grace of God, "thou shall make me to
know", &c. unless the words should be rendered as a prayer, as they are by some, "make
me to know" (e), &c. and as are the following.
HERY, " David's acknowledgment of the grace of God (Psa_51:6), both his good-
will towards us (“thou desirest truth in the inward parts, thou wouldst have us all
honest and sincere, and true to our profession”) and his good work in us - “In the hidden
part thou hast made,” or shalt make, “me to know wisdom.” Note, 1. Truth and wisdom
will go very far towards making a man a good man. A clear head and a sound heart
(prudence and sincerity) bespeak the man of God perfect. 2. What God requires of us he
himself works in us, and he works it in the regular way, enlightening the mind, and so
gaining the will. But how does this come in here? (1.) God is hereby justified and cleared:
“Lord, thou was not the author of my sin; there is no blame to be laid upon thee; but I
alone must bear it; for thou has many a time admonished me to be sincere, and hast
made me to know that which, if I had duly considered it, would have prevented my
falling into this sin; had I improved the grace thou hast given me, I should have kept my
integrity.” (2.) The sin is hereby aggravated: “Lord, thou desirest truth; but where was it
when I dissembled with Uriah? Thou hast made me to know wisdom; but I have not
lived up to what I have known.” (3.) He is hereby encouraged, in his repentance, to hope
that God would graciously accept him; for, [1.] God had made him sincere in his
resolutions never to return to folly again: Thou desirest truth in the inward part; this is
that which God has an eye to in a returning sinner, that in his spirit there be no guile,
Psa_32:2. David was conscious to himself of the uprightness of his heart towards God in
his repentance, and therefore doubted not but God would accept him. [2.] He hoped that
God would enable him to make good his resolutions, that in the hidden part, in the new
man, which is called the hidden man of the heart (1Pe_3:4), he would make him to know
wisdom, so as to discern and avoid the designs of the tempter another time. Some read it
as a prayer: “Lord, in this instance, I have done foolishly; for the future make me to
know wisdom.” Where there is truth God will give wisdom; those that sincerely
endeavour to do their duty shall be taught their duty.
JAMISO,"thou shalt make, etc.— may be taken to express God’s gracious
purpose in view of His strict requisition; a purpose of which David might have availed
himself as a check to his native love for sin, and, in not doing so, aggravated his guilt.
truth ... and ...wisdom— are terms often used for piety (compare
Job_28:28; Psa_
119:30).
CALVI, "6.Behold, thou hast desired truth, etc. This verse confirms the remark
which we already made, that David was far from seeking to invent an apology for
his sin, when he traced it back to the period of his conception, and rather intended
by this to acknowledge that from his very infancy he was an heir of eternal death.
He thus represents his whole life to have been obnoxious to condemnation. So far is
he from imitating those who arraign God as the author of sin, and impiously suggest
that he might have given man a better nature, that in the verse now before us he
opposes God’s judgment to our corruption, insinuating, that every time we appear

before him, we are certain of being condemned, inasmuch as we are born in sin,
while he delights in holiness and uprightness. He goes further, and asserts, that in
order to meet the approval of God, it is not enough that our lives be conformed to
the letter of his law, unless our heart be clean and purified from all guile. He tells us
that God desires truth in the inward parts, (264) intimating to us, that secret as well
as outward and gross sins excite his displeasure. In the second clause of the verse, he
aggravates his offense by confessing that he could not plead the excuse of ignorance.
He had been sufficiently instructed by God in his duty. Some interpret םותסב,
besathum, as if he here declared that God had discovered secret mysteries to him, or
things hidden from the human understanding. He seems rather to mean that
wisdom had been discovered to his mind in a secret and intimate manner. (265) The
one member of the verse responds to the other. He acknowledges that it was not a
mere superficial acquaintance with divine truth which he had enjoyed, but that it
had been closely brought home to his heart. This rendered his offense the more
inexcusable. Though privileged so highly with the saving knowledge of the truth, he
had plunged into the commission of brutish sin, and by various acts of iniquity had
almost ruined his soul.
We have thus set before us the exercise of the Psalmist at this time. First, we have
seen that he is brought to a confession of the greatness of his offense: this leads him
to a sense of the complete depravity of his nature: to deepen his convictions, he then
directs his thoughts to the strict judgment of God, who looks not to the outward
appearance but the heart; and, lastly, he adverts to the peculiarity of his case, as one
who had enjoyed no ordinary measure of the gifts of the Spirit, and deserved on that
account the severer punishment. The exercise is such as we should all strive to
imitate. Are we conscious of having committed any one sin, let it be the means of
recalling others to our recollection, until we are brought to prostrate ourselves
before God in deep self?abasement. And if it has been our privilege to enjoy the
special teaching of the Spirit of God, we ought to feel that our guilt is additionally
heavy, having sinned in this case against light, and having trampled under foot the
precious gifts with which we were intrusted.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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." o 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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. Romans 2:29. John Bull.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:6. Behold, thou desirest truth, &c.— The common
interpretation here is, that David makes mention of God's loving sincerity, in the

inward parts, i.e. the mind and spirit, by way of aggravating his own guilt, for the
shameful dissimulation that he had been guilty of with respect to Uriah. To which
he adds, in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom; that wisdom,
which through grace would have enabled him to have maintained his sincerity, had
he followed the dictates of it. Dr. Chandler, not acquiescing in this interpretation,
would render the words, Thou desirest or approvest truth, or constancy and
firmness in the reins; i.e. chastity and continence; moderation in the indulgence of
all the sensual appetites, and the strict regular government of all the animal
propensities and affections; the reins being accounted by the Hebrews as the seat of
the passions. The next clause is literally, according to the Hebrew, And by their
being obstructed, thou teachest, or do thou teach me Wisdom 1 :e. "by their being
restrained and kept within bounds may I learn to act a wiser and a better part for
the future." In the 14th verse he prays that God would deliver him from the guilt of
blood, which he had incurred by the murder of Uriah. In the verse before us, he
acknowledges that his adulterous commerce with Bathsheba was contrary to that
purity and self?government which were pleasing and acceptable to God, and prays
that, notwithstanding any inordinate tendencies that he might derive in his
constitution from being conceived by a sinful mother; yet that God would give him
wisdom and grace to obstruct and lay them under such restraint, as would enable
him to approve himself better to God for the time to come.
WHEDO, "6. In the inward parts:… the hidden part—Literally, the reins and the
covered parts, two synonymous words which, in Hebrew psychology, correspond to
the ew Testament phrase, “inner man,” or “inward part,”
Luke 11:39; Romans 7:22; 2 Chronicles 4:16; Ephesians 3:16; and must here be
understood generically of the entire spiritual and psychical nature of man. In Job
38:36, the connexion, and the parallel word rendered heart, require us to
understand the mind, intellect. See also Psalms 16:7. David assigns inward part as
the seat of truth and wisdom, which determines it to be the seat of thought and
purpose as well as feeling. The Hebrews had no metaphysical system of thought, but
located the mind or sensibilities phenomenally; that is, according to their sensible
effect on the nerves. Truth here takes the sense of integrity, uprightness, and
wisdom that of the knowledge of God.
BESO, "Psalms 51:6. Behold, thou desirest — Hebrew, תצפח, chaphatzta,
delightest in, willest, or requirest, truth in the inward parts — Uprightness of heart,
which seems to be here opposed to that iniquity mentioned in the last verse, in which
all men are conceived and born; and it may be here added as a proof, or
aggravation, of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the
holy nature and will of God, which requires not only unblameableness in men’s
actions, but also the universal innocence and rectitude of their minds and hearts;
and as an aggravation of his own actual sin, in which he had used gross deceit and
treachery. And in the hidden part, &c. — That is, in the heart, called the hidden
man of the heart, 1 Peter 3:4 ; and, in the former clause, the reins, or inward parts;
thou shalt make me to know wisdom — That is, true piety and integrity, called
wisdom, Job 28:28; Psalms 111:10, and in many other passages; as sin, on the

contrary, is commonly called, as it really is, folly. And to know wisdom is here to be
understood of knowing it practically and experimentally; so as to approve, and love,
and practise it: as words of knowledge are most commonly to be understood in
Scripture, and in other authors. According to this interpretation the psalmist, in
these words, declares his hope that God would pardon and cure the folly which he
had discovered, and make him wiser for the future. But, as this does not seem to suit
perfectly with the context, which runs in rather another strain, the word ינעידות,
todigneeni, may, and it seems ought to, be rendered in the past time, thou hast made
me to know. And so this is another aggravation of his sin, that it was committed
against that knowledge which God had not only revealed to him outwardly by his
word, but also inwardly by his Spirit, writing it on his heart, according to his
promise, Jeremiah 31:33 . Or, the future verb may be here taken imperatively; and
the words may be understood as a prayer, Do thou make me to know, &c., as the
following future verbs (Psalms 51:7?8) are translated. Having then now said, for the
aggravation of his sin, that God required truth in the inward parts, he takes
occasion to break forth into prayer, which also he continues in the following verses.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the
hidden [part] thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Ver. 6. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts] Quam tamen mihi defuisse
res ipsa demonstrat; but this truth hath not been found in me, when I acted my sin
in that sort, and did mine utmost to hide it from the world. I have showed little truth
in the inward parts, but have grossly dissembled in my dealings, with Uriah
especially, whom I so plied at first with counterfeit kindness, and then basely
betrayed him to the sword of the enemy. Sinisterity is fully opposite to sincerity,
treachery to truth.
And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom] Thus, by faith, saith
one, he riseth out of his sin, being taught wisdom of God. Others read it, Thou hast
made me to know, &c. And yet have I sinned against the light of mine own
knowledge and conscience; although thou hast taught me wisdom privately, Et eheu
quam familiariter, as one of thine own domestics, or disciples. Some make it a
prayer, Cause me to know wisdom, &c.
SIMEO, "THE IMPORTACE OF IWARD ITEGRITY
Psalms 51:6. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part
thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
MAKID at large are chiefly observant of their outward conduct; but the child of
God cannot rest in externals: he is anxious about the internal habits of his soul; and
desires to have them conformed to the mind and will of God. The words before us
strongly express this idea. By many indeed they are interpreted, as if David intended
in them to aggravate yet further the guilt he had contracted, which had been in
direct opposition both to the profession he had made, and to the light he had

enjoyed [ote: In this case, the last clause is read in the past tense; “Thou hast made
me to know.”]. But we conceive that the words, as they stand in our translation,
convey the true meaning of the Psalmist; and that they relate, not to his sins, but his
repentance for them. The sense of them appears to be to this effect; “Thou requirest
me to be truly sincere in my present humiliation; and, if I am, as I desire to be,
thoroughly sincere, thou wilt make this whole dispensation a source of the most
important instruction to my soul.” In this view of the words, they are an humble
address to God, declarative of,
I. The disposition He requires—
“Truth,” is a conformity of our feelings and actions to our professions: and this God
requires of us in the whole of our spirit and conduct. He requires it,
1. In our acknowledgments—
[We confess ourselves sinners before God. But such a confession is of no value in his
sight, unless it be accompanied with suitable emotions. Think then, what becomes
us, as sinners: what deep sorrow and contrition should we feel for having offended
Almighty God! what self?lothing and self?abhorrence for our extreme vileness and
baseness! what ardent desires after mercy! what readiness to justify God in all that
he may be pleased to inflict upon us in this world, whatever means or instruments
he may see fit to use; yea, and in the eternal world also, even if he cast us into the
lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, and make us everlasting monuments of
his wrathful indignation! This should be the state and habit of our minds: we should
have “our hands on our mouths, and our mouths in the dust,” “crying, Unclean,
unclean!” In a word, we should adopt from our inmost souls the language of Job,
“Behold, I am vile! therefore I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashes.” In
proportion as we feel thus, we are upright, and have “truth in our inward parts:”
but so far as we are wanting in these feelings, we are hypocrites in heart,” drawing
nigh to God with our lips in a way belied by our hearts [ote: Matthew 15:7?8.].”
2. In our purposes—
[We profess, as persons redeemed by the blood of our incarnate God, to give up
ourselves to him, and to live unto Him who died for us: and, if we are sincere in this,
our determination is fixed, that, with God’s help, nothing shall ever keep us from
executing this intention. We have deliberately counted the cost. We are aware, that
“if we will live godly in Christ Jesus, we must suffer persecution:” but we are
prepared to meet it, from whatever quarter it may come, yea, though “our greatest
foes should be those of our own household.” We are ready to sacrifice our
reputation, our interests, and our very lives also, rather than in any respect deny
our God, or suffer ourselves to be diverted from the path of duty. We are
determined, through grace, to put away every thing that may retard our progress
heavenward, and to aspire after the highest possible attainments in righteousness
and true holiness. ow God requires, that we should be acting up to this profession,
“setting our face as a flint against the whole world,” and standing in the posture of

Daniel or the Hebrew Youths, willing to have our bodies consigned to a den of lions,
or a fiery furnace, rather than violate our duty by any sinful compliance. If we are
halting or hesitating, we have not truth in our inward parts.]
3. In our endeavours—
[Purposes must be judged of by the exertions that are put forth in order to carry
them into effect. A diligent attendance therefore on all the means of grace must of
necessity be required of us: in the public ordinances, and in our private chambers,
whether we be hearing, or reading, or meditating, or praying, we must be like men
in earnest, even like the man?slayer fleeing from the pursuer of blood, that scarcely
stopped to look behind him, till he should reach the appointed sanctuary, the city of
refuge. Remissness in such a cause argues a want of real integrity: if truth be indeed
in our inward parts, we shall run as in a race, which leaves us no time to loiter: and
wrestle with all our might, lest we be foiled in the contest; and fight as those who
know that there is no alternative but to overcome or perish. In all the interior
workings of our minds we shall resemble the Corinthians, who were “clear in this
matter [ote: 2 Corinthians 7:11.].”]
That we may not be discouraged by the strictness of God’s requirements, let us
consider,
II. The benefit he will confer—
There is a wisdom that is to be gained only by experience: what has its seat in the
head, may be learned by the head: what dwells in the heart, must be learned by the
heart: and of the heart there is but one teacher, even God; according as it is said,
“Who teacheth like God [ote: Job 36:22.]:” and again, “There is a spirit in man;
and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding [ote: Job 32:8.].”
Amongst the treasures of wisdom which God will impart to the truly upright, and
the hidden things which he will cause them to know, are,
1. The deceits of the heart—
[These are very deep, and absolutely unsearchable [ote: Jeremiah 17:9.]; yet in a
measure will God discover them to those who have truth in their inward parts. The
world at large know nothing of them: “they are calling evil good, and good evil; they
put darkness for light, and light for darkness; and bitter for sweet, and sweet for
bitter [ote: Isaiah 5:20.]:” “they feed also on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned
them aside, so that they cannot deliver their souls, or say, Is there not a lie in my
right hand [ote: Isaiah 44:20.]?” They contrive to satisfy their minds that all is
well with them, or at least to lull their consciences asleep with the hope that all will
be well with them before they die. They have a thousand pleas and excuses which
they urge in their own defence, and which they vainly hope will be accepted by their
Judge. If we attempt to open their eyes, they reply, with indignation, “Are we blind
also [ote: John 9:40.]?” Thus are they both blinded and “hardened” through the

deceitfulness of sin. But those who are really “Israelites indeed, and without guile,”
have their eyes opened to see what delusions they have cherished: and being thus
“brought out of darkness into marvellous light,” they find that promise fulfilled to
them, “They that erred in spirit shall come to understanding [ote: Isaiah 29:24.].”
“Their eye being made single, their whole body is full of light.”]
2. The devices of Satan—
[The men of this world, though “taken in his snares, and led captive by him at his
will,” have no idea of his agency. But he is a subtle adversary; and his “wiles” are
innumerable. He can even “transform himself into an angel of light [ote: 2
Corinthians 11:13?14.];” and, when aiming a deadly blow at our souls, assume the
garb of “a minister of righteousness.” His first device is, to persuade men that they
are in no danger of the judgments they fear. If he fail in that, he will instil into their
minds the notion that they have gone too far, and that there is no hope for them. If
that snare do not succeed, he will draw them aside, after some points of less
importance, or “matters of doubtful disputation.” Multitudes of false apostles has he
at his command, who will gladly aid him in this accursed work [ote: 2 Corinthians
11:13.], and concur with him m his endeavours to “corrupt their minds from the
simplicity that is in Christ [ote: 2 Corinthians 11:3.].” But, if we are following the
Lord fully, he will not leave us “ignorant of Satan’s devices, or suffer him to get his
wished?for advantage over us [ote: 2 Corinthians 2:11.].” He will arm us against
that adversary, and enable us to withstand him [ote: Ephesians 6:11.]. He will give
us “the shield of faith, whereby we shall ward off and quench all his fiery darts
[ote: Ephesians 6:16.],” and be able so to “resist him, that he shall flee from us
[ote: James 4:7.].”]
3. The mysteries of grace—
[“Great is the mystery of godliness,” and great the mystery of grace, whether we
consider the work wrought for us by Jesus Christ, or the work wrought in us by his
Holy Spirit. These constitute that “wisdom, which is foolishness with man,” and
which “the natural man cannot receive, because it is spiritually discerned [ote: 1
Corinthians 2:7?9; 1 Corinthians 2:14.].” To know this, we must be taught of God:
“We must receive, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, before
we can know the things that are freely given to us of God [ote: 1 Corinthians 2:10;
1 Corinthians 2:12.].” And O! how wonderful a work does this appear, when “God
shines into our hearts to reveal it to us [ote: 2 Corinthians 4:6.]!” How worthy of
God! how suitable to man! how passing the comprehension, whether of men or
angels! Verily, the man whose eyes are thus opened, seems to be brought into a new
world: “old things are passed away, and all things are become new.” The ignorant
world are amazed at the new line of conduct he pursues, just as Elisha’s servant was
at his master’s confidence in the midst of danger. But, if their eyes were opened to
see, as the Believer does, the invisible God [ote: 2 Kings 6:15?17. Hebrews 11:27.]
above him and within him, they would wonder rather, that there were any bounds
to his transports, or any limit to his exertions.]

4. The beauties of holiness—
[All who are warped by their prejudices, or blinded by their lusts, are incapable of
estimating aright the beauty and blessedness of true piety: it appears to them little
short of madness. And even those who make a profession of godliness, but possess
not truth in their inward parts, have very erroneous conceptions of true holiness.
Some place it in a confident espousal of certain principles, or a zealous attachment
to a particular party: others, inclining more to practical religion, make all duty to
centre in some one point, such as the mortification of the flesh, or almsgiving, or
penances of man’s invention. Even those who are more enlightened, are apt to
regard only one particular set of graces that are more congenial with their own
feelings, and to neglect those which are of an opposite aspect; one despising every
thing in comparison of zeal and confidence; another leaning altogether to the side of
prudence and timidity. But the man into whose hidden part God has put true
wisdom, views holiness, not with prismatic partiality, separating one grace from
another, but all embodied, as light in the sun; every grace tempering its opposite,
and all combining to the production of perfect beauty. He discards neither the vivid
nor the darker ray: but, having all in united exercise, sorrow with joy, and fear with
confidence, “the beauty of the Lord his God is upon him [ote: Psalms 90:17.],” and
he shines in the Divine image in righteousness and true holiness [ote: 2
Corinthians 3:18.].]
From this subject we may learn,
1. Whence it is that men get so little insight into the Gospel—
[Many hear the Gospel during their whole lives, and never attain any just
knowledge of it. How shall we account for this? We suppose the Gospel to be
preached with all possible fidelity, and yet it seems never to convey any light to their
minds. The reason is, that they never take any pains to apply it to their own souls, or
to get any one truth realized in their own experience. They assent to every thing they
hear; but they are content with being hearers, without ever once attempting to
become doers of the word they hear. They “see perhaps their face, as in a glass, for
the moment; but they go away, and forget what manner of men they are [ote:
James 1:22?25.].” But our blessed Lord has told us, that we must aim at doing his
will, in order to get any just insight into what he has revealed [ote: John 7:17.]:
and, as this desire is altogether wanting in the persons we are speaking of, they
never derive any solid benefit from the Gospel. O Brethren! you must “be doers of
the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own souls.” You must apply the
word to your own hearts: when you hear your sins pointed out, you must endeavour
to humble yourselves for them in dust and ashes: when you hear of Christ as the one
only Saviour of a ruined world, you must endeavour to flee to him for refuge: when
the Holy Ghost is set forth as the one great source of all spiritual life and motion,
you must cry to God the Father for his dear Son’s sake to send the Holy Spirit into
your hearts, that the whole work of grace may be wrought within you. It is your
neglect of thus harrowing in the seed by meditation, and of watering it with tears,
that has given Satan an opportunity of taking it out of your hearts as soon as ever it

has been sown there [ote: Matthew 13:4; Matthew 13:19.]. Get the “honest and the
good heart,” which truly desires to make a just improvement of the word, and God
will yet cause the seed to spring up in your hearts, and to bring forth fruit to the
salvation of your souls.]
2. Whence it is that many who profess the Gospel are so little ornaments to it—
[It is a melancholy fact, that many who profess godliness walk very unworthy of
their high calling. Like Ezekiel’s hearers, they are gratified with the preaching of
the Gospel, as persons are with “one who plays well upon an instrument; but their
heart still goeth after their covetousness [ote: Ezekiel 33:31?32.],” or some other
besetting sin. But this is owing to their not having “truth in their inward parts:” if
they had, they would not be satisfied with professing the Gospel, and talking about
it, and looking with pity (or perhaps with contempt) on those who do not
understand it: no; they would look to their spirit, that it should be meek and
humble; they would look to their conduct also, that it should be blameless and
without guile: they would “give no occasion to the adversary to speak
reproachfully.” Ah, Brethren! think what God requires of all, and of those who
make a profession of religion more especially: and beg of God to endue your souls
with truth and wisdom, “that ye may be sincere and without offence until the day of
Christ.” You may fancy that you “know all the depths of Satan [ote: Revelation
2:24.]:” but if your professed “hope in Christ does not purify your souls as Christ is
pure [ote: 1 John 3:3.],” you are yet blinded by him, and utterly deceiving your
own souls [ote: James 1:26.].]
3. How to get the whole work of God perfected in our souls—
[Come to the Gospel with hearts tender and contrite, that they may be to it as wax to
the seal. Then shall you have in your own souls “the witness” of all its most
important truths [ote: 1 John 5:10.]: and shall be able to answer from your own
experience that question which God puts so triumphantly to all the world: “Doth
not my word do good to him that walketh uprightly?” You are not straitened in
God: be not straitened in your own souls. Desire much: ask much: expect much: and
God will supply your every want “according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”]
SBC, "
We are never more in danger of forgetting that we are sinners than when
contemplating the sufferings and death of Him who died to save us from our sins. Like
the first tearful spectators of His sufferings, while we weep for Him we forget to weep for
ourselves. We listen to the mysterious cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me?" and think not that our iniquities are among those which at that moment hide from
Him His Father’s face. If any portion of God’s word can teach us what sin is, and how it
should be looked upon by us, it is this fifty-first Psalm of David, the deepest and most
heartfelt confession ever poured forth from the heart of a saint of God in the first
bitterness of his sorrow for his greatest sin. On examining this confession of sin, we find
that it is twofold. There are two things present to David’s mind to be confessed and
mourned over. The first is the sin he has just been guilty of; the second is the sinfulness
of his nature. This declaration, "I was shapen in iniquity," implies two things—guilt and
corruption. It means that every human being is born into the world with the wrath of

God abiding on him, and the corruption of sin abiding in him.
I. We inherit from Adam guilt; he stood before God the representative of all humanity,
their federal head, in whom they entered into covenant with their Maker; in him we all
once stood upright; in him we were tried; in him we fell; in him we were judged and
condemned. (1) St. Paul adduces, in evidence of this doctrine, one fact familiar to us all;
it is the fact that men die. Death is the wages of sin; whoever dies therefore has earned
death by sin. The death of those to whom no actual sin could be charged is a clear proof
that they were held guilty of the original sin of Adam, their federal head. (2) This fact,
that death has passed upon all alike, not only proves the doctrine of original sin, but
supplies to a certain extent an answer to the objections made to that doctrine on the
score of justice. For the injustice of imparting to us Adam’s guilt is certainly no greater
than that of inflicting upon us Adam’s punishment. There is no greater difficulty in
admitting that we inherit from him a guilty soul than there is in admitting that we
inherit from him a diseased and dying body. (3) Though, from the history of the Fall
itself, we can thus clearly vindicate the imputation of Adam’s sin from the charge of
injustice, yet it is from the history of our redemption that we draw our fullest and most
triumphant proof of its justice. Imputation is to be seen in our salvation as well as in our
condemnation. If we are accounted to have fallen in the first Adam, we are accounted to
have risen in the second Adam. If "God has concluded all under sin," we see that it is that
"He may have mercy upon all."
II. Fallen man inherits not only a guilty, but a corrupt, nature. Original righteousness
consisted in three things—knowledge in the understanding, righteousness in the will,
holiness in the affections. Original sin must then consist in the loss of each of these
qualities. Original sin is (1) darkness in the understanding, (2) disobedience in the will,
and (3) lawlessness in the affections. When we are tempted to plead the sinfulness of our
nature in excuse for our sins, let us think that the one offends the holiness as much as
the other offends the justice of God, and both alike require His pardoning mercy and His
sanctifying grace; both equally need to be confessed and mourned over.
Bishop Magee, Sermons at the Octagon Chapel, Bath, p. 1.
References: Psa_51:5.—Expository Sermons and Outlines on the Old Testament, p.
224. Psa_51:5-7.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 117.
Psalms 51:6
Life is a journey, and the training of the soul by the toils and changes of its pilgrimage is
expressed by the law that the character undergoes a gradual preparation, and that thai
preparation is subject to an apparently sudden close.
I. What is the hindrance in the human soul to a right application of this fundamental
law? The answer broadly is this: The poison of character. Pride and sensuality are the
chief evils that poison character.
II. To counteract this, we need to establish the undisputed authority of truth. Jesus
Christ is the Truth. The Church is the unfolding of Jesus Christ, and He is the Revealer
of the Father. It is by the illumination of grace that the harmony of truth is seen, and
only so; it is by the co-operation of will, assisted by the grace of God, that man can see
and use what he sees.

III. To direct the soul in the path of preparation, it is needful then that that soul should
be struggling to be true. This desire is cramped, is injured, by the Fall. And one of the
blessed gifts of the regenerate is a more earnest revival of such desire. There are at least
three forms of conspiracy against truth observable in human character: (1) hypocrisy;
(2) "cant;" (3) insincerity. Truth of heart is that heavenly principle whereby each soul is
guided to a blessed result, under the action of the law of life in subjection to which we
prepare to meet our Redeemer and our Judge. God is truth, and God is reigning. They
who "will to do His will shall know." Seek, above all, to be true, for truth is like Him; and
truth is therefore the first condition of a soul’s perfection.
J. Knox-Little, Manchester Sermons, p. 125.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
BARES, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean -On the word hyssop,
see the notes at
Joh_19:29; notes at Heb_9:19. The plant or herb was much used by the
Hebrews in their sacred purifications and sprinklings: Exo_12:22; Lev_14:4, Lev_
14:6,Lev_14:49, Lev_14:51; 1Ki_4:33. Under this name the Hebrews seem to have
comprised not only the common “hyssop” of the shops, but also other aromatic plants,
as mint, wild marjoram, etc. - Gesenius, “Lexicon” The idea of the psalmist here
evidently is not that the mere sprinkling with hyssop would make him clean; but he
prays for that cleansing of which the sprinkling with hyssop was an emblem, or which
was designed to be represented by that. The whole structure of the psalm implies that he
was seeking an “internal” change, and that he did not depend on any mere outward
ordinance or rite. The word rendered “purge” is from the word אטח chânâ'- which means
“to sin.” In the Piel form it means to bear the blame (or “loss”) for anything; and then to
“atone for, to make atonement, to expiate:” Gen_31:39; Lev_6:26; Num_19:19. Here it
conveys the notion of cleansing from sin “by” a sacred rite, or by that which was signified
by a sacred rite. The idea was that the sin was to be removed or taken away, so that he
might be free from it, or that “that” might be accomplished which was represented by
the sprinkling with hyssop, and that the soul might be made pure. Luther has rendered it
with great force - Entsundige mich mit Ysop - “Unsin me with hyssop.”
Wash me -That is, cleanse me. Sin is represented as “defiling,” and the idea of
“washing” it away is often employed in the Scriptures. See the notes at Isa_1:16.
And I shall be whiter than snow -See the notes at Isa_1:18. The prayer is, that he
might be made “entirely” clean; that there might be no remaining pollution in his soul.

CLARKE, "Purge me with hyssop -ינאטחת techatteeni, “thou shalt make a sin-
offering for me;” probably alluding to the cleansing of the leper: Lev_14:1, etc. The priest
took two clean birds, cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop; one of the birds was killed; and
the living bird, with the scarlet, cedar, and hyssop, dipped in the blood of the bird that
had been killed, and then sprinkled over the person who had been infected. But it is
worthy of remark that this ceremony was not performed till the plague of the leprosy had
been healed in the leper; (Lev_14:3); and the ceremony above mentioned was for the
purpose of declaring to the people that the man was healed, that he might be restored to
his place in society, having been healed of a disease that the finger of God alone could
remove. This David seems to have full in view; hence he requests the Lord to make the
sin-offering for him, and to show to the people that he had accepted him, and cleansed
him from his sin.
GILL, "Purge me with hyssop,.... Or "thou shalt purge me with hyssop"
(f); or
"expiate me"; which was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb on the door
posts of the Israelites in Egypt, that the destroying angel might pass over them, Exo_
12:22; and in the cleansing of the leper, Lev_14:4; and in the purification of one that was
unclean by the touch of a dead body, &c. Num_19:6; which the Targum on the text has
respect to; and this petition of the psalmist shows that he saw himself a guilty creature,
and in danger of the destroying angel, and a filthy creature like the leper, and deserving
to be excluded from the society of the saints, and the house of God; and that he had
respect not hereby to ceremonial sprinklings and purifications, for them he would have
applied to a priest; but to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, typified thereby; and
therefore he applies to God to purge his conscience with it; and, as Suidas (g) from
Theodoret observes, hyssop did not procure remission of sins, but has a mystical
signification, and refers to what was meant by the sprinkling of the blood of the
passover; and then he says,
and I shall be clean; thoroughly clean; for the blood sprinkled on the heart by the
spirit clears it from an evil conscience, purges the conscience from dead works, and
cleanses from all sin;
wash me; or "thou shall wash me" (h); alluding to the washing at the cleansing of a
leper, and the purification of an unclean person, Lev_14:8; but had in view the fountain
of Christ's blood, in which believers are washed from all their sins, Zec_13:1;
and I shall be whiter than snow; who was black with original corruption, and actual
transgressions; but the blood of Christ makes not only the conversation garments white
that are washed in it; but even crimson and scarlet sins as white as wool, as white as
snow, and the persons of the saints without spot or blemish, Rev_7:14, Eph_5:25;
"whiter than the snow" is a phrase used by Homer (i), and others, to describe what is
exceeding white.

HERY, "I. See here what David prays for. Many excellent petitions he here puts up,
to which if we do but add, “for Christ's sake,” they are as evangelical as any other.
1. He prays that God would cleanse him from his sins and the defilement he had
contracted by them (Psa_51:7): “Purge me with hyssop; that is, pardon my sins, and let
me know that they are pardoned, that I may be restored to those privileges which by sin
I have forfeited and lost.” The expression here alludes to a ceremonial distinction, that of
cleansing the leper, or those that were unclean by the touch of a body by sprinkling
water, or blood, or both upon them with a bunch of hyssop, by which they were, at
length, discharged from the restraints they were laid under by their pollution. “Lord, let
me be as well assured of my restoration to thy favour, and to the privilege of communion
with thee, as they were thereby assured of their re-admission to their former privileges.”
But it is founded upon gospel-grace: Purge me with hyssop, that is, with the blood of
Christ applied to my soul by a lively faith, as water of purification was sprinkled with a
bunch of hyssop. It is the blood of Christ (which is therefore called the blood of
sprinkling,Heb_12:24), that purges the conscience from dead works, from that guilt of
sin and dread of God which shut us out of communion with him, as the touch of a dead
body, under the law, shut a man out from the courts of God's house. If this blood of
Christ, which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, then we shall be clean
indeed, Heb_10:2. If we be washed in this fountain opened, we shall be whiter than
snow, not only acquitted but accepted; so those are that are justified. Isa_1:18, Though
your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
JAMISO,"A series of prayers for forgiveness and purifying.
Purge ... hyssop— The use of this plant in the ritual (
Exo_12:22; Num_19:6, Num_
19:18) suggests the idea of atonement as prominent here; “purge” refers to vicarious
satisfaction (Num_19:17-20).
CALVI, "7.Thou shalt purge me with hyssop He still follows out the same strain of
supplication; and the repetition of his requests for pardon proves how earnestly he
desired it. He speaks of hyssop (266) , in allusion to the ceremonies of the law; and
though he was far from putting his trust in the mere outward symbol of
purification, he knew that, like every other legal rite, it was instituted for an
important end. The sacrifices were seals of the grace of God. In them, therefore, he
was anxious to find assurance of his reconciliation; and it is highly proper that,
when our faith is disposed at any time to waver, we should confirm it by improving
such means of divine support. All which David here prays for is, that God would
effectually accomplish, in his experience, what he had signified to his Church and
people by these outward rites; and in this he has set us a good example for our
imitation. It is no doubt to the blood of Christ alone that we must look for the
atonement of our sins; but we are creatures of sense, who must see with our eyes,
and handle with our hands; and it is only by improving the outward symbols of
propitiation that we can arrive at a full and assured persuasion of it. What we have
said of the hyssop applies also to the washings (267) referred to in this verse, and
which were commonly practiced under the Law. They figuratively represented our
being purged from all iniquity, in order to our reception into the divine favor. I need

not say that it is the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit to sprinkle our consciences
inwardly with the blood of Christ, and, by removing the sense of guilt, to secure our
access into the presence of God.
In the two verses which follow, the Psalmist prays that God would be pacified
towards him. Those put too confined a meaning upon the words who have suggested
that, in praying to hear the voice of joy and gladness, he requests some prophet to be
sent, who might assure him of pardon. He prays, in general, for testimonies of the
divine favor. When he speaks of his bones as having been broken, he alludes to the
extreme grief and overwhelming distress to which he had been reduced. The joy of
the Lord would reanimate his soul; and this joy he describes as to be obtained by
hearing; for it is the word of God alone which can first and effectually cheer the
heart of any sinner. There is no true or solid peace to be enjoyed in the world except
in the way of reposing upon the promises of God. Those who do not resort to them
may succeed for a time in hushing or evading the terrors of conscience, but they
must ever be strangers to true inward comfort. And, granting that they may attain
to the peace of insensibility, this is not a state which could satisfy any man who has
seriously felt the fear of the Lord. The joy which he desires is that which flows from
hearing the word of God, in which he promises to pardon our guilt, and readmit us
into his favor. It is this alone which supports the believer amidst all the fears,
dangers, and distresses of his earthly pilgrimage; for the joy of the Spirit is
inseparable from faith. When God is said, in the 9th verse, to hide his face from our
sins, this signifies his pardoning them, as is explained in the clause immediately
annexed — Blot out all my sins. This represents our justification as consisting in a
voluntary act of God, by which he condescends to forget all our iniquities; and it
represents our cleansing to consist in the reception of a gratuitous pardon. We
repeat the remark which has been already made, that David, in thus reiterating his
one request for the mercy of God, evinces the depth of that anxiety which he felt for
a favor which his conduct had rendered difficult of attainment. The man who prays
for pardon in a mere formal manner, is proved to be a stranger to the dreadful
desert of sin. “Happy is the man,” said Solomon, “that feareth alway,” (Proverbs
28:14.)
But here it may be asked why David needed to pray so earnestly for the joy of
remission, when he had already received assurance from the lips of athan that his
sin was pardoned? (2 Samuel 12:13.) Why did he not embrace this absolution? and
was he not chargeable with dishonoring God by disbelieving the word of his
prophet? We cannot expect that God will send us angels in order to announce the
pardon which we require. Was it not said by Christ, that whatever his disciples
remitted on earth would be remitted in heaven? (John 20:23.) And does not the
apostle declare that ministers of the gospel are ambassadors to reconcile men to
God? (2 Corinthians 5:20.) From this it might appear to have argued unbelief in
David, that, notwithstanding the announcement of athan, he should evince a
remaining perplexity or uncertainty regarding his forgiveness. There is a twofold
explanation which may be given of the difficulty. We may hold that athan did not
immediately make him aware of the fact that God was willing to be reconciled to
him. In Scripture, it is well known, things are not always stated according to the

strict order of time in which they occurred. It is quite conceivable that, having
thrown him into this situation of distress, God might keep him in it for a
considerable interval, for his deeper humiliation; and that David expresses in these
verses the dreadful anguish which he endured when challenged with his crime, and
not yet informed of the divine determination to pardon it. Let us take the other
supposition, however, and it by no means follows that a person may not be assured
of the favor of God, and yet show great earnestness and importunity in praying for
pardon. David might be much relieved by the announcement of the prophet, and yet
be visited occasionally with fresh convictions, influencing him to have recourse to
the throne of grace. However rich and liberal the offers of mercy may be which God
extends to us, it is highly proper on our part that we should reflect upon the
grievous dishonor which we have done to his name, and be filled with due sorrow on
account of it. Then our faith is weak, and we cannot at once apprehend the full
extent of the divine mercy; so that there is no reason to be surprised that David
should have once and again renewed his prayers for pardon, the more to confirm his
belief in it. The truth is, that we cannot properly pray for the pardon of sin until we
have come to a persuasion that God will be reconciled to us. Who can venture to
open his mouth in God’s presence unless he be assured of his fatherly favor? And
pardon being the first thing we should pray for, it is plain that there is no
inconsistency in having a persuasion of the grace of God, and yet proceeding to
supplicate his forgiveness. In proof of this, I might refer to the Lord’s Prayer, in
which we are taught to begin by addressing God as our Father, and yet afterwards
to pray for the remission of our sins. God’s pardon is full and complete; but our
faith cannot take in his overflowing goodness, and it is necessary that it should distil
to us drop by drop. It is owing to this infirmity of our faith, that we are often found
repeating and repeating again the same petition, not with the view surely of
gradually softening the heart of God to compassion, but because we advance by slow
and difficult steps to the requisite fullness of assurance. The mention which is here
made of purging with hyssop, and of washing or sprinkling, teaches us, in all our
prayers for the pardon of sin, to have our thoughts directed to the great sacrifice by
which Christ has reconciled us to God. “Without shedding of blood,” says Paul, “is
no remissions” (Hebrews 9:22;) and this, which was intimated by God to the ancient
Church under figures, has been fully made known by the coming of Christ. The
sinner, if he would find mercy, must look to the sacrifice of Christ, which expiated
the sins of the world, glancing, at the same time, for the confirmation of his faith, to
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; for it were vain to imagine that God, the Judge of
the world, would receive us again into his favor in any other way than through a
satisfaction made to his justice.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 7. Purge me with hyssop. Sprinkle the atoning blood upon me
with the appointed means. Give me the reality which legal ceremonies symbolise.
othing 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. one 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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.
Ver. 7. Purge me with hyssop. Do I well to prescribe to God with what he shall
purge me, as though I knew all God's medicines as well as himself and which is
worse, I to prescribe and he to administer? But excuse me, O my soul, it is not I that
prescribe it to God, it is God that prescribes it to me; for hyssop is his own receipt,
and one of the ingredients prescribed by himself to make the water of separation for
curing the leprosy...I must confess I was glad at heart when I first heard hyssop
spoken of; to think I should be purged so gently, and with a thing that may so easily
be had, for hyssop grows in every garden; and then I thought I might go fetch it
thence and purge myself, but now I perceive this is not the hyssop of which Solomon
writ when he writ from the cedar to the hyssop; but this hyssop is rather the herb
grace, which never grew in garden but in that of Paradise, and which none can fetch
thence unless God himself deliver it. The truth is, this hyssop was sometimes a
cedar; the highest of all trees because the lowest of all shrubs, only to be made this
hyssop for us: for Christ indeed is the true hyssop, and his blood the juice of hyssop
that only can purge away my sins. Sir Richard Baker.
Ver. 7. Purge me with hyssop. (ynajxt) Properly, expiate my sin with hyssop. The
Psalmist alludes to the purification from the leprosy Leviticus 14:52, or from the
touch of a dead body umbers 19:19, both of which were to be done by the
sprinkling of water and other things with hyssop. Samuel Chandler.
Ver. 7. Hyssop. The lasaf or asaf, the caper plant, the bright green creeper which

climbs out of the fissures of the rocks in the Sinaitic valleys, has been identified on
grounds of great probability with the "hyssop" or ezob of Scripture; and thus
explains whence came the green branches used, even in the desert, for sprinkling the
water over the tents of the Israelites. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, in "Sinai and
Palestine." 1864.
Ver. 7. Hyssop. Between twenty and thirty different plants have been proposed, but
no one of them comes so near the above requirements as the caper plant (Capparis
spinosa). It grows "out of the wall; " its stalks supply both bunch and rod
admirably fitted for the ends indicated; and it has ever been esteemed in the East as
possessing cleansing properties. John Duns, D.D., in "Biblica; atural Science."
Ver. 7. Hyssop. What a pity that Solomon's botany is lost, in which he spoke of trees,
from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall! The
cedar we know, but what is the hyssop of the royal botanist? Mr. B???, French
consul of this city (Sidon), and an enthusiastic botanist, exhibited to me two varieties
of hyssop; one, called zÃ¡tar by the Arabs, having the fragrance of thyme, with a
hot, pungent taste, and long, slender stems. A bunch of these would answer very
well for sprinkling the paschal and sacrificial blood on the lintel and posts of the
doors, and over the persons and houses cleansed from the leprosy. Mr. B???,
however, thinks that a very small green plant, like a moss which covers old walls in
damp places, is the hyssop of Solomon. This I doubt. The other kind also springs out
of walls, those of the garden especially, and was much more likely to attract the
attention of the royal student. W. M. Thomson, D.D., in "The Land and the Book."
Ver. 7. The paraphrase of this verse in the Chaldee is: "Thou wilt sprinkle me like
the priest, which sprinkleth the unclean with the purifying waters, with hyssop, with
the ashes of an heifer, and I shall be clean." John Morison.
Ver. 7. I shall be whiter than snow. But how is this possible? All the dyers on earth
cannot dye a red into a white; and how, then, is it possible that my sins which are as
red as scarlet should ever be made as white as snow? Indeed such retrogradation is
no work of human art; it must be only his doing who brought the sun ten degrees
back in the dial of Ahaz: for God hath a nitre of grace that can bring not only the
redness of scarlet sins, but even the blackness of deadly sins, into its native purity
and whiteness again. But say it be possible, yet what need is there of so great a
whiteness, as to be "whiter than snow"? seeing snow is not as paries dealbatus, a
painted wall, white without and foul within; but it is white, intus et in cute, within
and without, throughout and all over; and what eye so curious but such a whiteness
may content? Yet such a whiteness will not serve, for I may be as white as snow and
yet a leper still; as it is said of Gehazi that "he went from Elisha a leper as white as
snow:" it must be therefore whiter than snow. And such a whiteness it is that God's
washing works upon us, makes within us; for no snow is so white in the eyes of men
as a soul cleansed from sin is in the sight of God. And yet, a whiter whiteness than
this too; for being purged from sin we shall, induere stolam album, put on the
whiter robe; and this is a whiteness as much whiter than snow as angelical whiteness
is more than elemental. Sir Richard Baker.
Ver. 7. In the Hebrew language there are two words to express the different kinds of
washing, and they are always used with the strictest propriety; the one, to signify
that kind of washing which pervades the substance of the thing washed, and
cleanses it thoroughly; and the other to express that kind of washing which only

cleanses the surface of a substance which the water cannot penetrate. The former is
applied to the washing of clothes; the latter is used for washing some part of the
body. By a beautiful and strong metaphor, David uses the former word in this and
in Psalms 51:2 : "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my
sin; "wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. So in Jeremiah 4:14, the same word
is applied to the heart. Richard Mant.
COKE, "Psalms 51:7. Purge me with hyssop— ינאטחת techatteeni: properly, expiate
my sin, with hyssop. The Psalmist alludes to the purification from the leprosy;
Leviticus 14:52 or from the touch of a dead body; umbers 19:19 both which were
to be done by the sprinkling of water and other things with hyssop. The Psalmist
well knew that his sins were too great to be expiated by any legal purifications, and
therefore prays that God would himself expiate and restore him through the great
Sacrifice; i.e. make him as free from those criminal propensities to sin, and from all
the bad effects of his aggravated crimes, as if he had been purified from a leprosy by
the water of cleansing, sprinkled on him by a branch of hyssop, and that he might
be, if possible, clearer from all the defilement and guilt of sin than the new fallen
snow, through the Blood of the great Atonement. I think both these senses are
included in the expiation which the Psalmist prays for; as the person whose leprosy
was expiated was wholly cured of his disease, and freed from all the incapacities
attending it.
WHEDO, "7. Purge me with hyssop—The allusion is to the purification from
death?corruption, as recorded umbers 19; umbers 31:19, the substance and
ritualistic form of which were the strongest and most imposing known to the Mosaic
law. Both the sprinkling and washing are referred to: “Sprinkle me with hyssop;
wash me,” etc. See umbers 19:19. The pollution by the touch of a dead body was
considered as the infection of death, and the purifying element, which must be
correspondingly strong, was the essence of the blood and flesh of the “red heifer,”
with the alkali from the ashes of the “cedar wood” mixed with living water,
partaking at once of the nature of a sin offering and a holocaust, or burnt offering;
that is, of an expiation, and a complete surrender to God. The idea of purification
from the corruption of in?reigning death as the penalty of sin, was fundamental to
the institution.
Whiter than snow—Compare Isaiah 1:18
BESO, "Psalms 51:7. Purge me with hyssop — Or, as with hyssop; the note of
similitude being frequently understood. As lepers, and other unclean persons, are by
thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, Leviticus 14:6;
umbers 19:6; so do thou cleanse me, a most leprous and polluted creature, by thy
grace, and by the virtue of that blood of Christ, which is signified by those
ceremonial usages. The word
ינאשׂחת, techatteeni, here rendered purge me, properly means, expiate my sin. “The
psalmist well knew that his sins were too great to be expiated by any legal
purifications, and therefore prays that God would himself expiate them, and restore

him; that is,” not only remove their guilt, but “make him as free from those criminal
propensities to sin, and from all the bad effects of his aggravated crimes, as though
he had been purified from a leprosy, by the water of cleansing, sprinkled on him by
a branch of hyssop; and that he might be, if possible, clearer from all the defilement
and guilt of sin than the new fallen snow. I think both these senses are included in
the expiation which the psalmist prays for; as the person whose leprosy was
expiated was wholly cured of his disease, and freed from all the incapacities
attending it.” — Dodd.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I
shall be whiter than snow.
Ver. 7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean] Sprinkle me with the blood of
Christ by the hyssop bunch of faith, not only taking away thereby the sting and
stink of sin, but conferring upon me the sweet savour of Christ’s righteousness
imputed unto me. See Hebrews 9:13?14; Hebrews 9:19, where he calleth it hyssop; of
which see Dioscorides, lib. 3, chap. xxvi., xxviii. David multiplieth his suit for
pardon, not only in plain terms, but by many metaphors.
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow] So we cannot be by any washings of our
own, though with snow water, Isaiah 1:16. The bride’s garments are made white in
the Lamb’s blood, Revelation 1:14; the foulest sinners washed in this fountain
become white as the snow in Salmon, Isaiah 1:18, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Ephesians
5:27. Peccata non redeunt.
K&D 7?9, "
The possession of all possessions, however, most needed by him, the
foundation of all other possessions, is the assurance of the forgiveness of his sins. The
second futures in
Psa_51:9are consequents of the first, which are used as optatives.
Psa_51:9recalls to mind the sprinkling of the leper, and of one unclean by reason of his
contact with a dead body, by means of the bunch of hyssop (Lev. 14, Num. 19), the
βοτάνη,καθαρτική (Bähr, Symbol. ii. 503); and Psa_51:9recalls the washings which,
according to priestly directions, the unclean person in all cases of uncleanness had to
undergo. Purification and washing which the Law enjoins, are regarded in connection
with the idea implied in them, and with a setting aside of their symbolic and carnal
outward side, inasmuch as the performance of both acts, which in other cases takes
place through priestly mediation, is here supplicated directly from God Himself.
Manifestly E5SW wW ,“ (not בוּז ֵא ְב ִכ) is intended to be understood in a spiritual sense. It is a
spiritual medium of purification without the medium itself being stated. The New
Testament believer confesses, with Petrarch in the second of his seven penitential
Psalms: omnes sordes meas una gutta, vel tenuis, sacri sanguinis absterget. But there is
here no mention made of atonement by blood; for the antitype of the atoning blood was
still hidden from David. The operation of justifying grace on a man stained by the blood-
red guilt of sin could not, however, be more forcibly denoted than by the expression that
it makes him whiter than snow (cf. the dependent passage Isa_1:18). And history
scarcely records a grander instance of the change of blood-red sin into dazzling
whiteness than this, that out of the subsequent marriage of David and Bathsheba sprang
Solomon, the most richly blessed of all kings. At the present time David's very bones are

still shaken, and as it were crushed, with the sense of sin. BgNT I” IL is an attributive clause like
לעפי in Psa_7:16. Into what rejoicing will this smitten condition be changed, when he
only realizes within his soul the comforting and joyous assuring utterance of the God
who is once more gracious to him! For this he yearns, viz., that God would hide His face
from the sin which He is now visiting upon him, so that it may as it were be no longer
present to Him; that He would blot out all his iniquities, so that they may no longer
testify against him. Here the first part of the Psalm closes; the close recurs to the
language of the opening (Psa_51:3).
SIMEO, "THE MEAS OF DELIVERACE FROM SPIRITUAL LE PROSY
Psalms 51:7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow.
EVERY part of God’s word is profitable for our instruction in righteousness; but,
in the Psalms, religion is exemplified, and, as it were, embodied. The workings of
genuine repentance are admirably delineated in that before us. David traces his
iniquities to their proper source, his original corruption. He acknowledges the
necessity of a thorough renovation of soul: and, in legal terms, but of evangelical
import, he implores forgiveness.
The expressions in the text intimate to us,
I. The nature of sin—
The generality of the world imagine sin to be a light and venial evil. Some indeed
have learned to dread it as destructive of their eternal happiness; but very few have
any idea of it as defiling and debasing the soul.
It is in this view, however, that we are now called to consider it—
[Sin has defiled every member of our body, and every faculty of our soul: hence St.
Paul speaks of it as “filthiness both of the flesh and spirit [ote: 2 Corinthians
7:1.].” What uncircumcised ears [ote: Acts 7:51.], what venomous tongues [ote:
James 3:6.], what adulterous eyes [ote: 2 Peter 2:14.], have the greater part of
mankind [ote: See Romans 3:10?19.]! How are all their members used as
instruments of unrighteousness [ote: Romans 6:13.]! What pride, and envy, what
wrath, and malice, are harboured in the bosom ! How gladly would we cast off all
allegiance to God, and be a god unto ourselves [ote: Psalms 12:4.]! Thus, in fleshly
lusts, we degrade ourselves almost to a level with the beasts [ote: 2 Peter 2:22.];
and, in spiritual filthinesss, we too much resemble the fallen angels [ote: John
8:44.]. How different is this state from that in which we were first created [ote:
Genesis 1:27.]! Yet is the change effected solely by the agency of sin [ote: Romans
5:12.].]

In this view, more especially, is sin represented in the text—
[The Psalmist evidently refers to the state of a leper, or a leprous house. o disorder
was more lothesome than leprosy [ote: Leviticus 13:8.]. A person infected with it
was driven from the society of his dearest relatives, and was necessitated to proclaim
his uncleanness to all who approached him [ote: Leviticus 13:44?46.]. or could
his disorder ever be cured by the art of man. If he were ever healed, it was by God
alone, without the intervention of human means. Hence David, knowing the
filthiness and incurableness of sin, cries to God.]
Similar representations also abound in every part of the sacred writings—
[Our natural depravity is declared in expressions of the like import [ote: Job
15:14?16.] Our acquired corruptions are said to render us lothesome objects [ote:
Proverbs 13:5.]. The very remains of sin in the holiest of men are also described in
similar terms [ote: Romans 7:24. The allusion seems to be to a dead body, which
was sometimes fastened to criminals, till they died in consequence of the stench
arising from it. In such a light did St. Paul view the remains of sin which he felt
within him.]: yea, the most eminent saints, in bewailing their sinfulness, have used
the very same figure as David in the text [ote: Isaiah 6:5.]. Happy would it be for
us, if we had these news of sin: we should soon put away our proud, self?exalting
thoughts, and should adopt the confessions of holy Job [ote: Job 9:20?21; Job 9:30?
31.].]
But, vile as sin is, it may be both forgiven and subdued—
II. The means of deliverance from it—
It has been already observed, that David alludes to the case of a leper. This is
manifest from the terms, wherein he implores deliverance. Under Jewish figures he
sets forth the only means of salvation—
[Certain means were prescribed by God for the purification of a leper [ote:
Leviticus 14:2?7.]. When God had healed him, “the priest was to take two clean
birds, with cedar?wood, scarlet, and hyssop.” Having killed one of the birds, the
priest was to “dip the hyssop and the live bird in the blood of the bird that had been
slain:” he was then to “sprinkle the leper seven times, and to let loose the living
bird.” This ordinance typified the death of Christ, with his resurrection, and
subsequent ascension into hearen with his own blood [ote: Hebrews 9:12.]. A
similar ordinance is explained by the Apostle in this very manner [ote: Hebrews
9:13?14.], and the same effect is plainly ascribed to the things here typified [ote:
Romans 4:25.].” It is therefore in reference to Christ that David says, “Purge me
with hyssop.”
In the purification of a leprous house, water was used with the blood [ote:
Leviticus 14:48?53.]. This further typified the renewing influences of the Spirit of

Christ, and David seems to allude to it, when he adds, “Wash me,” &c. or is this by
any means a forced or fanciful distinction. An inspired writer lays peculiar stress
upon it [ote: 1 John 5:6.], and every enlightened person sees as much need of
Christ’s Spirit to wash him from the defilement of sin, as of his blood to purge him
from its guilt.]
The efficacy ascribed to these means is not at all exaggerated?
[There is no sin whatever which the blood of Christ cannot cleanse. We cannot
conceive more enormous transgressions than those of David, yet even he could say
with confidence, “Purge me, &c and I shall be clean.” Purified in this way, his soul
would become “whiter than snow.” This blessed truth is attested by the beloved
Apostle [ote: 1 John 1:7.], and it is urged by God himself as an inducement to
repentance [ote: Isaiah 1:18.]. Our renewal indeed by the Holy Spirit is not perfect
in this life, but it shall be continually progressive towards perfection [ote: 2
Corinthians 4:16.], and, when the leprous tabernacle shall be taken down, it shall be
reared anew in consummate purity and beauty [ote: 2 Corinthians 5:1. Philippians
3:21.].]
Infer—
1. How mistaken are they, who seek salvation by any righteousness of their
own!
[We can no more eradicate sin from our souls, than a leprosy from our bodies. o
man ever more deeply bewailed his sin, or more thoroughly turned from it than
David [ote: Psalms 6:6; Psalms 38:4?6.], yet he did not say, “Purge me with my
tears, my repentances, or my duties, but, purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean:” he would make mention of no righteousness but that of Christ [ote: Psalms
71:15?16.]; nor would St. Paul himself trust for a moment in any other [ote:
Philippians 3:9.]. Shall we then boast as if we were more penitent than David, more
zealous than Paul? Let us rather humble ourselves in the language of Job [ote: Job
9:15 and xl. 4.], and determine to glory in nothing but the cross of Christ [ote:
Galatians 6:14.].]
2. What encouragement is here afforded to mourning penitents!
[If David did not despair of merey, who else can have cause to do so? If the blood of
Christ could so purge him, why may it not us also? If it had such efficacy a thousand
years before it was shed, surely it will not be less efficacious now it has been poured
forth. But it is not the mere shedding of Christ’s blood that will profit us. We must,
by faith, apply it to our own souls. Let us then go to the blood of sprinkling which
speaketh such good things to us [ote: Hebrews 12:24.]; let us cry with earnest and
repeated entreaties, “Purge me, wash me.!” thus shall our polluted souls be whiter
than snow itself, and ere long we shall join, in that general chorus [ote: Revelation
1:5?6.].]

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
BARES, "Make me to hear joy and gladness -That is, the voice of forgiveness,
causing joy and rejoicing. What he wished to hear was the kind voice of God in
pronouncing his pardon; not the voice of anger and condemnation. God now condemned
him. The law condemned him. His own conscience condemned him. The result was
anguish and sorrow. The burden was great and overpowering - such as to crush him; to
break all his “bones.” He longed to hear the sweet voice of forgiveness, by which he
might have peace, and by which his soul might be made to rejoice. Compare the notes at
Psa_32:1-2.
That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice -That is, which have been
crushed or broken by the weight of sin. Compare the notes at Psa_32:3. See also Psa_
6:2; Psa_22:14; Psa_31:10; Psa_38:3. The word “rejoice” means here, be free from
suffering; the prayer is that the burden which had crushed him might be removed.
CLARKE, "Make me to hear joy -Let me have a full testimony of my reconciliation
to thee; that the soul, which is so deeply distressed by a sense of thy displeasure, may be
healed by a sense of thy pardoning mercy.
GILL, "Make me to hear joy and gladness,.... Which he had not heard for some
time; sin had sadly broke in upon and interrupted his spiritual peace and joy; for though
the love and favour of God cannot be lost, yet his sensible presence, which puts joy and
gladness into the heart, may; and though an interest in Christ ever continues, and union
to him is always the same; yet a view of interest in him, which fills with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, and communion with him, may not be had for a time: and though
justification by his righteousness, from whence flows much peace, is an invariable
blessing; yet the comfortable perception of it may be taken away: and though salvation
by Christ is a certain thing, yet the joy of it may be lost for a season; which was now the
case of the psalmist: and when he desires that God would cause him to hear joy and
gladness, his meaning is, that he might have that made known unto him; namely, the
forgiveness of his sins, which would give him joy: not by an articulate voice from heaven,

which he did not expect; nor by an angel from thence, which was not usual; but by the
prophet, who as yet might not have declared to him that God had put away his sin; or, if
he had, he might desire to have it repeated, for his fuller assurance, and greater joy; or
by his Spirit, in an impulse on his mind, saying to him, thy sins are forgiven thee; which
would give him great joy, fulness of it, even what is inconceivable and inexpressible,
signified by these two words, "joy" and "gladness";
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice: a backsliding believer is not
only like a bone out of joint, Gal_6:1; but his falls are sometimes both to the bruising of
him, and to the breaking of his bones; of which when he is sensible, the quick sense of
his sin is as the pain of a broken bone; see Psa_38:3; and here the breaking of them is
ascribed to God; not that he is the cause or occasion of falling into sin, which breaks the
bones, Jam_1:13; but of afflictions, corrections, and chastisements for sin, which are
sometimes expressed by this phrase, Isa_38:13; and which David was threatened with,
and gave him great uneasiness; and of the menaces and threatenings of the law, which
being let into his conscience, worked wrath and terror there; and also of that true
contrition of heart, and brokenness of spirit, which the Lord produces, and can only
cure, by the discoveries of pardoning grace; which affects the whole frame of nature, the
report of which makes the bones fat, and all of them to say, who is a God like unto thee?
Pro_15:30.
HERY, " He prays that, his sins being pardoned, he might have the comfort of that
pardon. He asks not to be comforted till first he is cleansed; but if sin, the bitter root of
sorrow, be taken away, he can pray in faith, “Make me to hear joy and gladness (Psa_
51:8), that is, let me have a well-grounded peace, of thy creating, thy speaking, so that
the bones which thou hast broken by convictions and threatenings may rejoice, may not
only be set again, and eased from the pain, but may be sensibly comforted, and, as the
prophet speaks, may flourish as a herb.” Note, (1.) The pain of a heart truly broken for
sin may well be compared to that of a broken bone; and it is the same Spirit who as a
Spirit of bondage smites and wounds and as a Spirit of adoption heals and binds up. (2.)
The comfort and joy that arise from a sealed pardon to a penitent sinner are as
refreshing as perfect ease from the most exquisite pain. (3.) It is God's work, not only to
speak this joy and gladness, but to make us hear it and take the comfort of it. He
earnestly desires that God would lift up the light of his countenance upon him, and so
put gladness into his heart, that he would not only be reconciled to him, but, which is a
further act of grace, let him know that he was so.
JAMISO,"Make ... joy— by forgiving me, which will change distress to joy.
SBC, "I. (1) The sin of David was (a) a sin against light, and (b) a sin without excuse. He
fell with frightful injury to himself, and the effect of Samuel’s unction on his head when
he made him king over Israel was in this instance only to give him a tyranny over the
souls of others. (2) This is its outward aspect. How is it when we look within? Still
sadder, still more desperate. He never flinched from the sight of his sin. He looked upon
the ghastly sight in apathy. Nathan put his case before him in the form of a parable; he
touched David just on the tenderest part, that is, his unkindness and ingratitude. But
David felt nothing; he was as secure in the prophet’s presence as if he had been guiltless.

He was as blind as Balaam when an angel stopped the way.
II. The repentance. (1) First take the signs of his humility. He suffers Nathan to accuse
him of his sins, to threaten him with vengeance, to insult his wives, to condemn his
infant child to death. He does not interrupt him; he does not retaliate; he does not so
much as breathe an excuse or pray for pity. There is no thought of self, or fear of man, or
love of praise. (2) See in after-years the fruits of his repentance, those good works and
holy tempers of humility and love which gush out and stream over the heart which really
repents and is converted. (3) Notice his cheerful confidence, which I venture to call the
specially Christian character of his repentance. Just as there is no limit to his confession
of sin, so there is none to his hope of restoration. Now we know why God acknowledged
David’s penitence and forgave him at the instant. In his penitence he had humility,
meekness, perseverance, the sense of shame rather than the fear of pain, above all that
confidence of faith which the Gospel thus describes: "If thou canst believe, all things are
possible."
C. W. Furse, Sermons at Richmond, p. 154.
JOH KER , "Verse8. "Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into thy
bottle: are they not in thy book?" a verse frequently in the mouth of Archbishop
Usher, one of the best and most learned men of his time—born in Dublin, 1580 ,
driven to and fro through England and Ireland amid the troubles in Church and
State, during one of the most troublous times in our history, and at length finding
the rest he often sighed for at Reigate in England, 1655 , after he had preached the
Gospel for fifty?five years.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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,tE P2xt“xtm.tgxPpAEtc.t3.vwxt
could revive his dead joys but that which quickeneth the dead. Pardon from God
(.”_,tjv3xtgv“t,.”)_xtC.7''EC.7tP:,tj_P,:xGGAEtc.tGtinted 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?
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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." atural 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:8. Make me to hear joy and gladness— 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 such pains and agonies of mind, that
he compares them to that exquisite torture which he must have felt had all his bones
been crushed: for the original word תיכד dikkitha, signifies more than broken; viz.
being entirely mashed: and he compares the joy which 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 of those bones after they
had been thus broken and crushed to pieces.
BESO, "Psalms 51:8. Make me to hear joy and gladness — Send me glad tidings
of thy reconciliation to me; and by thy Spirit seal the pardon of my sins on my
conscience, which will fill me with joy. That the bones which thou hast broken may
rejoice — That my heart, which hath been sorely wounded, and terrified by thy
dreadful message sent by athan, and by the awful sentence of thy law, denounced
against such sinners as I am, may be revived and comforted by the manifestation of
thy favour to my soul. For he compares the pains and agonies of his mind, arising
from the deep sense he had of the aggravated nature of his sins, and of the
displeasure of God against him on account of them, to that exquisite torture he must
have felt if all his bones had been crushed: “for the original word תיכד, dicchita,
signifies more than broken; namely, the being entirely mashed. And he compares
the joy that God’s declaring himself fully reconciled to him would produce in his
mind to that inconceivable pleasure which would have arisen from the
instantaneous restoring and healing those bones, after they had been thus broken
and crushed to pieces.”
TRAPP, "Verse 1
Psalms 51:1 « To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when athan the prophet
came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. » Have mercy upon me, O God,

according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies
blot out my transgressions.
A Psalm of David] Who was not ashamed to do open penance here in a white sheet,
as it were; so did Theodosius the emperor, at the reprehension of Ambrose, after the
slaughter at Thessalonica; he spent eight months, saith Theodoret, in weeping and
lamentation; he fell down on his face in the place of the penitents, and said, My soul
is glued to the earth, &c. Henry IV (then king of avarre only, afterwards of France
also), having abused the daughter of a gentleman in Rochel, by whom he had a son,
was persuaded by Monsieur Du?Plessis to make a public acknowledgment of his
fault in the church, which also he did before all the nobility of his army. This
counsel being thought by some to be too rigorous, Du?Plessis made this answer, That
as a man could not be too courageous before men, so he could not be too humble in
the presence of God (Life of Phil. de Morn., by Mr Clark).
When athan the prophet came unto him] Rousing him out of a long lethargy, into
which sin and Satan had cast him. See here the necessity of a faithful ministry, to be
to us as the pilot was to Jonah, as the cock to Peter, &c.; as also of a friendly
admonitor, such as David had prayed for, Psalms 141:5, and here he is answered.
David had lain long in sin without repentance to any purpose; some remorse he had
felt, Psalms 32:3, but it amounted not to a godly sorrow, till athan came; and in
private, dealing plainly with him, more prevailed than all the lectures of the law or
other means had done all that while.
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, 2
Samuel 11:1?27; 2 Samuel 12:1?25, and beware.
Ver. 1. Have mercy upon me, O God] It was wont to be, O my God, but David had
now sinned away his assurance, wiped off his comfortables; he dares not plead
propriety in God, nor relation to him, as having forfeited both. At another time,
when he had greatly offended God by numbering the people, God counted him but
plain David, "Go and say to David," 2 Samuel 24:12, whereas before, when he
purposed to build God a temple, then it was, "Go tell my servant David," 2 Samuel
7:5. Sin doth much impair and weaken our assurance of God’s favour; like as a
drop of water falling on a burning candle dimmeth the light thereof. The course that
David taketh for recovery of this last evil is confession of sin, and hearty prayer for
pardoning and purging grace. In the courts of men it is safest (saith Quintilian) to
plead on feci, ot guilty; not so here, but Ego feci, miserere miserrimi peccatoris,
misericors Deus. Guilty, Lord, have mercy, &c.
Per miserere mei tollitur ira Dei.

According to the multitude of thy tender mercies] They are a multitude of them, and
David needeth them all, for the pardon of his many and mighty sins; that where sin
had abounded grace might superabound, it may have a superpleonasm, 1 Timothy
1:14.
Blot out my transgressions] Out of thy debtbook; cross out the black lines of my sins
with the red lines of Christ’s blood; cancel the bond, though written in black and
bloody characters.
Verse 2
Psalms 51:2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Ver. 2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity] Heb. Multiply, wash me; so Isaiah
55:7. God is said to multiply pardon as much as we multiply sin. David apprehended
his sin so exceeding sinful, his stain so inveterate, so engrained, that it would hardly
be ever gotten out till the cloth were almost rubbed to pieces; that God himself
would have somewhat to do to do it. He had been in a deep ditch, Proverbs 23:27,
and was pitifully defiled; he therefore begs hard to be thoroughly rinsed, to be
bathed in that blessed fountain of Christ’s blood, that is opened for sins and for
uncleanness, Zechariah 13:1; to be cleansed not only from outward defilements, but
from his swinish nature; for though a swine be washed never so clean, if she retain
her nature, she will be ready to wallow in the next guzzle. The time of our being
here is αιων λουτροφορος, as azianzen calleth it, i.e. our washing time. Wash thy
heart, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be clean, Jeremiah 4:14, not by thinking to set
off with God, and to make amends by thy good deeds for thy bad; this is but lutum
luto purgare, to wash off one filth with another; but by the practice of mortification,
and by faith in Christ’s meritorious passion; for he hath washed us from our sins in
his own blood, Revelation 1:5. Other blood defileth, but this purifieth from all
pollutions of flesh and spirit, 1 John 1:7.
And cleanse me from my sin] In like manner as the leper under the law was
cleansed. Leprosy, frenzy, heresy, and jealousy, are by men counted incurable; Sed
omnipotenti medico nullus insanabilis occurrit morbus, saith Isidore, to an
Almighty physician no disease is incurable. There is indeed a natural ovatianism
in the timorous consciences of convinced sinners, to doubt and question pardon for
sins of apostasy, and falling after repentance; but there need be no such doubting,
since God, who hath bidden us to forgive a repenting brother seventy times seven
times in one day, will himself much more. All sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven
to the sons of men, &c., Matthew 12:31.
Verse 3
Psalms 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin [is] ever before me.
Ver. 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions] And therefore look for pardon,
according to thy promise. Homo agnoseit, Deus ignoscit.

And my sin] My twisted sin and sadly accented; mine accumulative sin, voluminous
wickedness, that hath so many sins bound up in it, as Cicero saith of parricide.
Is ever before me] To my great grief and regret, my conscience twitteth me with it,
and the devil layeth it in my dish. This maketh him follow God so close, resolved to
give him no rest till he hath registered and enrolled the remission of his sins in the
book of life, with the bloody lines of Christ’s soul saving sufferings, and golden
characters of his own eternal love.
Verse 4
Psalms 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done [this] evil in thy sight:
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, [and] be clear when thou
judgest.
Ver. 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned] This he spake in respect of the secresy
of his sins, say some; whence also it followeth, "And done this evil in thy sight."
David sent for Bathsheba by his servants, but they knew not wherefore he sent for
her, saith Kimchi; neither knew any one why letters were sent to Joab to kill Uriah;
but because he refused to obey the king, bidding him go home to his house, &c.
Others thus, Against thee only, that is, thee mainly; for every sin is a violation of
God’s law; the trespass may be against man, but the transgression is ever against
God. Others again thus, Against thee, &c., that is, against thee, so good a God, have
I thus heinously offended, giving thereby thine enemies occasion to blaspheme thee.
This, I take it, is the true meaning.
And done this evil in thy sight] Which was to despise thee, 2 Samuel 12:10, not
caring though thou lookedst on.
That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, &c.] i.e. Declared to be just,
whatever thou hast denounced against me or shalt inflict upon me. The
unrighteousness of man commendeth the righteousness of God, Romans 3:4?5. To
thee, O Lord God, belongeth righteousness, but unto us confusion of face, saith
Daniel, Psalms 9:7.
Verse 5
Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Ver. 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity] This he allegeth, viz. his original depravity,
not as an excuse, but as an aggravation of his actual abominations, which he saith
were committed out of the vile viciousness of his nature. See Psalms 58:3?4, . The
Masorites here observe, that the word rendered iniquity is full, written with a
double ו, Vau, to signify the fulness of his sin; {Hebrew Text ote} whole evil being

in every man by nature, and whole evil in man; which, when the saints confess, they
are full in the mouth, as I may so say; they begin with the root of sin (not at the
fingers’ ends, as Adonibezek did), stabbing the old man at the heart first, and laying
the main weight upon original corruption, that indwelling sin, as the apostle calleth
it, Romans 7:14, ; that sin of evil concupiscence, as the Chaldee here; that peccatum
peccans, as the schools. Cicero likewise had heard somewhat of this when he said,
Cum primum nascimur, in omni continuo pravitate versamur, As soon as ever we
are born we are forthwith in all wickedness. Augustine saith, Damnatus homo
antequam natus, Man is condemned as soon as conceived.
And in sin did my mother conceive me] Heb. warm me; this Aben Ezra interpreteth
to be our great grandmother Eve, Quae non parturiebat antequam peccabat. David
meant it doubtless of his immediate mother, and spake of that poison wherewith she
had warmed him in her womb, before the soul was infused. Corruption is conveyed
by the impurity of the seed, Job 14:4, John 3:6; John 3:31. Sin may be said to be in
the seed inception and dispostion, as fire is in the flint. Let us therefore go with
Elisha to the fountain, and cast salt into those rotten and stinking waters. And for
our children, let us labour to mend that by education which we have marred by
propagation.
Verse 6
Psalms 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden
[part] thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Ver. 6. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts] Quam tamen mihi defuisse
res ipsa demonstrat; but this truth hath not been found in me, when I acted my sin
in that sort, and did mine utmost to hide it from the world. I have showed little truth
in the inward parts, but have grossly dissembled in my dealings, with Uriah
especially, whom I so plied at first with counterfeit kindness, and then basely
betrayed him to the sword of the enemy. Sinisterity is fully opposite to sincerity,
treachery to truth.
And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom] Thus, by faith, saith
one, he riseth out of his sin, being taught wisdom of God. Others read it, Thou hast
made me to know, &c. And yet have I sinned against the light of mine own
knowledge and conscience; although thou hast taught me wisdom privately, Et eheu
quam familiariter, as one of thine own domestics, or disciples. Some make it a
prayer, Cause me to know wisdom, &c.
Verse 7
Psalms 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow.
Ver. 7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean] Sprinkle me with the blood of
Christ by the hyssop bunch of faith, not only taking away thereby the sting and

stink of sin, but conferring upon me the sweet savour of Christ’s righteousness
imputed unto me. See Hebrews 9:13?14; Hebrews 9:19, where he calleth it hyssop; of
which see Dioscorides, lib. 3, chap. xxvi., xxviii. David multiplieth his suit for
pardon, not only in plain terms, but by many metaphors.
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow] So we cannot be by any washings of our
own, though with snow water, Isaiah 1:16. The bride’s garments are made white in
the Lamb’s blood, Revelation 1:14; the foulest sinners washed in this fountain
become white as the snow in Salmon, Isaiah 1:18, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Ephesians
5:27. Peccata non redeunt.
Verse 8
Psalms 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; [that] the bones [which] thou hast
broken may rejoice.
Ver. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness] God will speak peace unto his people, he
createth the fruit of the lips to be peace, Isaiah 57:19, &c. o such joyful tidings to a
condemned person as that of a pardon. Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee.
Feri, feri, Domine, nam a peccatis absolutus sum, said Luther. David’s adultery and
murder had weakened his spiritual condition, and wiped off all his comforts; but
now he begs to be restored by some good sermon or sweet promise set home to his
poor soul.
That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice] By leaping over God’s pale he
had broken his bones; and fain he would be set right again, by a renewed
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, by his former feelings of God’s
favour.
SIMEO, "THE OPERATIOS OF SI AD OF GRACE
Psalms 51:8. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast
broken may rejoice.
EXT to the obtaining of pardon, a penitent will desire the manifestation of that
pardon to his soul. A state of suspense on such a subject as the forgiveness of sins, is
too painful to be endured without earnest prayer to God for the removal of it. We
wonder not, therefore, that the Psalmist, after imploring mercy at the hands of God
through the blood of the great Sacrifice, should seek a restoration of peace and joy:
for, in truth, a soul that has once tasted peace with God, and known the joy of his
salvation, can never be satisfied, till it basks in the beams of divine love, and has the
light of God’s countenance lifted up upon it.
The terms in which the Psalmist implores this blessing, will lead me to shew,

I. The power of sin to wound the soul—
We may all have some idea of the anguish arising from broken bones. But that is
small, in comparison of that which is brought upon the soul by sin. “The spirit of a
man will sustain any bodily infirmity: but a wounded spirit, who can bear?” Deep
indeed are the wounds inflicted by sin, in the case of,
1. An unconverted sinner—
[Hear the desponding complaint of Cain: “My punishment is greater than I can
bear.” He felt himself an outcast from God and man: and was haunted by a guilty
conscience, which was ever tormenting him with its accusations, and causing him to
anticipate, with terrible apprehensions, his final doom. The state of Judas was not
less appalling than his. The traitor had promised himself much pleasure from the
wages of his iniquity: but no sooner had he betrayed his Lord, than he was filled
with remorse, and constrained to confess his guilt, and could no longer retain the
money with which he had been bribed, yea, could no longer endure his very
existence, but went and hanged himself.
Previous to the commission, sin appears but a light and venial evil: and, even after it
has been committed, often leaves the mind in a state of extreme insensibility and
obduracy. But let it once be brought home to the conscience by the operation of the
Spirit of God, and it will inflict a wound there, which will be a foretaste of hell itself,
even “a certain looking?for of judgment and fiery indignation that shall consume ”
the soul for ever.]
2. A blacksliding saint—
[The example of Peter may teach us the bitter effects of sin on a mind susceptible of
its enormity. What pangs did he feel, when his Divine Master looked upon him, and
fixed conviction on his soul! o longer able to contain himself, “he went out and
wept bitterly.” But let us fix our attention more particularly on David, whose words
we are considering. Under a sense of his enormous guilt, “his bones waxed old
through his roaring all the day long: for God’s hand was heavy upon him, so that
his moisture was turned to the drought of summer [ote: Psalms 32:3?4.].” Hear his
cries under the agonies he endured: “O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither
chasten me in thy hot displeasure: for thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand
presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger: neither
is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over
my head: as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me. I am troubled: I am bowed
down greatly: I go mourning all the day long. I am feeble and sore broken: I have
roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart [ote: Psalms 38:1?8.]”. In another
psalm he still further complains, “My soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth
nigh unto the grave. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves [ote:
Psalms 88:3; Psalms 88:6?7.].” Who that hears these bitter wailings must not

acknowledge that sin is a tremendous evil, and that, however it may be “rolled
tinder the tongue for a season as a sweet morsel,” “it will bite at last like a serpent,
and sting like an adder?”]
Let us, not, however, be so intent on the power of sin to wound the soul, as to forget,
II. The power of grace to heal it—
What were the sins which had broken David’s bones? Adultery and murder. And
was it possible that they should be forgiven, and that the person who had committed
them should ever “hear again of joy and gladness?” Yes: there is nothing too hard
for God’s power to effect; nothing too great for his mercy to bestow.
The provision made for sinners in the Gospel is adequate to the necessities of all—
[This is a blessed truth, and full of the richest consolation. If there were any bounds
to the mercy of God, or to the merits of his dear Son, millions of the human race
must sit down in utter despair. But, when we learn that Christ is “a propitiation for
the sins of the whole world” and that “his blood cleanseth from all sin; ”when we
are informed also, that persons who are accepted in the Beloved, stand before God
“without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, and are holy and without blemish;”
none can say, “There is no hope for me.” On the contrary, even David himself is
authorised to say, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow.”]
The man who lays hold on the Gospel shall have all his sorrows turned into joy—
[Of this, David himself was an eminent example. Even he could say, “Thou hast
turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and
girded me with gladness [ote: Psalms 30:11.].” Who can tell the full efficacy of “the
balm of Gilead?” “Who can fully declare what peace and joy are imparted to the
sinner, when God lifts upon him the light of his reconciled countenance? Verily, the
peace that is then imparted to his soul “passeth all understanding;” and “the joy”
that flows in upon him “is unspeakable and glorified.” Behold the converts on the
day of Pentecost, or the jailer, when, once the Saviour was revealed to him: how
speedily were all their sorrows dissipated, and their griefs turned into the sublimest
joy! And cannot many amongst ourselves attest that God is still the same, and that
his grace is as effectual as ever for the reviving and the comforting of the contrite
soul [ote: Isaiah 57:15.]? Be it known to all, that “God will not contend for ever;
neither will he be always wroth: lest the spirit should fail before him, and the souls
which he has made [ote: Isaiah 57:16.].”]
We may learn from hence,
1. What folly it is to “make a mock at sin”—
[Yes truly; they are justly called fools” who do so: for whilst sin robs us of our

innocence, it can create a very hell upon earth. And who is he, against whom it may
not prevail? Look at David, the man after God’s own heart: see from what an
eminence he fell, and into what an abyss of guilt and misery! Does not his example
speak loudly to us all? Does it not say to every one of us, “Let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall?” Beware, then, of sin: beware of the very first
motions of sin in the soul. “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” And let
all of us “flee from sin, as from the face of a serpent;” and cry daily unto God to
“hold us up in his arms, that our footsteps slip not,”]
2. What a mercy it is that the Gospel is sounding in our ears—
[Where can the weary and heavy?laden soul find rest, but in Christ Jesus? What
hope could David ever have entertained, if he had not looked to the great sacrifice to
purge away his sin? The Law did not so much as prescribe any offering for such
sins as his: and if he had not looked forward to the Gospel, he must have died
without hope. But his broken bones were healed by a sight of Christ; and so shall
ours be, if we “flee for refuge to Him, as to the hope that is set before us.” To all,
then, I will say, Improve your privileges: and if your bones be broken with a sense
of sin, the prophet’s counsel is given you this day by my mouth: “Come, and let us
return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us: he hath smitten, and he
will bind us up [ote: Hosea 6:1.].”]
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
BARES, "Hide thy face from my sins -That is, Do not look on them; avert thy
face from them; do not regard them. Compare the notes at
Psa_13:1.
And blot out all mine iniquities -Take them entirely away. Let the account be
erased, cancelled, destroyed. See the notes at Psa_51:1.
CLARKE, "Hide thy face from my sins -The sentiment here is nearly the same
as that in Psa_51:3: His sin was ever before his own face; and he knew that the eye of

God was constantly upon him, and that his purity and justice must be highly incensed on
the account. He therefore, with a just horror of his transgressions, begs God to turn
away his face from them, and to blot them out, so that they may never more be seen. See
the note on Psa_51:1(note).
GILL, "Hide thy face from my sins,.... In whose sight they were committed, being
now ashamed of them himself, and ashamed that any should see them, and especially his
God; and being filthy and nauseous, he knew they must be abominable to him, who is of
purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and being breaches of his law, must be offensive to
him, and provoke the eyes of his glory; and were such that he knew would not bear the
examination of justice; and that if God was strict to mark them, he could not stand
before him: moreover, in this petition the psalmist deprecates a severe chastisement of
them, which is sometimes expressed by setting sins before him, Psa_90:8; and entreats
the pardon of them, or oblivion and non-remembrance of them, that they might be cast
behind his back, and into the depths of the sea;
and blot out all mine iniquities; as in Psa_51:1; here repeated, to show his deep
sense of them, and his great importunity for the forgiveness of them; and adds the word
all, including all his other sins, with those he had lately committed; for he knew that, if
anyone, was left unpardoned, he could never answer for it.
HERY, " He prays for a complete and effectual pardon. This is that which he is
most earnest for as the foundation of his comfort (
Psa_51:9): “Hide thy face from my
sins, that is, be not provoked by them to deal with me as I deserve; they are ever before
me, let them be cast behind thy back. Blot out all my iniquities out of the book of thy
account; blot them out, as a cloud is blotted out and dispelled by the beams of the sun,”
Isa_44:22.
JAMISO,"Hide, etc.— Turn from beholding.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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.
n!Tsicioafltcaonhtic;tZHidcothildckh
Ver. 9. Hide thy face from my sins. The verb (rtk) properly signifies to veil, or hide
with a veil. Samuel Chandler.

Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:9. Hide thy face from my sins— The verb רתס satar, properly
signifies to veil, or hide with a veil. The meaning is, "Do not look upon my sins with
a severe eye, nor place them in the light of thy countenance with all their
aggravations; but draw, as it were, a veil between thyself and them, that the sight of
them may no longer provoke thee to anger, or draw down the deserved vengeance
upon me."
BESO, "Psalms 51:9?10. Hide thy face from my sins — Do not look upon them
with an eye of indignation and wrath, but forgive and forget them. Create in me a
clean heart — Seeing I have not only defiled myself by these actual sins, but also
have a most unclean heart, corrupt even from my birth, which nothing but thy
almighty, new?creating power can purify; I beseech thee to exert that power to
produce in me a new and holy frame of heart, free from those impure inclinations
and vile affections, the effects of which I have too fatally felt; a heart in possession,
and under the influence, of those sacred dispositions of piety and virtue, in which
the moral rectitude and purity of the mind consist. Thus shall both my inward
uncleanness be purged away, and I shall be prevented from falling again into such
actual and scandalous sins. And renew a right spirit in me — Hebrew, ןוכנ חור,
ruach nachon, a firm, constant, or steadfast disposition or temper of soul, that I may
not be shaken and cast down by temptation, as I have been, but that my resolution
may be fixed and immoveable. He says, שׁדח, chaddesh, renew, because he had had
this good temper, in a great measure, before his late apostacy, and here prays that it
might be restored to him with increase. Within me — Hebrew, יברקב, bekirbi, in my
inward parts. Thus he wisely strikes at the root and cause of all sinful actions.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Ver. 9. Hide thy face from my sins] We are not able to endure God’s presence, much
less his justice for our sins; nor can there be any sound peace of conscience while he
frowneth. His favour is better than life, but his displeasure more bitter than death
itself. See 2 Samuel 14:32.
And blot out 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.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
BARES, "Create in me a clean heart, O God -The word rendered “create,”
ארב
b
e
râ'- is a word which is properly employed to denote an act of “creation;” that is, of
causing something to exist where there was nothing before. It is the word which is used
in Gen_1:1: “In the beginning God “created” the heaven and the earth,” and which is
commonly used to express the act of creation. It is used “here” evidently in the sense of
causing that to exist which did not exist before; and there is clearly a recognition of the
divine “power,” or a feeling on the part of David that this could be done by God alone.
The idea is, however, not that a new “substance” might be brought into being to which
the name “a clean heart” might be given, but that he might “have” a clean heart; that his
heart might be made pure; that his affections and feelings might be made right; that he
might have what he was conscious that he did “not” now possess - a clean or a pure
heart. This, he felt, could be produced only by the power of God; and the passage,
therefore, proves that it is a doctrine of the Old Testament, as it is of the New, that the
human heart is changed only by a divine agency.
And renew a right spirit within me -Margin, “a constant spirit.” The Hebrew
word -ןוכנ nākûn- means properly, that which is “erect,” or that which is made to stand
up, or which is firm or established. It is used to denote
(a) that which is upright, right, proper: Exo_8:26; Job_42:8; Psa_5:9;
(b) that which is right, true, sincere, Psa_78:37;
(c) that which is firm, constant, fixed.
This would seem to be the meaning here. He prays for a heart that would be firm in
the purposes of virtue; that would not yield to temptation; that would carry out holy
resolutions; that would be stedfast in the service of God. The word “renew” here means
to be or to make new; to produce something new. It is also used in the sense of making
anew, as applied to buildings or cities in the sense of “rebuilding” or “repairing” them:
Isa_61:4; 2Ch_15:8; 2Ch_24:4. The word here would naturally convey the idea that
there had been formerly a right and proper spirit in him, which he prayed might now be

restored. The language is that of one who had done right formerly, but who had fallen
into sin, and who desired that he might be brought back into his former condition.
CLARKE, "Create in me a clean heart -Mending will not avail; my heart is
altogether corrupted; it must be new made, made as it was in the beginning. This is
exactly the sentiment of St. Paul: Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor
uncircumcision, but a new creation; and the salvation given under the Gospel
dispensation is called a being created anew in Christ Jesus.
A right spirit within me -
ןוכנ,חור ruach,nachon, a constant, steady, determined
spirit; called Psa_51:12, הבידנ,חור ruach,nedibah, a noble spirit. a free, generous, princely
spirit; cheerfully giving up itself to thee; no longer bound and degraded by the sinfulness
of sin.
GILL, "Create in me a clean heart, O God,.... Which was now defiled with sin, and
of which being convinced, he was led more and more to see the impurity of his heart and
nature, from which all his evil actions flowed; and being sensible that he could not make
his heart clean himself, and that this was the work of God, and a work which required
creating power, he entreats it of him: for as the first work of conversion is no other than
a creation, or a production of something new, which was not before; so the restoring of a
backslider, as it goes by the same name, it requires the same power; and as the
implantation of grace at first, and particularly of faith, is a work of almighty power; so
the same power must be put forth to bring it into exercise, after falls into sin; that it may
afresh deal with the heart purifying blood of Christ, which only can make it clean, and is
what is here meant;
and renew a right spirit within me; by which is designed, not the Holy Spirit of
God
(k); for he is the renewer; nor the spirit or soul of man as to its essence; but with
respect to the qualities of it; and here it signifies a renewing of the inward man, or an
increase of grace, and causing it to abound in act and exercise; and intends a spirit of
uprightness and integrity, in opposition to dissimulation and hypocrisy; a spirit
"prepared and ready" (l) to every good work, Mat_26:41; "one firm" (m) and unmoved
from obedience to the Lord, by sin, temptations, and snares; a heart fixed, trusting in the
Lord, and comfortably assured of an interest in pardoning grace and mercy.
HERY, " He prays for sanctifying grace; and this every true penitent is as earnest
for as for pardon and peace,
Psa_51:10. He does not pray, “Lord, preserve me my
reputation,” as Saul, I have sinned, yet honour me before this people. No; his great
concern is to get his corrupt nature changed: the sin he had been guilty of was, (1.) An
evidence of its impurity, and therefore he prays, Create in me a clean heart, O God! He
now saw, more than ever, what an unclean heart he had, and sadly laments it, but sees it
is not in his own power to amend it, and therefore begs of God (whose prerogative it is to
create) that he would create in him a clean heart. He only that made the heart can new-
make it; and to his power nothing is impossible. He created the world by the word of his

power as the God of nature, and it is by the word of his power as the God of grace that
we are clean (Joh_15:3), that we are sanctified,Joh_17:17. (2.) It was the cause of its
disorder, and undid much of the good work that had been wrought in him; and therefore
he prays, “Lord, renew a right spirit within me; repair the decays of spiritual strength
which this sin has been the cause of, and set me to rights again.” Renew a constant spirit
within me, so some. He had, in this matter, discovered much inconstancy and
inconsistency with himself, and therefore he prays, “Lord, fix me for the time to come,
that I may never in like manner depart from thee.”
JAMISO,"Create— a work of almighty power.
in me— literally, “to me,” or, “for me”; bestow as a gift, a heart free from taint of sin
(
Psa_24:4; Psa_73:1).
renew— implies that he had possessed it; the essential principle of a new nature had
not been lost, but its influence interrupted (Luk_22:32); for Psa_51:11shows that he had
not lost God’s presence and Spirit (1Sa_16:13), though he had lost the “joy of his
salvation” (Psa_51:12), for whose return he prays.
right spirit— literally, “constant,” “firm,” not yielding to temptation.
K&D 10?11, "In the second part, the prayer for justification is followed by the prayer
for renewing. A clean heart that is not beclouded by sin and a consciousness of sin (for
ב ֵל
includes the conscience, Psychology, S. 134; tr. p. 160); a stedfast spirit (ןוּכָנ, cf. Psa_
78:37; Psa_112:7) is a spirit certain respecting his state of favour and well-grounded in
it. David's prayer has reference to the very same thing that is promised by the prophets
as a future work of salvation wrought by God the Redeemer on His people (Jer_24:7;
Eze_11:19; Eze_36:26); it has reference to those spiritual facts of experience which, it is
true, could be experienced even under the Old Testament relatively and anticipatively,
but to the actual realization of which the New Testament history, fulfilling ancient
prophecy has first of all produced effectual and comprehensive grounds and motives,
viz., _ετάνοια (ב ֵל = νοtς), καινu,κτίσις,,παλιγγενεσία,καK,kνακαKνωσις,πνεt_ατος (Tit_3:5).
David, without distinguishing between them, thinks of himself as king, as Israelite, and
as man. Consequently we are not at liberty to say that שׁ ֶדּv ַה, ַחוּר (as in Isa_63:16), πνεt_α,
wγιωσύνης = xγιον, is here the Spirit of grace in distinction from the Spirit of office. If
Jahve should reject David as He rejected Saul, this would be the extreme manifestation
of anger (2Ki_24:20) towards him as king and as a man at the same time. The Holy
Spirit is none other than that which came upon him by means of the anointing, 1Sa_
16:13. This Spirit, by sin, he has grieved and forfeited. Hence he prays God to show
favour rather than execute His right, and not to take this His Holy Spirit from him.
CALVI, "10Create in me a clean heart, O God! In the previous part of the psalm
David has been praying for pardon. He now requests that the grace of the Spirit,
which he had forfeited, or deserved to have forfeited, might be restored to him. The
two requests are quite distinct, though sometimes confounded together, even by men
of learning. He passes from the subject of the gratuitous remission of sin to that of

sanctification. And to this he was naturally led with earnest anxiety, by the
consciousness of his having merited the loss of all the gifts of the Spirit, and of his
having actually, in a great measure, lost them. By employing the term create, he
expresses his persuasion that nothing less than a miracle could effect his
reformation, and emphatically declares that repentance is the gift of God. The
Sophists grant the necessity of the aids of the Spirit, and allow that assisting grace
must both go before and come after; but by assigning a middle place to the free will
of man, they rob God of a great part of his glory. David, by the word which he here
uses, describes the work of God in renewing the heart in a manner suitable to its
extraordinary nature, representing it as the formation of a new creature.
As he had already been endued with the Spirit, he prays in the latter part of the
verse that God would renew a right spirit within him But by the term create, which
he had previously employed, he acknowledges that we are indebted entirely to the
grace of God, both for our first regeneration, and, in the event of our falling, for
subsequent restoration. He does not merely assert that his heart and spirit were
weak, requiring divine assistance, but that they must remain destitute of all purity
and rectitude till these be communicated from above. By this it appears that our
nature is entirely corrupt: for were it possessed of any rectitude or purity, David
would not, as in this verse, have called the one a gift of the Spirit, and the other a
creation.
In the verse which follows, he presents the same petition, in language which implies
the connection of pardon with the enjoyment of the leading of the Holy Spirit. If
God reconcile us gratuitously to himself, it follows that he will guide us by the Spirit
of adoption. It is only such as he loves, and has numbered among his own children,
that he blesses with a share of his Spirit; and David shows that he was sensible of
this when he prays for the continuance of the grace of adoption as indispensable to
the continued possession of the Spirit. 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. Indeed, it is evident that he could not be altogether divested
of his former excellencies, for he seems to have discharged his duties as a king with
credit, to have conscientiously observed the ordinances of religion, and to have
regulated his conduct by the divine law. 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 athan the prophet should have operated so easily
and so suddenly in arousing him, had there been no latent spark of godliness still
remaining in his soul. He prays, it is true, that his spirit may be renewed, but this
must be understood with a limitation. 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, (1 Peter 1:23;) and
John is equally explicit in informing us that the elect are preserved from falling
away altogether, (1 John 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
breast, even during that interval when it seemed to be extinct. or 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 offense, 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.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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. one 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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. o 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. o. 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. ay,
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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 10. A right spirit. A steadfast spirit, i.e., a mind steady in following the path of

duty. French and Skinner.
Ver. 10?12. Who was to do this work? ot himself; God alone. Therefore, he prays:
"O God, create??O lord, renew; uphold by thy Spirit." Adam Clarke.
COKE, "Psalms 51:10. Create in me a clean heart— A clean heart, is a heart free
from those impure and disordered passions of which David had too fatally felt the
effects, and in possession and under the influence of those sacred dispositions of
piety, holiness, and virtue, in which the moral rectitude and purity of the mind
consists. A right spirit, is more properly a firm, constant, determined spirit. It
implies such a resolution and firmness of soul, as through grace should effectually
secure him against the power of all future temptations. See 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Ephesians 2:10. Mudge renders it, A spirit firmly steady.
WHEDO, "10. Create in me a clean heart—The spiritual work, heart renewal, is
constantly before the royal penitent, and this is nothing less than a new creation.
The word create is the strongest known in the Hebrew for bringing into being that
which did not before exist, as Genesis 1:1. Comp. Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 4:24;
and “new creation,” 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15. The renewal of the heart by
creative energy is a purely evangelical idea.
Right spirit—The word means a steadfast, established mind; one that could stand
firm and resist temptation. See Psalms 78:37
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me.
Ver. 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God] His heart was woefully soiled with the
filth of sin and the work of grace interrupted; he therefore prayeth God to interpose
and begin it again, to set him up once more, to rekindle those sparks of the spirit
that lay almost quite smothered; to put forth his Almighty power for that purpose,
to farm that Augaean stable of his heart; to sanctify him throughout in spirit, soul,
and body; and to keep him blameless unto the coming of his Son 1 Thessalonians
5:23.
And renew a right spirit within me] Or, a firm spirit, firm for God, able to resist the
devil, steadfast in the faith, and to abide constant in the way that is called holy.
SIMEO, "TRUE REOVATIO OF HEART
Psalms 51:10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
PARDO and peace are the first blessings which a penitent will seek. But no true
penitent will be satisfied with them: he will desire with no less ardour the renovation
of his soul in righteousness and true holiness — — — The psalm before us gives a
just epitome of the penitent’s mind. David begins with fervent supplications for
pardon: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving?kindness; according

to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions!” He comes
afterwards to implore a sense of God’s forgiving love: “Make me to hear joy and
gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.” He then desires a
restoration of his soul to the divine image: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me.”
In these words we may see,
I. The great constituents of true piety—
A mere reformation of life, however exemplary, will be no better than the painting
of a sepulchre, which is “full of rottenness and all uncleanness.” If we would be
approved of our God, we must have,
1. A clean heart—
[”The heart of fallen man is full of evil [ote: Ecclesiastes 9:3.]:” and from it, as
from its proper source, all manner of evil proceeds [ote: Mark 7:21?23.]. God
himself has testified respecting it. that “all its thoughts and imaginations are evil
[ote: Genesis 6:5.].” Hence there is an in dispensable necessity, that it should be
renewed by grace: for, if left in an unrenewed state, it could not enjoy heaven, even
if it were admitted there. Being altogether corrupt, it could not delight itself in the
presence of a holy God, or find satisfaction in those exercises of praise in which the
glorified saints and angels are incessantly engaged. To find happiness in God and
holy exercises, it must acquire a totally different taste: or rather, it must be wholly
changed: it must be cleansed from all its corrupt propensities: it must be made
averse from sin: and all its powers must be sanctified unto the Lord.]
2. A right spirit—
[By a “right” spirit is meant a “constant” spirit. A man, even after he is once
cleansed, is yet prone to sin. He is beset with temptations both from without and
within: and he needs to “be strengthened with might in his inner man,” in order
that he may be able to withstand them. It will be in vain that he has been once
“cleansed from the pollutions of the world: if he be ever again entangled with them
and overcome, “His last end will be worse than the beginning [ote: 2 Peter 2:20.].”
He must “be steadfast, immoveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord
[ote: 1 Corinthians 15:58.],” if ever he would find acceptance at the last. “He must
endure unto the end, if ever he would be saved.”]
Seeing that these things are so necessary, let us inquire,
II. How they are to be obtained—
They are not the work of man, but of God alone. They are God’s work,
1. In their commencement—

[The giving of a clean heart is justly called “a new creation:” “Create in me a clean
heart, O God.” Hence he that is in Christ is called “a new creature [ote: 2
Corinthians 5:17.].” When we survey the heavenly bodies, we see and know that
they cannot have been the work of any created being: the impress of Divinity is
stamped upon them. And not less certain is it that a new heart must be the gift of
God. True it is, that God has said, “Make you a new heart, and a right spirit: for
why will ye die [ote: Ezekiel 18:31.]?” But it is also true, that God has promised to
give it to us: “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all
your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out
of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh [ote: Ezekiel 36:25?26.].” Here
all is the gift of God: and it is to be obtained from God in the exercise of prayer and
faith. It is our duty to have a clean heart: and therefore God says, “Make you one.”
But, since we cannot do it of ourselves, we are to turn the command into a petition:
“Create it in me, O God!” And, to shew us that such petitions shall not be in vain,
God makes our petition the subject of an express promise: “A new heart will I give
you” This points out the true way of obtaining all spiritual blessings: we must be
sensible that it is our duty to possess them: but, from a consciousness of our inability
to obtain them by any efforts of our own, we must cry to God for them, and plead
with him the promises which he has given us in the Son of his love. “Laying hold on
these promises,” we shall obtain the strength which we stand in need of; and shall be
enabled to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, and to
perfect holiness in the fear of God [ote: 2 Corinthians 7:1.].”]
2. In their progress—
[Stability of mind is as much the gift of God as regeneration itself: it is He alone that
can “make us perfect; establish, strengthen, settle us [ote: 1 Peter 5:10.].” We need
only look to David for an illustration of this truth. What man ever lived, on whom
you might depend more fully than on him? He was “a man after God’s own heart:
“disciplined in the school of adversity, and honoured with divine communications to
as great an extent as the most favoured of the sons of men. Yet behold, how he fell!
Look at Solomon too. Who, that had seen him at the dedication of the temple, would
have ever supposed that he should betray such weakness and folly as he did, during
the greater part of his reign? Alas! “what is man,” if left to himself; if left only for a
single instant? If God be not with him to uphold him, he will become the sport of
every temptation, “driven to and fro with every wind,” whether of sentiment or of
feeling [ote: Ephesians 4:14.]. He must be assisted in every part of his duty,
whether of “putting off the old man. or putting on the new.” The same Almighty
power which raised Christ from the dead must work mightily in him [ote:
Ephesians 1:19?20.]. to “renew him in the spirit of his mind [ote: Ephesians 4:23?
24.],” till the whole work of God be perfected within him: and to the latest hour of
his life his prayer must be, “May the very God of peace, who brought again from the
dead the Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, make me perfect in every
good work, to do his will; working in me that which is well?pleasing in his sight,
through Christ Jesus [ote: Hebrews 13:20?21.]!”]

Address,
1. Those who feel no need of such a change as is described in our text—
[By the generality, such a change is deemed no better than a wild enthusiastic
conceit: and if a man have been baptized into the faith of Christ, and been enabled
to maintain an honourable and consistent walk through life, he is conceived to be in
a state of perfect safety. But had not icodemus been admitted into covenant with
God in the way prescribed by God himself, and in the only way in which any were
or could be admitted under the Mosaic dispensation? and was he not a person of
most exemplary character? Yet to him did our Lord say again and again, “Ye must
be born again;” and if a man be not born again, “he cannot enter into the kingdom
of heaven [ote: John 3:3; John 3:5; John 3:7.].” To get rid of this awful
admonition, many will identify regeneration with the act of baptism, under an idea
that the inward grace must of necessity accompany the outward sign. But if this be
the case in one sacrament, it must be equally so in the other: whereas we are told,
that a man may partake of the Lord’s supper unworthily; and, instead of being
saved by it, may only “eat and drink his own damnation [ote: 1 Corinthians
11:29.].” And so may a man render baptism the means of his more aggravated
condemnation; as Simon Magus actually did: for he continued as much “in the gall
of bitterness and the bond of iniquity” after his baptism, as he was before, with the
additional guilt of his hypocrisy in having applied for baptism in a state altogether
unworthy to receive it [ote: Acts 8:21?23.]. Beloved Brethren, whatever men may
say, you must be born again of the Spirit, as well as of water: you must become
“new creatures in Christ Jesus:” and if God create not in you a clean heart, and
renew not in you a right spirit, Satan himself may hope for heaven as well as you:
for, if there be any truth in the word of God, “without holiness,” real, inward,
universal holiness, no man shall see the Lord [ote: Hebrews 12:14.].”]
2. Those who profess to have experienced it—
[There are two things against which I would particularly take occasion to guard
you: the one is presumption; the other is despondency.
You have probably heard persons speak of divine grace being an imperishable seed:
which, once bestowed, must of necessity bring a man to glory. But it is the word of
God which is the only imperishable seed [ote: 1 Peter 1:23.]: nor is there in the
universe a man who is authorised to say, ‘I cannot fall.’ To enter into this subject at
large, is beyond my present purpose. The man who cannot see his frailty in the
character of David, and his inability to restore himself in the long impenitence of
David, will probably be left to learn these things by bitter experience. But to every
man among you “that has an ear to hear,” I would say, “Let him that thinketh he
standeth, take heed lest he fall [ote: 1 Corinthians 10:12.].” And if I were speaking
even to a prophet of the Most High, and he as eminent as David himself, I would
whisper in his ear this salutary caution, “Be not high?minded, but fear [ote:
Romans 11:20.].”

Yet, if there be here one who has fallen into sin, I would say, Despair not, as though
there were not mercy enough in the bosom of your God to pardon you, or power
enough in his arm to keep you. Yea, if, like David, you had committed the
aggravated crimes of adultery and murder, I would still point you to the great
Sacrifice, even to the Lord Jesus Christ: and would put into your mouth that prayer
of David, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow [ote: ver. 7.].” I would, however, remind such an one, that it will
not be enough for him to obtain pardon and peace: he must have “a clean heart
created in him, and a right and constant spirit renewed within him,” if ever he
would “see the face of God in peace.” Yet I would add, that there is nothing
impossible with God: and that he who magnified his mercy in the salvation of an
adulterous and murderous David, will “cast out none who come to him” in humility
and faith, as David did.]
MACLARE, "DAVID’S CRY FOR PURITY
Psalms 51:10 ? Psalms 51:12.
We ought to be very thankful that the Bible never conceals the faults of its noblest
men. David stands high among the highest of these. His words have been for ages
the chosen expression for the devotions of the holiest souls; and whoever has wished
to speak longings after purity, lowly trust in God, the aspirations of love, or the
raptures of devotion, has found no words of his own more natural than those of the
poet?king of Israel. And this man sins, black, grievous sin. Self?indulgent, he stays at
home while his army is in the field. His moral nature, relaxed by this shrinking from
duty, is tempted, and easily conquered. The sensitive poet nature, to which all
delights of eye and sense appeal so strongly, is for a time too strong for the devout
soul. One sin drags on another. As self?indulgence opened the door for lust, so lust,
which dwells hard by hate, draws after it murder. The king is a traitor to his
subjects, the soldier untrue to the chivalry of arms, the friend the betrayer of the
friend. othing can be blacker than the whole story, and the Bible tells the shameful
history in all its naked ugliness.
Many a precious lesson is contained in it. For instance, It is not innocence which
makes men good. ‘This is your man after God’s own heart, is it?’ runs the common,
shallow sneer. Yes; not that God thought little of his foul sin, nor that ‘saints’ make
up for adultery and murder by making or singing psalms; not that ‘righteousness’
as a standard of conduct is lower than ‘morality’; but that, having fallen, he learned
to abhor his sin, and with deepened trust in God’s mercy, and many tears, struggled
out of the mire, and with unconquered resolve and strength drawn from a divine
source, sought still to press towards the mark. It is not the attainment of purity, not
the absence of sin, but the presence and operation, though it be partial, of an energy
which is at war with all impurity, that makes a man righteous. That is a lesson
worth learning.
Again, David was not a hypocrite because of this fall of his. All sin is inconsistent
with a religious character. But it is not for us to say what sin is incompatible with a
religious character.
Again, the worst sin is not some outburst of gross transgression, forming an

exception to the ordinary tenor of a life, bad and dismal as such a sin is; but the
worst and most fatal are the small continuous vices, which root underground and
honeycomb the soul. Many a man who thinks himself a Christian, is in more danger
from the daily commission, for example, of small pieces of sharp practice in his
business, than ever was David at his worst. White ants pick a carcase clean sooner
than a lion will.
Most precious of all is the lesson as to the possibility of all sin being effaced, and of
the high hopes which even a man sunk in transgression has a right to cherish, as to
the purity and beauty of character to which he may come. What a prayer these
clauses contain to be offered by one who has so sinned! What a marvellous faith in
God’s pardoning love, and what a boldness of hope in his own future, they disclose!
They set forth a profound ideal of a noble character; they make of that ideal a
prayer; they are the prayer of a great transgressor, who is also a true penitent. In all
these aspects they are very remarkable, and lead to valuable lessons. Let us look at
them from these points of view successively.
I. Observe that here is a remarkable outline of a holy character.
It is to be observed that of these three gifts?a right spirit, Thy Holy Spirit, a free
spirit?the central one alone is in the original spoken of as God’s; the ‘Thy’ of the last
clause of the English Bible being an unnecessary supplement. And I suppose that
this central petition stands in the middle, because the gift which it asks is the
essential and fundamental one, from which there flow, and as it were, diverge on the
right hand and on the left, the other two. God’s Holy Spirit given to a man makes
the human spirit holy, and then makes it ‘right’ and ‘free.’ Look then at the
petitions, not in the order in which they stand in the text, but in the order which the
text indicates as the natural one.
ow as to that fundamental petition, ‘Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me,’ one thing
to notice is that David regards himself as possessing that Spirit. We are not to read
into this psalm the fully developed ew Testament teaching of a personal Paraclete,
the Spirit whom Christ reveals and sends. To do that would be a gross anachronism.
But we are to remember that it is an anointed king who speaks, on whose head there
has been poured the oil that designated him to his office, and in its gentle flow and
sweet fragrance, symbolised from of old the inspiration of a divine influence that
accompanied every divine call. We are to remember, too, how it had fared with
David’s predecessor. Saul had been chosen by God; had been for a while guided and
upheld by God. But he fell into sin, and?not because he fell into it, but because he
continued in it; not because he did wrong, but because he did not repent?the solemn
words are recorded concerning him, that ‘the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul,
and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.’ The divine influence which came on
the towering head of the son of Kish, through the anointing oil that Samuel poured
upon his raven hair, left him, and he stood God?forsaken because he stood God?
forsaking. And so David looks back from the ‘horrible pit and miry clay’ into which
he had fallen, where, stained with blood and lust, he lies, to that sad gigantic figure,
remembered so well and loved by him so truly?the great king who sinned away his
soul, and bled out his life on the heights of Gilboa. He sees in that blasted pine?tree,
towering above the forest but dead at the top, and barked and scathed all down the
sides by the lightning scars of passion, the picture of what he himself will come to, if
the blessing that was laid upon his ruddy locks and his young head by the aged

Samuel’s anointing should pass from him too as it had done from his predecessor.
God had departed from Saul, because Saul had refused His counsel and departed
from Him; and Saul’s successor, trembling as he remembers the fate of the founder
of the monarchy, and of his vanished dynasty, prays with peculiar emphasis of
meaning, ‘Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me!’
That Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, had descended upon him when he was anointed
king, but it was no mere official consecration which he had thereby received. He had
been fitted for regal functions by personal cleansing and spiritual gifts. And it is the
man as well as the king, the sinful man much rather than the faulty king, that here
wrestles with God, and stays the heavenly Visitant whom his sin has made to seem
as if He would depart. What he desires most earnestly, next to that pardon which he
has already sought and found, is that his spirit should be made holy by God’s Spirit.
That is, as I have said, the central petition of his threefold prayer, from which the
others come as natural consequences.
And what is this ‘holiness’ which David so earnestly desires? Without attempting
any lengthened analysis of the various shades of meaning in the word, our purpose
will be served if I point out that in all probability the primary idea in it is that of
separation. God is holy?that is, separated by all the glory of His perfect nature from
His creatures. Things are holy?that is, separated from common uses, and
appropriated to God’s service. Whatever He laid His hand on and claimed in any
especial manner for His, became thereby holy, whether it were a ceremony, or a
place, or a tool. Men are holy when they are set apart for God’s service, whether
they be officially consecrated for certain offices, or have yielded themselves by an
inward devotion based on love to be His.
The ethical signification which is predominant in our use of the word and has made
it little more than a synonym for moral purity is certainly not the original meaning,
as is sufficiently clear from the fact that the word is applied to material things which
could have no moral qualities, and sometimes to persons who were not pure, but
who were in some sense or other set apart for God’s service. But gradually that
meaning becomes more and more completely attached to the word, and ‘holiness’ is
not only separation for God, but separation from sin. That is what David longs for
in this prayer; and the connection of these two meanings of the word is worth
pointing out in a sermon, for the sake of the great truth which it suggests, that the
basis of all rightness and righteousness in a human spirit is its conscious and glad
devotion to God’s service and uses. A reference to God must underlie all that is good
in men, and on the other hand, that consecration to God is a delusion or a deception
which does not issue in separation from evil.
‘Holiness’ is a loftier and a truer word than ‘morality,’ ‘virtue,’ or the like; it differs
from these in that it proclaims that surrender to God is the very essence of all good,
while they seek to construct a standard for human conduct, and to lay a foundation
for human goodness, without regard to Him. Hence, irreligious moralists dislike the
very word, and fall back upon pale, colourless phrases rather than employ it. But
these are inadequate for the purpose. Man’s duties can never be summed up in any
expression which omits man’s relation to God. How do I stand to Him? Do I belong
to Him by joyous yielding of myself to be His instrument? That, my friends! is the
question, the answer to which determines everything about me. Rightly answered,
there will come all fruits of grace and beauty in the character as a natural

consequence; ‘whatsoever things are lovely and of good report,’ every virtue and
every praise grow from the root of consecration to God. Wrongly answered, there
will come only fruits of selfishness and evil, which may simulate virtue, but the
blossom shall go up in dust, and the root in stubble. Do you seek purity, nobleness,
strength, and beauty of soul? Learn that all these inhere in and flow from the one
act of giving up yourself to God, and in their truest perfection are found only in the
spirit that is His. Holiness considered as moral excellence is the result of holiness
considered as devotion to God. And learn too that holiness in both aspects comes
from the operation and indwelling in our spirits of a divine Spirit, who draws away
our love from self to fix it on Him, which changes our blindness into sight, and
makes us by degrees like Himself, ‘holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.’
The Spirit of the Lord is the energy which produces all righteousness and purity in
human spirits.
Therefore, all our desires after what is good and true should shape themselves into
the desire for that Spirit. Our prayer should be, ‘Make me separate from evil, and
that I may be so, claim and keep me for Thine own. As Thou hast done with the
Sabbath amongst the days, with the bare summit of the hill of the Lord’s house
among the mountains, with Israel amidst the nations, so do with me; lay Thine hand
upon me for Thine own. Let my spirit, O God! know its destination for Thee, its
union with Thee. Then being Thine, it will be clean. Dwell in me, that I may know
myself Thine. Seal me with that gracious influence which is the proof that Thou
possessest me, and the pledge that I possess Thee. “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from
me.”‘ So much for the chief of these petitions, which gives the ideal character in its
deepest relations. There follow two other elements in the character, which on either
side flow from the central source. The holy spirit in a man will be a right spirit and
a free spirit. Consider these further thoughts in turn.
‘A right spirit.’ You will observe that our translators have given an alternative
rendering in the margin, and as is not seldom the case, it is a better one than that
adopted in the text. ‘A constant or firm spirit’ is the Psalmist’s meaning. He sees
that a spirit which is conscious of its relation to God, and set free from the
perturbations of sin, will be a spirit firm and settled, established and immovable in
its obedience and its faith. For Him, the root of all steadfastness is in consecration to
God.
And so this collocation of ideas opens the way for us to important considerations
bearing upon the practical ordering of our natures and of our lives. For instance,
there is no stability and settled persistency of righteous purpose possible for us,
unless we are made strong because we lay hold on God’s strength, and stand firm
because we are rooted in Him. Without that hold?fast, we shall be swept away by
storms of calamity or by gusts of passion. Without that to steady us, our own boiling
lusts and desires will make every fibre of our being quiver and tremble. Without
that armour, there will not be solidity enough in our character to bear without
breaking the steady pressure of the world’s weight, still less the fierce hammering of
special temptation. To stand erect, and in that sense to have a right spirit?one that is
upright and unbent?we must have sure footing in God, and have His energy infused
into our shrinking limbs. If we are to be stable amidst earthquakes and storms, we
must be built on the rock, and build rock?like upon it. Build thy strength upon God.
Let His Holy Spirit be the foundation of thy life, and then thy tremulous and

vagrant soul will be braced and fixed. The building will become like the foundation,
and will grow into ‘a tower of strength that stands four?square to every wind.’
Rooted in God, thou shalt be unmoved by ‘the loud winds when they call’; or if still
the tremulous leaves are huddled together before the blast, and the swaying
branches creak and groan, the bole will stand firm and the gnarled roots will not
part from their anchorage, though the storm?giant drag at them with a hundred
hands. The spirit of holiness will be a firm spirit.
But there is another phase of connection between these two points of the ideal
character?if my spirit is to be holy and to preserve its holiness, it must be firm. That
is to say, you can only get and keep purity by resistance. A man who has not learned
to say ‘o!’?who is not resolved that he will take God’s way in spite of every dog
that can bay or bark at him, in spite of every silvery voice that woos him aside?will
be a weak and a wretched man till he dies. In such a world as this, with such hearts
as ours, weakness is wickedness in the long run. Whoever lets himself be shaped and
guided by anything lower than an inflexible will, fixed in obedience to God, will in
the end be shaped into a deformity and guided to wreck and ruin. Dreams however
rapturous, contemplations however devout, emotions however deep and sacred,
make no man pure and good without hard effort, and that to a large extent in the
direction of resistance. Righteousness is not a mere negative idea, and Scripture
morality is something much deeper than prohibitions. But there is no law for us
without prohibitions, and no righteousness without casting out evil that is strong in
us, and fighting against evil that is attractive around us. Therefore we need firmness
to guard holiness, to be the hard shell in which the rich fruit matures. We need a
wholesome obstinacy in the right that will neither be bribed nor coaxed nor bullied,
nor anyhow persuaded out of the road in which we know that we should walk. ‘Add
to your faith manly vigour.’ Learn that an indispensable requisite of holiness is
prescribed in that command, ‘Whom resist, steadfast in the faith.’ And remember
that the ground of all successful resistance and the need for it are alike taught in
that series of petitions, which makes a holy spirit the foundation of a constant spirit,
and a constant spirit the guard of a holy spirit.
Then consider, for a moment, the third element in the character which David longs
to possess?a free spirit. He who is holy because full of God’s Spirit, and constant in
his holiness, will likewise be ‘free.’ That is the same word which is in other places
translated ‘willing’?and the scope of the Psalmist’s desire is, ‘Let my spirit be
emancipated from sin by willing obedience.’ This goes very deep into the heart of all
true godliness. The only obedience which God accepts is that which gladly, and
almost as by an instinctive inward impulse, harmonises the human will with the
divine. ‘Lo! I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy
will, and Thy law is within my heart.’ That is a blessed thought, that we may come
to do Him service not because we must, but because we like; not as serfs, but as
sons; not thinking of His law as a slave?driver that cracks his whip over our heads,
but as a friend that lets us know how we may please Him whom it is our delight to
obey. And so the Psalmist prays, ‘Let my obedience be so willing that I had rather
do what Thou wilt than anything besides.’
‘Then,’ he thinks, ‘I shall be free.’ Of course?for the correlative of freedom is lawful
authority, and the definition of freedom is willing submission. If for us duty is joy,
and all our soul’s desires flow with an equable motion parallel to the will of God,

then there is no sense of restraint in keeping within the limits beyond which we do
not seek to go. The willing spirit sets us free, free from the ‘ancient solitary reign’ of
the despot Self, free from the mob rule of passions and appetites, free from the
incubus of evil habits, free from the authority of men’s voices and examples.
Obedience is freedom to them that have learned to love the lips that command. We
are set free that we may serve: ‘O Lord! truly I am Thy servant; Thou hast loosed
my bonds.’ We are set free in serving: ‘I will walk at liberty, for I keep Thy
precepts.’ Let a willing, free spirit uphold me.
II. Observe, too, that desires for holiness should become prayers.
David does not merely long for certain spiritual excellences; he goes to God for
them. And his reasons for doing so are plain. If you will look at the former verses of
this psalm, you will see that he had found out two things about his sin, both of which
make him sure that he can only be what he should be by God’s help. He had learned
what his crimes were in relation to God, and he had further learned what they
indicated about himself. The teaching of his bitter experience as to the former of
these two matters lies in that saying which some people have thought strange.
‘Against Thee only have I sinned.’ What! Had he not committed a crime against
human law? had he not harmed Uriah and Bathsheba? were not his deeds an
offence to his whole kingdom? Yes, he knew all that; but he felt that over and above
all that was black in his deed, considered in its bearing upon men, it was still
blacker when it was referred to God; and a sadder word than ‘crime’ or ‘fault’ had
to be used about it. I have done wrong as against my fellows, but worse than that, I
have sinned against God. The notion of sin implies the notion of God. Sin is wilful
transgression of the law of God. An atheist can have no conception of sin. But bring
God into human affairs, and men’s faults immediately assume the darker tint, and
become men’s sins. Therefore the need of prayer if these evils are to be blotted out.
If I had done crime against man only, I should not need to ask God for pardon or
cleansing; but I have sinned against Him, and done this evil in His sight, therefore
my desires for deliverance address themselves to Him, and my longings for purity
must needs break into the cry of entreaty to that God with whom are forgiveness
and redemption from all iniquity.
And still further, looking at the one deed, he sees in it something more than an
isolated act. It leads him down to its motive; that motive carries him to the state of
mind in which it could have power; that state of mind, in which the motive could
have power, carries him still deeper to the bias of his nature as he had received it
from his parents. And thinking of how he had fallen, how upon his terraced palace
roof there the eye had inflamed the heart, and the heart had yielded so quickly to
the temptations of the eye, he finds no profounder explanation of the disastrous
eclipse of goodness than this: ‘Behold! I was shapen in iniquity.’
Is that a confession or a palliation, do you think? Is he trying to shuffle off guilt
from his own shoulders? By no means, for these words are the motive for the
prayer, ‘Purge me, and I shall be clean.’ That is to say, he has learned that isolated
acts of sin inhere in a common root, and that root a disposition inherited from
generation to generation to which evil is familiar and easy, to which good, alas! is
but too alien and unwelcome. one the less is the evil done his deed. one the less
has he to wail in full consciousness of his individual responsibility: ‘Against Thee
have I sinned.’ But the effect of this second discovery, that sin has become so

intertwisted with his being that he cannot shake off the venomous beast into the fire
and feel no harm, is the same as that of the former?to drive him to God, who alone
can heal the nature and separate the poison from his blood.
Dear friends! there are some of you who are wasting your lives in paroxysms of
fierce struggle with the evil that you have partially discovered in yourselves,
alternating with long languor, fits of collapse and apathy, and who make no solid
advance, just because you will not lay to heart these two convictions?your sin has to
do with God, and your sins come from a sinful nature. Because of the one fact, you
must go to God for pardon; because of the other, you must go to God for cleansing.
There, in your heart, like some black well?head in a dismal bog, is the source of all
the swampy corruption that fills your life. You cannot stanch it, you cannot drain it,
you cannot sweeten it. Ask Him, who is above your nature and without it, to change
it by His own new life infused into your spirit. He will heal the bitter waters. He
alone can. Sin is against God; sin comes from an evil heart; therefore, if your
longings for that ideal perfectness are ever to be fulfilled, you must make prayers of
them, and cry to Him who hears, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God! take not Thy
Holy Spirit from me.’
III. Finally, observe that prayers for perfect cleansing are permitted to the lips of
the greatest sinners.
Such longings as these might seem audacious, when the atrocity of the crime is
remembered, and by man’s standard they are so. Let the criminal be thankful for
escape, and go hide himself, say men’s pardons. But here is a man, with the evil
savour of his debauchery still tainting him, daring to ask for no mere impunity, but
for God’s choicest gifts. Think of his crime, think of its aggravations from God’s
mercies to him, from his official position, from his past devotion. Remember that
this cruel voluptuary is the sweet singer of Israel, who had taught men songs of
purer piety and subtler emotion than the ruder harps of older singers had ever
flung from their wires. And this man, so placed, so gifted, set up on high to be the
guiding light of the nation, has plunged into the filth of these sins, and quenched all
his light there. When he comes back penitent, what will he dare to ask? Everything
that God can give to bless and gladden a soul. He asks for God’s Spirit, for His
presence, for the joy of His salvation; to be made once again, as he had been, the
instrument that shall show forth His praise, and teach transgressors God’s ways.
Ought he to have had more humble desires? Does this great boldness show that he is
leaping very lightly over his sin? Is he presumptuous in such prayers? God be
thanked?no! But, knowing all his guilt, and broken and contrite in heart {crushed
and ground to powder, as the words mean}, utterly loathing himself, aware of all the
darkness of his deserts, he yet cherishes unconquerable confidence in the pitying
love of God, and believes that in spite of all his sin, he may yet be pure as the angels
of heaven?ay, even holy as God is holy.
Thank God we have such an example for our heartening! Lay it to heart, brethren!
You cannot believe too much in God’s mercy. You cannot expect too much at His
hands. He is ‘able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.’ o sin
is so great but that, coming straight from it, a repentant sinner may hope and
believe that all God’s love will be lavished upon him, and the richest of God’s gifts
be granted to his desires. Even if our transgression is aggravated by a previous life
of godliness, and have given the enemies great occasion to blaspheme, as David’s

did, yet David’s penitence may in our souls lead on to David’s hope, and the answer
will not fail us. Let no sin, however dark, however repeated, drive us to despair of
ourselves, because it hides from us our loving Saviour. Though beaten back again
and again by the surge of our passions and sins, like some poor shipwrecked sailor
sucked back with every retreating wave and tossed about in the angry surf, yet keep
your face towards the beach, where there is safety, and you will struggle through it
all, and though it were but on some floating boards and broken pieces of the ship,
will come safe to land. He will uphold you with His Spirit, and take away the weight
of sin that would sink you, by His forgiving mercy, and bring you out of all the
weltering waste of waters to the solid shore.
So whatever thy evil behaviour, come with it all, and cast thyself before Him, with
whom is plenteous redemption. Embrace in one act the two truths, of thine own sin
and of God’s infinite mercy in Jesus Christ. Let not the one blind you to the other;
let not the one lead you to a morbid despondency, which is blind to Christ, nor the
other to a superficial estimate of the deadliness of sin, which is blind to thine own
self. Let the Cross teach thee what sin is, and let the dark background of thy sin
bring into clear prominence the Cross that bringeth salvation. Know that thou art
utterly black and sinful. Believe that God is eternally, utterly, inconceivably,
merciful. Learn both, in Him who is the Standard by which we can estimate our sin,
and the Proof and Medium of God’s mercy. Trust thyself and all thy foulness to
Jesus Christ; and, so doing, look up from whatsoever horrible pit and miry clay
thou mayest have fallen into, with this prayer, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God!
and renew a right spirit within me, take not Thy Holy Spirit from me, and uphold
me with Thy free Spirit.’ Then the answer shall come to you from Him who ever
puts the best robe upon His returning prodigals, and gives His highest gifts to
sinners who repent. ‘From all your filthiness will I cleanse you, a new heart also will
I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will put My Spirit within
you, and cause you to walk in My statutes.’
ISBET, "A CLEA HEART
‘Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.’
Psalms 51:10
Three things must happen before anything can be created. The Spirit of God must
move upon the face of it, the word of God must speak to it, and the blood of Christ
must wash it.
I. If you wish to be God’s children indeed, the Holy Spirit must work in your
heart.—As the Spirit moved over the face of the waters, so must the Holy Spirit
move in your heart. The Holy Spirit is often compared to water, because water
makes clean.
II. The Bible is the Word of God.—When God made the world, He spake with His
mouth. ow His speech is in the Bible. In Ephesians 5:26 we read: ‘That He might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word’—that is, the Bible.
III. And Jesus Christ, we know, must cleanse us too.—‘The blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’

IV. Suppose you have a clean heart, will it keep clean?—Here comes the beauty of
the text. It says, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God’; and the next part says, ‘Renew
it’—‘Renew a right spirit within me.’ This is what we want every day. If clean to?
day, it will be dirty to?morrow. Therefore we must say, Renew it over and over
again. ‘Renew a right spirit within me.’
Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration
‘We learn at once what David meant by a clean heart. He meant a heart which
loathes and abhors all forbidden indulgences of the flesh. I do not read Society
novels; but I have seen criticisms in secular magazines which seem to show that a
fixed abhorrence of the sins of uncleanness no longer prevails as it should do in our
midst. If men and women loathed these vile sins they would not read books which
are dominated and permeated by them. There are many, I fear, who, while
abstaining themselves from acts of impurity, find a secret and sinful pleasure in
throwing open the whole realm of thought and imagination to uncleanness and
sensuality. And yet the control of our thoughts and imaginations is more than half
the battle in maintaining personal purity. A clean heart is one which never harbours
an unclean thought. Those thoughts and imaginations which the lascivious entertain
with pleasure and delight, the pure in heart turn away from with disgust. And a
clean heart is always a cautious and watchful heart. It runs no unnecessary risks. It
prays, with all earnestness and sincerity, “Lead us not into temptation.” This is why
God’s people are so careful and strict as to what books they read, what company
they associate with, and what places of entertainment they attend. David’s sin was
due to an unguarded look. It is no exaggeration to say that half an hour’s licence to
the thoughts and imaginations, letting them roam at will through forbidden regions
of sensuality and uncleanness opened to us by novel or picture or play, may leave
upon us such a stain that ten, twenty, or thirty years will not see the end of the
mischief done.’
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

BARES, "Cast me not away from thy presence -That is, Do not reject me, or
cast me off entirely; do not abandon me; do not leave me in my sin and sorrow. The
language is derived from the idea that true happiness is to be found in the “presence” of
God, and that to be exiled from him is misery. Compare Psa_16:11, note; Psa_31:20,
note. See also Psa_140:13.
And take not thy holy Spirit from me -It is not certain that David understood by
the phrase “thy Holy Spirit” precisely what is now denoted by it as referring to the third
person of the Trinity. The language, as used by him, would denote some influence
coming from God producing holiness, “as if” God breathed his own spirit, or his own
self, into the soul. The language, however, is appropriate to be used in the higher and
more definite sense in which it is now employed, as denoting that sacred Spirit - the
Holy Spirit - by whom the heart is renewed, and by whom comfort is imparted to the
soul. It is not necessary to suppose that the inspired writers of the Old Testament had a
full and complete comprehension of the meaning of the words which they employed, or
that they appreciated all that their words might properly convey, or the fullness of
signification in which they might be properly used in the times of the Gospel. Compare
the notes at 1Pe_1:10-12. The language used here by David - “take not” - implies that he
had been formerly in possession of that which he now sought. There was still in his heart
that which might be regarded as the work of the Spirit of God; and he earnestly prayed
that that might not be wholly taken away on account of his sin, or that he might not be
entirely abandoned to despair.
CLARKE, "Cast me not away from thy presence -Banish me not from thy
house and ordinances.
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me -I know I have sufficiently grieved it to justify
its departure for ever, in consequence of which I should be consigned to the blackness of
darkness, - either to utter despair, or to a hard heart and seared conscience; and so work
iniquity with greediness, till I fell into the pit of perdition. While the Spirit stays,
painfully convincing of sin, righteousness, and judgment, there is hope of salvation;
when it departs, then the hope of redemption is gone. But while there his any godly
sorrow, any feeling of regret for having sinned against God, any desire to seek mercy,
then the case is not hopeless; for these things prove that the light of the Spirit is not
withdrawn.
GILL, "Cast me not away from thy presence,.... As abominable; as a vessel in
which he had no pleasure; with indignation and wrath; as one that is angry with another,
cannot bear him in his sight, but bids him be gone from him. Nothing is more desirable
to a child of God than the presence of God; and nothing gives him more sensible pain
than his absence; and even to be deprived of or denied the means of enjoying his
presence the word and ordinances, makes them very uneasy: to be utterly, and for ever
deprived of it, is the case of the damned in hell, and is the punishment of loss they
sustain; and, on the other hand, the happiness of the saints in heaven is to enjoy it
without interruption. The people of God are never cast away from his favour, or out of

his heart's love; but they may for a while be without his gracious presence, or not see his
face, nor have the light of his countenance, nor sensible communion with him, which is
here deprecated. David might call to mind the case of Cain, Gen_4:14; or rather the
more recent one of Saul, whom the Lord rejected, and from whom he departed upon his
sinning, and which he might fear would be his case, 1Sa_28:15;
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me; or "the Spirit of thine holiness"; the third
Person in the Trinity; so called, not because this epithet of "holy" is peculiar to him; for
it is used also of the Father, and of the Son, Joh_17:11; but because he is equally holy
with them, and is the author of holiness in his people, which is therefore called the
sanctification of the Spirit, 1Pe_1:2; and without whom David knew that purity and
holiness of heart and spirit he had desired could not be renewed and increased in him;
and therefore deprecates the taking of him away; which shows that he was not as yet
removed from him, not with standing he had fallen into great sins; and his sense of sin,
and confession of it, and his fervent application for pardoning grace, and purity of heart,
abundantly prove it. The Spirit of God is a gift of his, which is without repentance, and
where he once is as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification, he ever abides: his
external gifts may be taken away; but internal grace is an incorruptible seed, and always
continues. By sin the Spirit of God may be grieved, so as to withdraw his gracious
influences, and his powerful operations may not be felt; and this is what is here
deprecated. The Targum interprets this of the spirit of prophecy which David had, by
which he composed psalms and songs prophetic of Christ, and of Gospel times, and
which was not taken away from him; see 2Sa_23:1.
HERY, "He prays for the continuance of God's good-will towards him and the
progress of his good work in him, Psa_51:11. (1.) That he might never be shut out from
God's favour: “Cast me not away from thy presence, as one whom thou abhorrest and
canst not endure to look upon.” He prays that he might not be thrown out of God's
protection, but that wherever he went, he might have the divine presence with him,
might be under the guidance of his wisdom and in the custody of his power, and that he
might not be forbidden communion with God: “Let me not be banished thy courts, but
always have liberty of access to thee by prayer.” He does not deprecate the temporal
judgments which God by Nathan had threatened to bring upon him. “God's will be done;
but, Lord, rebuke me no in thy wrath. If the sword come into my house never to depart
from it, yet let me have a God to go to in my distresses, and all shall be well.” (2.) That he
might never be deprived of God's grace: Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. He knew he
had by his sin grieved the Spirit and provoked him to with draw, and that because he
also was flesh God might justly have said that his Spirit should no more strive with him
nor work upon him, Gen_6:3. This he dreads more than any thing. We are undone if
God take his Holy Spirit from us. Saul was a sad instance of this. How exceedingly sinful,
how exceedingly miserable, was he, when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him!
David knew it, and therefore begs thus earnestly: “Lord, whatever thou take from me,
my children, my crown, my life, yet take not thy Holy Spirit from me” (see 2Sa_7:15),
“but continue thy Holy Spirit with me, to perfect the work of my repentance, to prevent
my relapse into sin, and to enable me to discharge my duty both as a prince and as a
psalmist.”
JAMISO,"A series of prayers for forgiveness and purifying.
Purge ... hyssop— The use of this plant in the ritual (
Exo_12:22; Num_19:6, Num_

19:18) suggests the idea of atonement as prominent here; “purge” refers to vicarious
satisfaction (Num_19:17-20).
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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.
n!Tsicioafltcaonhtic;tZHidcothildckh
9xpAtup'uLAt6g.t(PGtm.t,.tmgvGt(.p2ntc.mtgv“Gx_I5tkod alone. Therefore, he prays:
"O God, create??O lord, renew; uphold by thy Spirit." Adam Clarke.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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. 1 Samuel 15:23. David could not but feel that his
transgression would have deserved a similar rejection. W. Wilson.
Ver. 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 ThomÃ© de Jesu.
Ver. 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 athan 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 1 Peter 1:23; and John is equally explicit in informing us that the
elect are preserved from falling away altogether. 1 John 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. or 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:11. Cast me not away from thy presence— From before thy
face. Heb. The coming to God's presence, was the approaching the tabernacle of the
ark, and its courts, where the sacrifices were offered, and the visible tokens of God's
majesty appeared in the cloud and glory: and therefore, to be cast out of his
presence, was to be debarred the privilege of appearing in his house, and joining in
the solemnities of his worship. This was what David dreaded, as the consequence of
his offences, and what he grievously lamented, when driven from Jerusalem by the
rebellion of Absalom, as appears from what he said to Zadok, 2 Samuel 15:25. And
he therefore prays that this might not be one part of his punishment. The next
petition for God's holy Spirit, and the continuance of it, must mean the Spirit of
God, which was necessary to effect this great change in the temper and habit of his
mind, and to confirm and establish it. He had forfeited this great blessing by his
presumptuous crimes, and therefore earnestly deprecates his being deprived of it,
that he might not be involved again in the same guilty practices, the recollection of
which now gave him the deepest distress. Chandler.
WHEDO, "11. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me—That Spirit which came upon

David at his anointing as king, (1 Samuel 16:13,) and by which he had achieved all
his victories, he had now forfeited, and he deprecates the justice which would take
back the forfeiture. With the divine rejection, as with Saul, would follow that by the
people of Israel. 1 Samuel 16:14; 2 Kings 24:24. The order follows in moral sequence
no less than in judicial judgment—loss of the favour of God, loss of providential
rank and honour, loss of the soul. “They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”
1 Samuel 2:30
BESO, "Psalms 51:11?12. Cast me not away from thy presence — That is, from
thy favour and care. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me — Thy sanctifying Spirit, by
which alone I can have acquaintance and fellowship with thee. Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation — The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and
vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation. And uphold me —
A weak and frail creature, not able to stand against temptation and the corruption
of my nature, without thy powerful and gracious succours; with thy free Spirit —
Or ingenuous, liberal, or princely, which he seems to oppose to this own base,
illiberal, disingenuous, and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked and
unworthy practices. And he now desires a better spirit of God, which might free him
from the bondage of sin, and incline and enable him freely, cheerfully, and
constantly to run the way of God’s precepts.
ELLICOTT, "(11) Cast me not away.—This phrase is used of the formal rejection
of Israel by the God of the covenant (2 Kings 13:23; 2 Kings 17:20; 2 Kings 24:20;
Jeremiah 7:15). Its use here not only confirms the explanation of the notes above,
but makes in favour of understanding the whole psalm of the community.
Take not thy holy spirit.—Commentators have discussed whether this means the
spirit of office given to the king on his anointing (1 Samuel 16:13), or of grace, and
Calvinists and Lutherans have made the text a battle?ground of controversy.
Plainly, as the parallelism shows, the petition is equivalent to a prayer against
rejection from the Divine favour, and is not to be pressed into any doctrinal
discussion.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy
spirit from me.
Ver. 11. Cast me not away from thy presence] Deprive me not of communion with
thee and comfort from thee; for that is a piece of hell torments, 2 Thessalonians 1:9.
Cain’s punishment, which possibly David might here mind, as being guilty of
murder; and Saul’s loss of the kingly spirit, 1 Samuel 15:15, might make him pray
on.
And take not thine holy Spirit from me] David knew that he had done enough to
make the Holy Spirit loathe his lodging; he might also think that the Spirit had
utterly withdrawn himself, and others might think as much, beholding his crosses,
Jeremiah 30:17. But the gifts and callings of God are without repentance; and where

the Spirit once inhabiteth, there he abideth for ever, John 14:16 : an interruption
there may be of his work, but not an intercision; and a saint falling into a gross sin
may lose his ius aptitudinale ad caelum, but not his ius haereditarium; his fitness,
but not his right to heaven, that holy place.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
BARES, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation -literally, “Cause the joy of
thy salvation to return.” This implies that he had formerly known what was the
happiness of being a friend of God, and of having a hope of salvation. That joy had been
taken from him by his sin. He had lost his peace of mind. His soul was sad and cheerless.
Sin always produces this effect. The only way to enjoy religion is to do that which is
right; the only way to secure the favor of God is to obey his commands; the only way in
which we can have comforting evidence that we are his children is by doing that which
shall be pleasing to him:
1Jo_2:29; 1Jo_3:7, 1Jo_3:10. The path of sin is a dark path,
and in that path neither hope nor comfort can be found.
And uphold me with thy free spirit -That is, Sustain me; keep me from falling.
The words ““with thy”” are not in the original, and there is nothing there to indicate that
by the word “spirit” the psalmist refers to the Spirit of God, though it should be observed
that there is nothing “against” such a supposition. The word rendered “free” -בידנ nâdızyb
- means properly “willing, voluntary, ready, prompt;” 1Ch_28:21; Exo_35:5. Then the
word means liberal, generous, noble-minded; Isa_32:5, Isa_32:8; Pro_17:7, Pro_17:26.
It would seem here to mean “a “willing” spirit,” referring to David’s own mind or spirit;
and the prayer is, that God would uphold or sustain him “in” a “willing” spirit or state of
mind; that is, a state of mind in which he would he “willing” and “ready” to obey all the
commands of God, and to serve him faithfully. What he prayed for was grace and
strength that he might be “kept” in a state of mind which would be constant and firm
Psa_51:10, and a state in which he would always be found “willing” and ready to keep the
commandments of God. It is a proper object of prayer by all that they may be always
kept in a state of mind in which they will be willing to do all that God requires of them,
and to bear all that may be laid on them.

CLARKE, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation -This is an awful prayer.
And why? Because it shows he once Had the joy of God’s salvation; and had Lost it by
sin!
Uphold me with thy free spirit -Prop me up; support me with a princely spirit,
one that will not stoop to a mean or base act. See on Psa_51:10(note).
GILL, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,.... Not temporal, but spiritual
and eternal; and designs either Christ himself, who is God's salvation, of his appointing
and providing, in the view of whom, as such, David had much spiritual joy; or the
salvation he was to work out, which God the Father had contrived the scheme of in him,
had covenanted with him to do, and had appointed his people to: salvation itself is a sure
thing, and can never fail, being founded upon the purpose and counsel of God, which
shall ever stand; and is secured in the covenant of grace, which can never be removed;
and is now completely wrought out by Christ, and is applied by his Spirit to the heirs of
it, who shall certainly and fully enjoy it; otherwise the glory of all the three Persons in it
would be lost: but the joy of it may be interrupted and discontinued for a while, through
falls into sin, as this case of David, and the case of Peter, show; and therefore a
restoration of it is desired, by showing a fresh interest in this salvation; and particularly
by an application of pardoning grace and mercy; see Psa_35:3;
and uphold me with thy free Spirit: or "let thy free Spirit uphold me" (n); the same
with the Holy Spirit of God; called "free", because he is a most free and munificent giver:
he gives his grace, and bestows his gifts severally, as he pleases, and liberally, and
upbraids not; and because he is freely given of God; his graces are freely given, as faith,
hope, love, &c. and because he frees them to whom he is given from the bondage of sin
and corruption, and makes them Christ's free men, and delivers them into the liberty of
the children of God; and so is a spirit of adoption, in opposition to a spirit of bondage, by
which they have freedom and boldness to call God their Father; and by whom also they
have liberty of soul at the throne of grace, and can freely make known their requests, and
spread their cases before God; see Rom_8:15; also he may be so called, because he
makes the saints ready and willing to obey the will of God, and to run with cheerfulness
the way of his commandments; and is moreover "a princely spirit" (o), or beneficent, as
some choose to render the words; and which becomes such who are set among princes,
and are made kings and priests unto God: and with this spirit the psalmist desires to be
"upheld", to be strengthened by it, to do the will and work of God, that so he might not
stumble and fall into sin as he had done; that he might be stayed, supported, and
comforted with it, as the Holy Spirit of promise; that so he might not faint and sink
under his present sense of sin, and the guilt of it; and that he would be not only a guide
unto him in the ways of God, but that he would hold up his goings in them, that so he
might walk both at liberty and in safety. The Targum interprets this also of the spirit of
prophecy.
HERY, "He prays for the restoration of divine comforts and the perpetual
communications of divine grace,
Psa_51:12. David finds two ill effects of his sin: - (1.) It
had made him sad, and therefore he prays, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. A
child of God knows no true nor solid joy but the joy of God's salvation, joy in God his

Saviour and in the hope of eternal life. By wilful sin we forfeit this joy and deprive
ourselves of it; our evidences cannot but be clouded and our hopes shaken. When we
give ourselves so much cause to doubt of our interest in the salvation, how can we expect
the joy of it? But, when we truly repent, we may pray and hope that God will restore to
us those joys. Those that sow in penitential tears shall reap in the joys of God's salvation
when the times of refreshing shall come. (2.) It had made him weak, and therefore he
prays, “Uphold me with the free Spirit: I am ready to fall, either into sin or into despair;
Lord, sustain me; my own spirit” (though the spirit of a man will go far towards the
sustaining of his infirmity) “is not sufficient; if I be left to myself, I shall certainly sink;
therefore uphold me with thy Spirit, let him counterwork the evil spirit that would cast
me down from my excellency. Thy Spirit is a free spirit, a free gent himself, working
freely” (and that makes those free whom he works upon, for where the Spirit of the Lord
is there is liberty) - “thy ingenuous princely Spirit.” He was conscious to himself of
having acted, in the matter of Uriah, very disingenuously and unlike a prince; his
behaviour was base and paltry: “Lord,” says he, “let thy Spirit inspire my soul with noble
and generous principles, that I may always act as becomes me.” A free spirit will be a
firm and fixed spirit, and will uphold us. The more cheerful we are in our duty the more
constant we shall be to it.
JAMISO,"free spirit— “thy” ought not to be supplied, for the word “free” is,
literally, “willing,” and “spirit” is that of David. “Let a willing spirit uphold me,” that is,
with a soul willingly conformed to God’s law, he would be preserved in a right course of
conduct.
K&D 12?13, "In connection with
ה ָבי ִדְנ, ַחוּר, the old expositors thought of בי ִדָנ, a noble,
a prince, and ה ָבי ִדְנ, nobility, high rank, Job_30:15, lxx πνεύ_ατι,{γε_ονικM (spiritu
principali) στήριξόν,_ε, - the word has, however, without any doubt, its ethical sense in
this passage, Isa_32:8, cf. ה ָב ָדְנ, Ps. 54:8; and the relation of the two words הבידנ,חור is not
to be taken as adjectival, but genitival, since the poet has just used חור in the same
personal sense in Psa_51:12. Nor are they to be taken as a nominative of the subject, but
- what corresponds more closely to the connection of the prayer - according to Gen_
27:37, as a second accusative of the object: with a spirit of willingness, of willing, noble
impulse towards that which is good, support me; i.e., imparting this spirit to me, uphold
me constantly in that which is good. What is meant is not the Holy Spirit, but the human
spirit made free from the dominion of sin by the Holy Spirit, to which good has become
an inward, as it were instinctive, necessity. Thus assured of his justification and fortified
in new obedience, David will teach transgressors the ways of God, and sinners shall be
converted to Him, viz., by means of the testimony concerning God's order of mercy
which he is able to bear as the result of his own rich experience.
CALVI, "12Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation He cannot dismiss his grief of
mind until he have obtained peace with God. This he declares once and again, for
David had no sympathy with those who can indulge themselves in ease when they

are lying under the divine displeasure. In the latter clause of the verse, he prays as
in the verses preceding, that the Holy Spirit might not be taken away from him.
There is a slight ambiguity in the words. Some take ינכמסת, thismecheni, to be the
third person of the verb, because חור, ruach, is feminine, and translate, let the Spirit
uphold me. The difference is immaterial, and does not affect the meaning of the
passage. There is more difficulty in fixing the sense of the epithet הבידנ , nedibah,
which I have translated free As the verb בדנ, nadab, signifies to deal liberally,
princes are in the Hebrew called, by way of eminence, םיבידנ, nedibim, which has led
several learned men to think that David speaks here of a princely or royal spirit;
and the translators of the Septuagint rendered it accordingly ἡγε?ονικον. The
prayer, in this sense, would no doubt be a suitable one for David, who was a king,
and required a heroical courage for the execution of his office. But it seems better to
adopt the more extensive meaning, and to suppose that David, under a painful
consciousness of the bondage to which he had been reduced by a sense of guilt,
prays for a free and cheerful spirit. (269) This invaluable attainment, he was
sensible, could only be recovered through divine grace.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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. one 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation— i.e. The pleasure I
have formerly enjoyed, of having a special interest in thy favour, and of being
assured that thou wilt continually protect and deliver me from all mine enemies and
troubles. The next clause might be rendered nearer to the Hebrew, Let a free spirit
uphold me; for the pronoun thy is not in the original. הבידנ nedibah, rendered free,
is used as a substantive only in two or three places, and has a very significant
meaning, denoting a princely, ingenuous, liberal disposition. His spirit had been
depressed, and greatly terrified, by the sense of God's displeasure, and he was filled

with shame and confusion for the greatness of his sins, and prays that God would
restore him to his former freedom, ease, and alacrity of mind, both in discharging
his duty as king of Israel, and as a worshipper of his God; and that this free spirit
might uphold, or perpetually influence, and carry him through the remainder of his
life. Chandler. Houbigant renders it, And let a spirit of magnanimity support me.
WHEDO, "12. Uphold me with thy free Spirit—The idea of “uphold,” here, is to
confirm, render permanent. David desires that the restored state be sustained and
abiding. This is the point of the petition. But he has not in himself the elements of
this stability. God only can “restore the joys of salvation,” and he alone can cause
him to stand firm in this restored life. The word “free,” in the Hebrew, is often used
as a substantive to denote a prince, noble, grandee; and thus the Septuagint and
Jerome understood it. This gives the sense of a governing, or princely Spirit, with
the idea of liberality implied, (see Isaiah 32:6; Isaiah 32:8,) and this meets the point
of the request: By thy governing Spirit establish me. If we understand by “free
spirit,” “not the Holy Spirit, but the human spirit made free from the dominion of
sin by the Holy Spirit,” (Delitzsch,) still the doctrinal recognition of the Holy Spirit’s
influence upon the heart is the same. But the sense we have given more naturally
connects with Psalms 51:11 and the parallelism, and is sustained by usage.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me
[with thy] free spirit.
Ver. 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation] He had grieved that holy thing,
that Spirit of God whereby he was sealed to the day of redemption, Ephesians 4:30,
and is therefore at a loss for comfort; he had vilipended that patent of his pardon
which God had passed under his hand and seal; God therefore calleth for it home
again into the pardon office, as it were, that he may know the worth by the want. A
man may sin away, not only the sense and comfort of his pardon, but the evidence
and knowledge of it, as that place of Peter seemeth to imply, 2 Peter 1:9.
Mountebanks, who wound their flesh to try conclusions upon their own bodies how
sovereign the salve is, do oft feel the smart of their presumption, by long and
desperate wounds: so God will let his Davids see what it is to make wounds in their
consciences to try the preciousness of his balsam; such may go mourning to their
graves (Dr Sibbes’ Soul’s Confl.). And though with much ado they get assurance of
pardon, yet their consciences will be still trembling, till God at length speak further
peace; even as the waters of the sea after a storm are not presently still, but move
and tremble a good while after the storm is over.
And uphold me with thy free spirit] Heb. Firmly sustain me with thy noble or
princely Spirit, that may make me steady and ready to come off roundly in thy
service. Sin against conscience disableth for duty, taketh away freedom to it and
stability in it. David, therefore, prays God to fix his quicksilver, to balance his
lightness, to settle and fill that vain and empty heart of his with something that may
stay and stablish it, that may also free and enlarge it (for where the Spirit of God is
there is liberty, 2 Corinthians 3:17), that he might yield prompt and present

obedience to God in all things; and withal might be apt and able to teach
transgressors, as he promiseth to do in the next words.
SBC, "
I. The joy of God’s salvation is the joy of a sufficient and final answer to the self-
upbraidings of a guilty soul.
II. The joy of a portion which satisfies the heart’s largest conceptions and desires.
III. The joy of an answer to all the difficulties and perplexities which beset the spirit and
the intellect in their progress.
IV. The joy of having the key to all the mysterious ways of Providence in the world.
V. The joy of victory over death.
VI. The joy of living union with God, with Christ, with all living and blessed beings,
eternally.
J. Baldwin Brown, Aids to the Development of the Divine Life, No. 5.
Psalms 51:12
I. In the first place, this text distinctly shadows out the sovereignty of the action of the
Holy Ghost. For very free, so free as to be utterly untraceable and incalculable, we now
know, with better teaching than David’s, are the wind-like motions of the Holy Ghost.
One man’s experience of spiritual things is no measure for another’s. No two Christians
are ever cast into exactly the same mould, because He divideth to every man severally as
He will, for the Spirit is free.
II. The Holy Spirit, wherever He comes, comes unmerited and unbought. You may pray
for the Spirit, and He may come in answer to your prayer; but remember, He first
inspired the wish which made the prayer which brought the answer.
III. He is the free Spirit because He is the great Liberator of us all. Is it too much to say
that he who is under the expanding influences of the Spirit of God is free, and all besides
are slaves? To the free Spirit it belongs not only to commence, but to carry on, the great
work of grace within a man’s soul. As the Holy Ghost is God, He must partake of that
fatherly character in which, we believe, all Deity stands to His creatures; and a father’s
aim is always to hold up his child, and to give the strongest arm to the weakest of his
offspring.
IV. Our Lord Himself has taught us to view the Holy Spirit under the emblem of water. It
is the fundamental law of water that its property is always to rise towards the level of the
height from whence it came. True to its type, the Holy Spirit is always ascending to the
glory from which it came down to us; and as it mounts, it bears within it, heavenward,
the heart that owns it.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,2nd series, p. 159.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
BARES, "Then will I teach transgressors thy ways -As an expression of
gratitude, and as the result of his own painful experience. He would show them, from
that experience, the evil and the bitterness of sin in itself; he would show them with what
dreadful consequences sin must always be followed; he would show them the nature of
true repentance; he would show them what was required in order that sin might be
forgiven; he would encourage them to come to that God who had forgiven him. So the
Saviour charged Peter, from his own bitter experience in having fallen under the power
of temptation, to strengthen and encourage those who were struggling with the
depravity of their own hearts, and who were in danger of falling: “And when thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren,”
Luk_22:32.
And sinners shall be converted unto thee -They would see from his case the evil
of transgression; they would learn from his example that mercy might be found; they
would be persuaded to flee from the wrath to come. The best preparation for success in
winning souls to God, and turning them from the error of their ways, is a deep personal
experience of the guilt and the danger of sin, and of the great mercy of God in its
forgiveness. No man can hope to be successful who has not experienced this in his own
soul; no one who has, will labor wholly in vain in such a work.
CLARKE, "Then will I teach transgressors -I will show myself to be grateful; I
will testify of thy loving-kindness; I will call on transgressors to consider the error of
their ways; and shall set before them so forcibly thy justice and mercy, that sinners shall
be converted unto thee. With a little change I can adopt the language of Dr. Delaney on
this place: “Who can confide in his own strength, when he sees David fall? Who can
despair of Divine mercy when he sees him forgiven? Sad triumph of sin over all that is
great or excellent in man! Glorious triumph of grace over all that is shameful and
dreadful in sin!”
GILL, "
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways,.... David was a prophet as well
as a king; see Act_2:30; and taught men the fear of the Lord, Psa_34:11, and instructed
them in his ways, as he here promises he would; by which are meant, either the ways
which God prescribes and directs men to walk in, as the paths of faith, holiness, and

truth, and the ways of his commandments; or which he himself has walked in; meaning
not the ways of his providence, which are sometimes past finding out; but the ways of his
grace, the steps and methods he has taken in the salvation of men, by forming the
scheme of it, by choosing unto it, by making a covenant with his Son, and appointing
him to effect it; and particularly his ways and methods in receiving and pardoning
backsliders, when returned by repentance to him; and who may be meant by
"transgressors" here: and then the sense is, that David, upon his being received and
pardoned, would teach others like himself how graciously God had dealt with him; how
plenteous he is in mercy; how ready to forgive, and how faithful to his promises; and so
encourage them to go to him, and acknowledge their transgressions, and seek pardoning
grace at his hands, who does abundantly pardon, and whose ways are not as theirs; see
Isa_55:7;
and sinners shall be converted unto thee: or "that sinners may be converted unto
thee" (p); this being the end of teaching by the word, and the means of the conversion of
profane and unregenerate sinners, through the power of divine grace; though rather this
seems to be understood of the conversion of God's own people after backslidings, and
not of first conversion; see Luk_22:32.
HERY, " See what David here promises, Psa_51:13. Observe,
1. What good work he promises to do: I will teach transgressors thy ways. David had
been himself a transgressor, and therefore could speak experimentally to transgressors,
and resolves, having himself found mercy with God in the way of repentance, to teach
others God's ways, that is, (1.) Our way to God by repentance; he would teach others that
had sinned to take the same course that he had taken, to humble themselves, to confess
their sins, and seek God's face; and, (2.) God's way towards us in pardoning mercy; how
ready he is to receive those that return to him. He taught the former by his own example,
for the direction of sinners in repenting; he taught the latter by his own experience, for
their encouragement. By this psalm he is, and will be to the world's end, teaching
transgressors, telling them what God had done for his soul. Note, Penitents should be
preachers. Solomon was so, and blessed Paul.
2. What good effect he promises himself from his doing this: “Sinners shall be
converted unto thee, and shall neither persist in their wanderings from thee, nor despair
of finding mercy in their returns to thee.” The great thing to be aimed at in teaching
transgressors is their conversion to God; that is a happy point gained, and happy are
those that are instrumental to contribute towards it, Jam_5:20.
JAMISO,"Then— Such will be the effect of this gracious work.
ways— of providence and human duty (Psa_18:21, Psa_18:30; Psa_32:8; Luk_
22:32).
CALVI, "13I will teach transgressors thy ways Here he speaks of the gratitude
which he would feel should God answer his prayer, and engages to show it by
exerting himself in effecting the conversion of others by his example. Those who

have been mercifully recovered from their falls will feel inflamed by the common
law of charity to extend a helping hand to their brethren; and in general, such as are
partakers of the grace of God are constrained by religious principle, and regard for
the divine glory, to desire that others should be brought into the participation of it.
The sanguine manner in which he expresses his expectation of converting others is
not unworthy of our notice. We are too apt to conclude that our attempts at
reclaiming the ungodly are vain and ineffectual, and forget that God is able to
crown them with success.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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).
HITS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:13. And sinners shall be converted unto thee— i.e. "Be
persuaded, by my declaring to them the mercy I have experienced in the forgiveness
of my sins, to return to thee by repentance, that they also may obtain the pardon of
their offences." Happy for mankind, says Dr. Delaney, upon the consideration urged
by David in this verse,—that there is such an instance, an authentic instance, of
falling virtue and recovering guilt; an instance, so fitted to mortify the vanity of
virtue, and the excellence of exalted piety; to raise the power and preciousness of
humble penitence, to abate the pride of self?sufficiency, and support the hope of
frailty! Who can confide in his own strength when he sees a David fall! Who can
despair of divine mercy when he sees him forgiven! Sad triumph of sin over all that
is great and excellent in man! Glorious triumph of repentance [and grace] over all
that is shameful and dreadful in sin! Book iv. c. 24.
WHEDO, "13. Will I teach transgressors—Thus the psalmist would show forth his
gratitude for that renewal and establishment in righteousness for which he agonizes.
And for this he would be prepared only when he himself should be fully reinstated
in the divine favour. How he fulfilled this promise is shown in some of his
subsequent psalms, as Psalms 32, 40, , 103, which should be read in this connexion.
Thy ways—The way of thy commandments.
Shall be converted—Shall turn to thee. The verb is active, and is broadly significant
of entire and hearty repentance. The example of his forgiveness should encourage
others to repent.
BESO, "Psalms 51:13. Then will I teach transgressors thy way — Thy will and
their duty, and the way to eternal happiness; or, rather, the manner of thy dealing
with sinners, whom thou dost so severely chastise for their sins, and yet so

graciously receive to mercy upon their repentance. Both which I will show them in
my own example, for I will make known unto them my fall and recovery, through
thy grace, although I shall thereby publish, not only thy goodness, but my own
shame, which I shall most willingly bear, that I may, in some measure, repair the
injury which I have done to thy cause and to my fellow?creatures, by my public and
scandalous crimes. And sinners shall be converted unto thee — I persuade myself
that my endeavours shall not want success; and that either thy justice and severity
on the one hand, or thy goodness and clemency on the other, will bring some sinners
to repentance. Certainly, as Dr. Delaney observes in this verse, this instance of
David’s miserable fall and happy restoration is well “fitted to mortify the vanity and
merit of human virtue, and to raise the power and price of humble penitence, to
abate the pride of self?sufficiency, and support the hope of frailty! Who can confide
in his own strength when he sees a David fall? Who can despair of divine mercy
when he sees him forgiven? Sad triumph of sin over all that is great and excellent in
man! Glorious triumph of repentance over all that is shameful and dreadful in sin!”
Book 4. chap. 24.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:13 [Then] will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall
be converted unto thee.
Ver. 13. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways] Instruunt nos Patres tum
docentes, tum labentes, saith Augustine: Two ways the saints teach us. First, By
their doctrine. Secondly, By their falls and failings. David had taught men this last
way to his cost, that it is triste mortalitatis privilegium licere aliquando peccare;
now he promiseth by his example and instruction to teach transgressors, those that
are in the very bonds and hands of the devil, God’s ways of mercy to the penitent;
and that they must either turn to God or burn for ever in hell.
And sinners shall be converted unto thee] They shall give not the half, but the whole
turn; and it shall appear by them. The turning of a sinner from evil to good is like
the turning of a bell from one side to another; you cannot turn it but it will make a
sound, and report its own motion.
SBC, "
It is the characteristic of the people of God that they desire the conversion of
sinners unto God; they are not at least in a healthy state when this desire is not active. So
far as there is backsliding, this principle may be crushed and weakened; but let there be
renewed repentance, forgiveness, cleansing, the joy of God’s salvation, and this principle
reappears. "Sinners shall be converted unto Thee." That implies (1) that sinners are away
from God; (2) that the conversion of a sinner is possible. Our distance from God is the
distance of a different, a contrarious nature; it is the distance of alienation from the
original constitution of man’s moral nature. And as like draws to like, so do differences
shrink from differences, specially contrarieties from contrarieties. So, save in the new
and living way, God keeps back from sinners, and sinners shrink back from God.
II.
Sinners are away from God. And what they need is to come back. They cannot return to
God by the old way; but God has opened up a new way for the sinner’s return. And now

all that God wants of the sinner is simply that he come back again. Conversion as
wrought by the Spirit of God is God’s act; conversion as wrought within a sinner denotes
His acting also. The Spirit of God is a moral agent. The work of the Spirit is set forth in
this prayer: "Turn Thou us;" and the duty on the sinner’s part is set forth in such
commands as these: "Be converted;" "Turn ye at My reproof." There is ordinarily in
conversion the following method: (1) Conviction. As a rational creature, you cannot turn
till you have been convinced that you are all in the wrong and God all in the right. (2)
There is compunction. "They were pricked to the heart." The effect of compunction is
that the sinner cannot endure sin; compunction makes sin intolerable. (3) There is
humiliation. I do not mean here the Christian grace of humility, but the soul’s case when
the sinner finds that he cannot save himself, and is forced to submit that another should
do this great work for him, when, finding he can do nothing to deliver himself, he looks
around for a friend. And that friend must be a saviour.
III.
Sinners are away from God, and being so, can neither be holy nor happy. But sinners
may be converted. For sinners of mankind there is a covenant of grace, so their
conversion is a possibility. The sinner is willing to be saved, but by whom? He has heard
of Christ. Yes, and he had heard of the Law before he was convinced by means of it; but
now it has taken its real, effectual hold upon him. And now the Gospel is to him very
much what the Law was to him. He has found the Law, and he has heard by the hearing
of the ear, from his fellow-men, from Apostles and prophets, of a Saviour. But the same
Spirit who has taught him his sin and misery instructs him in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And these three things he is called to attend to: the God of the covenant,
the provisions of the covenant, and the Mediator of the covenant.
IV.
"Sinners shall be converted unto Thee." It is therefore not sufficient that a conversion be
really a conversion; it must be a conversion unto God. The covenant of grace is made
with covenant-breakers. (1) It contains this: "I will write My law in their hearts." It is
implied that the law is not there, that it needs to be there, and that neither you nor any
creature for you can write it there. (2) This is a covenant with ignorant creatures who
have not the knowledge of God. (3) The covenant contains this: "For I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." God’s
purpose to forgive is a definite purpose. His forgivingness belongs to His nature, and is
infinite. Refusal to take hold of this covenant takes either of these two forms:
unwillingness to be saved by Christ or disbelief that He will save you.
V.
The conversion of a sinner is a matter in which the gracious God takes the deepest
interest. The voice of conscience is very feeble in fallen man, and the voice of depravity
very loud and imperious, and it silences it. But while sinners are not objects of
compassion to themselves, they are objects of compassion to God. The conversion of
sinners is not accomplished by mere moral suasion; it is of Divine power, yet not so of
Divine power as that there is not the use of moral suasion—of counsels, motives, and
means such as may operate upon rational creatures. Therefore sinners who desire
conversion should be very attentive to God’s appointed means of grace.
J. Duncan, The Pulpit and Communion Table, p. 310 (five sermons).

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
BARES, "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God -Margin, as in Hebrew,
“bloods.” So it is rendered by the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. Luther renders it
“blood-guilt.” DeWette, “from blood.” Compare
Isa_4:4. The “plural” form - “bloods” - is
used probably to mark “intensity,” or to denote “great” guilt. The allusion is to the guilt
of shedding blood, or taking life (compare Gen_9:5-6), and the reference is undoubtedly
to his guilt in causing Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, to be slain. 2Sa_11:14-17. It was
this which weighed upon his conscience, and filled him with alarm. The guilt of this he
prayed might be taken away, that he might have peace. The “fact” of the shedding of that
blood could never be changed; the real “criminality” of that fact would always remain the
same; the “crime” itself could never be declared to be innocence; his own personal “ill
desert” for having caused the shedding of that blood would always remain; but the sin
might be pardoned, and his soul could thus find peace.
The penalty might be remitted, and, though guilty, he might be assured of the divine
favor. He could not, indeed, repair the evil to Uriah - for “he” had gone beyond the
power of David for good or for evil - but he could do much to express his sense of the
wrong; he could do much to save others from a similar course; he could do much to
benefit society by keeping others from the like guilt. He could not, indeed, recall Uriah
from the grave, and repair the evil which he had done to “him,” but he might save others
from such a crime, and thus preserve many a useful life from the effects of unrestrained
guilty passions. We cannot, indeed, by penitence recall those whom we have murdered;
we cannot restore purity to those whom we have seduced; we cannot restore faith to the
young man whom we may have made a sceptic; but we may do much to restrain others
from sin, and much to benefit the world even when we have been guilty of wrongs that
cannot be repaired.
Thou God of my salvation -On whom I am dependent for salvation; who art alone
the source of salvation to me.
And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness -Compare the notes at
Psa_35:28.

CLARKE, "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness -This is one of the expressions
that gives most color to the propriety of the title affixed to this Psalm. Here he may have
in view the death of Uriah, and consider that his blood cries for vengeance against him;
and nothing but the mere mercy of God can wipe this blood from his conscience. The
prayer here is earnest and energetic: O God! thou God of my salvation! deliver me! The
Chaldee reads, “Deliver me (לוטק,ןידמ middin,ketol) from the judgment of slaughter.”
My tongue shall sing aloud -My tongue shall praise thy righteousness. I shall
testify to all that thou hast the highest displeasure against sin, and wilt excuse it in no
person; and that so merciful art thou, that if a sinner turn to thee with a deeply penitent
and broken heart, thou wilt forgive his iniquities. None, from my case, can ever
presume; none, from my case, need ever despair.
GILL, "Deliver me from blood guiltiness,.... Or "from bloods"
(q); meaning not
the corruption of nature; see Eze_16:6; though to be rid of that, and to be free from the
guilt and condemnation of it, is very desirable, Rom_7:24; but either from capital
punishment in his family, the effusion of blood and slaughter in it, threatened him on
account of his sin, 2Sa_12:10. So the Targum is,
"deliver me from the judgment of slaying or killing;''
or rather from the guilt of the blood of Uriah, and other servants of his, he had been the
occasion of shedding, and was chargeable with, being accessary thereunto, 2Sa_11:15;
which lay heavy upon his conscience, pressed him on every side, as if he was in prison,
and brought upon him a spirit of bondage to fear; and therefore he prays to be delivered
from it, by the application of pardoning grace, which would be like proclaiming liberty to
the captive;
O God, thou God of my salvation; who has contrived it for his people, chosen them
to it, secured it for them in covenant, and provided his Son to be the author of it, and
sends his Spirit to apply it. The psalmist knew, that being God he could pardon his sin,
remove his guilt, and free him from obligation to punishment, which none else could;
and being the "God of his salvation", and his covenant God, he had reason to hope and
believe he would;
and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness; goodness, grace, and
mercy, in forgiving sin; for "righteousness" sometimes designs clemency, goodness, and
mercy; see Psa_31:1; and faithfulness in making good the divine promise to forgive such
who are sensible of sin, and repent of it, acknowledge it, and ask for mercy; or the
righteousness of Christ, well known to David, Rom_4:6; which justifies from all sin,
removes the guilt of it, and fills the soul with joy and gladness, Isa_61:10.
HERY 14?15, "I. David prays against the guilt of sin, and prays for the grace of God,
enforcing both petitions from a plea taken from the glory of God, which he promises
with thankfulness to show forth. 1. He prays against the guilt of sin, that he might be
delivered from that, and promises that then he would praise God, Psa_51:14. The
particular sin he prays against is blood-guiltiness, the sin he had now been guilty of,

having slain Uriah with the sword of the children of Ammon. Hitherto perhaps he had
stopped the mouth of conscience with that frivolous excuse, that he did not kill him
himself; but now he was convinced that he was the murderer, and, hearing the blood cry
to God for vengeance, he cries to God for mercy: “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness; let
me not lie under the guilt of this kind which I have contracted, but let it be pardoned to
me, and let me never be left to myself to contract the like guilt again.” Note, It concerns
us all to pray earnestly against the guilt of blood. In this prayer he eyes God as the God of
salvation. Note, Those to whom God is the God of salvation he will deliver from guilt; for
the salvation he is the God of is salvation from sin. We may therefore plead this with
him, “Lord, thou art the God of my salvation, therefore deliver me from the dominion of
sin.” He promises that, if God would deliver him, his tongue should sing aloud of his
righteousness; God should have the glory both of pardoning mercy and of preventing
grace. God's righteousness is often put for his grace, especially in the great business of
justification and sanctification. This he would comfort himself in and therefore sing of;
and this he would endeavour both to acquaint and to affect others with; he would sing
aloud of it. This all those should do that have had the benefit of it, and owe their all to it.
2. He prays for the grace of God and promises to improve that grace to his glory (Psa_
51:15): “O Lord! open thou my lips, not only that I may teach and instruct sinners”
(which the best preacher cannot do to any purpose unless God give him the opening of
the mouth, and the tongue of the learned), “but that my mouth may show forth thy
praise, not only that I may have abundant matter for praise, but a heart enlarged in
praise.” Guilt had closed his lips, had gone near to stop the mouth of prayer; he could
not for shame, he could not for fear, come into the presence of that God whom he knew
he had offended, much less speak to him; his heart condemned him, and therefore he
had little confidence towards God. It cast a damp particularly upon his praises; when he
had lost the joys of his salvation his harp was hung upon the willow-trees; therefore he
prays, “Lord, open my life, put my heart in tune for praise again.” To those that are
tongue-tied by reason of guilt the assurance of the forgiveness of their sins says
effectually, Ephphatha-Be opened; and, when the lips are opened, what should they
speak but the praises of God, as Zacharias did? Luk_1:64.
JAMISO,"Deliver— or, “Free me” (Psa_39:8) from the guilt of murder (2Sa_
12:9, 2Sa_12:10; Psa_5:6).
righteousness— as in Psa_7:17; Psa_31:1.
K&D 14?17, "The third part now begins with a doubly urgent prayer. The invocation
of God by the name
Elohim is here made more urgent by the addition of
י ִת ָעוּשׁ ְת,י ֵהּל ֱא;
inasmuch as the prayers for justification and for renewing blend together in the “deliver
me.” David does not seek to lessen his guilt; he calls it in םי ִמ ָ9 by its right name, - a word
which signifies blood violently shed, and then also a deed of blood and blood-guiltiness
(Psa_9:13; Psa_106:38, and frequently). We have also met with MT I• I. construed with ן ִמ of
the sin in Psa_39:9. He had given Uriah over to death in order to possess himself of
Bathsheba. And the accusation of his conscience spoke not merely of adultery, but also
of murder. Nevertheless the consciousness of sin no longer smites him to the earth,
Mercy has lifted him up; he prays only that she would complete her work in him, then
shall his tongue exultingly praise (ןֵ? ִר with an accusative of the object, as in Psa_59:17)
God's righteousness, which, in accordance with the promise, takes the sinner under its

protection. But in order to perform what he vowed he would do under such
circumstances, he likewise needs grace, and prays, therefore, for a joyous opening of his
mouth. In sacrifices God delighteth not (Psa_40:7, cf. Isa_1:11), otherwise he would
bring some (הָנ ֵg ֶאְו, darem, sc. si velles, vid., on Psa_40:6); whole-burnt-offerings God
doth not desire: the sacrifices that are well-pleasing to Him and most beloved by Him, in
comparison with which the flesh and the dead work of the תולוע and the םיחבז (םימלשׁ) is
altogether worthless, are thankfulness (Psa_50:23) out of the fulness of a penitent and
lowly heart. There is here, directly at least, no reference to the spiritual antitype of the
sin-offering, which is never called הבז. The inward part of a man is said to be broken and
crushed when his sinful nature is broken, his ungodly self slain, his impenetrable
hardness softened, his haughty vainglorying brought low, - in fine, when he is in himself
become as nothing, and when God is everything to him. Of such a spirit and heart,
panting after grace or favour, consist the sacrifices that are truly worthy God's
acceptance and well-pleasing to Him (cf. Isa_57:15, where such a spirit and such a heart
are called God's earthly temple).
(Note: The Talmud finds a significance in the plural י ֵח ְבִז. Joshua ben Levi (B.
Sanhedrin43b) says: At the time when the temple was standing, whoever brought a
burnt-offering received the reward of it, and whoever brought a meat-offering, the
reward of it; but the lowly was accounted by the Scriptures as one who offered every
kind of sacrifice at once (ןלוכ,תונברקה,לכ,בירקה,וליאכ). In Irenaeaus, iv. 17, 2, and
Clemens Alexandrinus, Paedag. iii. 12, is found to θυσία,τM,ΘεM,καρδία,συντετρι__ένη
the addition: ?σ_u,ε?ωδίας,τM,ΘεM,καρδία,δοξάζουσα,τ?ν,πεπλακότα,α?τήν.)
CALVI, "14Deliver me from bloods His recurring so often to petitions for pardon,
proves how far David was from flattering himself with unfounded hopes, and what
a severe struggle he sustained with inward terrors. According to some, he prays in
this verse to be delivered from the guilt of the blood of Uriah, and, in general, of the
whole army. (270) But 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. By
the righteousness of God, which he engages to celebrate, we are to understand his
goodness; for this attribute, as usually ascribed to God in the Scriptures, does not so
much denote the strictness with which he exacts vengeance, as his faithfulness in
fulfilling the promises and extending help to all who seek him in the hour of need.
There is much emphasis and vehemency in the mode of his address, O God! the God
of my salvation, intimating at once how tremblingly he was alive to the danger of his
situation, and how strongly his faith terminated upon God as the ground of his
hope. Similar is the strain of the verse which follows. 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. In another place we find him
declaring that a new song had been put in his mouth, (Psalms 40:3,)and it seems to
be in this sense that he here desires his lips to be opened. He again signifies the
gratitude which he would feel, and which he would express, intimating, that he
sought the mercy of God with no other view than that he might become the herald of
it to others. My mouth, he says emphatically, shall show forth thy praise.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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. one 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. ote 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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.
Ver. 14. (first clause). The Chaldee reads, Deliver me from the judgment of murder.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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 Psalms 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.
Ver. 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:14. Deliver me from blood?guiltiness— This is the proper sense
of the expression. The Hebrew םימד damim, is bloods, in the plural; which generally
signifies murder. See 2 Samuel 16:7?8.; Psalms 59:2?3.; Ezekiel 7:23. The meaning of
the petition here is, "Deliver me from the bloods I have unrighteously spilled; from
the guilt of Uriah's murder." Thy righteousness here signifies thy truth; veracity,
and steadfastness to the promises which God had given. He further prays, Open
thou my lips, &c. Psalms 51:15. "Remember thy gracious promises, and accomplish
them, notwithstanding my unworthiness, that I may have renewed reasons to
celebrate thy praises:" for this is the meaning of God's opening his lips; furnishing
him with new motives and occasions of gratitude and thankfulness; Chandler.
Mudge thinks that bloods does not mean blood spilled, but that debt of blood
whereby a man is rendered guilty of death for any capital crime; such as, adultery,
&c.
WHEDO, "14. Bloodguiltiness—A direct allusion to 2 Samuel 11:14?17. He covers
nothing of his sin, but openly calls things by their right names. The word rendered
“bloodguiltiness” is in the Hebrew simply bloods, (plural.) In the singular it is often
used for wilful blood shedding, the taking of human life by violence; in the plural, as
here, uniformly so.
Sing aloud of thy righteousness—Thus, after forgiveness, according to the law of
Moses, comes the offering of praise and thanksgiving. See on Psalms 51:19, and
Psalms 107:22
BESO, "Psalms 51:14?15. Deliver me from blood?guiltiness — Hebrew, םימדמ,
middamim, from bloods, because he had been the cause of the death, not only of
Uriah, but of others of the Lord’s people with him, 2 Samuel 11:17 . My tongue shall

sing of thy righteousness, of thy faithfulness in making good thy promises; or,
rather, of thy clemency and goodness, as the word righteousness often signifies.
Open thou my lips — Which are shut with shame, and grief, and horror. Restore
unto me the opportunity, ability, and liberty which I formerly had of speaking to
thee in prayer and praise, and to my fellow?creatures, by way of instruction,
reproof, or exhortation, with freedom and boldness. And my mouth shall show forth
thy praise — In thy mercy and thy faithfulness remember thy gracious promises,
and accomplish them, notwithstanding my unworthiness, and, as I shall be
furnished with new motives and occasions for gratitude and thankfulness, my
mouth shall everywhere declare thy goodness, to thy perpetual praise and glory.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my
salvation: [and] my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Ver. 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God] Heb. from bloods; in every drop
whereof is a tongue crying for vengeance. Besides, if David’s adultery was a sin of
infirmity (he was preoccupied, as Galatians 6:1), yet his murdering of Uriah, and
many others that fell together with him, was a sin of presumption; a deliberate
prepensed evil, done in cold blood, and therefore lay very heavily upon his
conscience. Howbeit he obtained pardon for this great sin also; so that it never
troubled him on his deathbed, as some other did, though not so great, whereof he
had not so thoroughly repented, 1 Kings 2:5?9
Thou God of my salvation] By making choice of this so fit an attribute, he stirreth
up himself to take better hold.
And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness] That is, of thy faithfulness in
performing thy promise of pardon to the penitent. As Aaron’s golden bells sounded,
so should our tongues sound God’s praises, and sing them aloud, shrill them out.
SIMEO, "THE PEITET ECOURAGED
Psalms 51:14. Deliver me from blood?guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation!
and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
THIS psalm is full of encouragement to a real penitent; but in particular the petition
before us. Consider the crime committed—murder; the most atrocious murder that
ever was committed. Consider by whom it had been committed—the man after
God’s own heart, who had experienced from God more signal interpositions than
almost any other man that ever breathed. Consider the long and inconceivable
obduracy which he had indulged since the commission of if, even to the very hour
when his guilt was charged upon him by the Prophet of the Lord. Could such a sin
as this be forgiven? Could such an offender dare to ask forgiveness, or entertain the
remotest hope of obtaining it? Surely, if David could approach his God under such

circumstances as these, with the smallest hope of acceptance, then may we see in this
passage,
I. The privilege of a contrite soul—
There is not a sinner in the universe who may not go to God, as “a God of
salvation”—
[Were there only a hope that mercy might be a constituent of the divine character,
and an attribute which might by some possibility be displayed, it were a sufficient
encouragement to the vilest sinner upon earth to call upon his God. But the title
here assigned to the Most High, opens to us a most wonderful view of his character.
He is “a God of salvation;” as having devised a way of salvation for a ruined world:
as having given us his only dear Son to effect it: as having accepted the sacrifice of
his Son in our behalf; and, as applying that salvation to those whom “he has chosen
in Christ Jesus before the world began.” He is “a God of salvation,” as making the
redemption of the world his great concern; yea, as altogether occupied in it; so as, if
I may so speak, to be swallowed up in it, and to be “a God of it.” We read of him as
“a God of patience and consolation,” yea, “a God of all grace:” but the title given in
my text meets most fully the necessities of mankind, and opens a door of hope to
every sinner under heaven.]
or is there a sin which, if truly repented of, shall not be forgiven—
[We read, indeed, of the sin against the Holy Ghost, as excepted from the
tremendous catalogue of pardonable sins. But it is not excepted because of its
enormity, as though it were too great to be forgiven; but only because that sin
implies a wilful and deliberate rejection of the only means of salvation: it destroys,
not because it exceeds the efficacy of the Redeemer’s blood, but because it tramples
on that blood which alone can expiate even the smallest sin. A man who
determinately rejects all food, needs not to do any thing else to ensure his own
destruction: he rejects the necessary means of life, and therefore must inevitably
perish. But we may say without exception, that “the blood of Jesus Christ both can
and will cleanse from all sin,” if only we sprinkle it upon our conscience, and trust
in it for salvation. It is worthy of observation, that the Psalmist expresses no doubt
as to the possibility of his acceptance with God. He does not say, “If such guilt can
be forgiven, deliver thou me;” but simply, “Deliver me.” ay, in a preceding part of
this psalm he says, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I
shall be whiter than snow [ote: ver. 7.].” Whatever guilt, therefore, may lie upon
the conscience of the vilest sinner under heaven, let him go to God, and cry with
humble confidence, “Deliver me, O God of my salvation!”]
From this example of David, we may further learn,
II. The duty of all who have obtained mercy of the Lord—
The world are ready to complain, “Why do you not keep your religion to yourself?

But no pardoned sinner ought to do so: he is bound to render thanks for the mercies
vouchsafed unto him.
1. He owes it to God—
[Surely God is to be honoured, as a God of providence and a God of grace. Are we
distinguished above the brute creation? We should bless God for the faculties
bestowed upon us. Are we elevated above any of our fellows by the communication
of spiritual blessings to our souls? We are bound to praise God for such “an
unspeakable gift.” If we forbore to speak His praises, methinks “the very stones
would cry out against us.”]
2. He owes it to the world—
[How are the world to be instructed in the knowledge of God, if those to whom that
knowledge is imparted are silent respecting him? We owe a debt to them. “What our
eyes have seen, our ears have heard, and our hands have handled of the Word of
Life,” we are bound to declare to them. We are not at liberty to put our light under
a bushel; but must “make it to shine before men, that they also may glorify our
Father who is in heaven.” “When we are converted,” we are bound in every possible
way to “strengthen our brethren.”]
3. He owes it to himself—
[Suppose a man to “have been forgiven much, will he not love much?” and will not
love vent itself in the praise of the object beloved? Especially if a man have been
made a partaker of God’s righteousness, will he not sing aloud of that
righteousness? o doubt he will: and, if the angelic hosts would account it a painful
sacrifice if silence were imposed upon them, and they were forbidden to shew forth
the praises of their God, so would it be with the believing soul, in proportion to the
measure of grace that had been conferred upon him.]
To all, then, I say,
1. Be particular in your applications to God for mercy—
[Do not rest in mere general confessions or general petitions; but search out the
hidden iniquities of your hearts, and spread them distinctly before God in prayer.
We have not all committed the sins of David: but are we not all sinners? And if we
would search the records of our conscience, might we not find some evils which call
for more than ordinary humiliation? Or, if in acts we have been free from any
remarkable transgression, have we not felt such motions of sin within us, as might, if
God had given us up to temptation, have issued in the foulest transgressions? We
need only recollect what our Lord tells us, that an impure and angry?thought is
constructive adultery and murder; and we shall see little reason to cast a stone at
others, and abundant reason for humiliation before God. I say, then, search out,
every one of you, your besetting sins, and implore of God the forgiveness of them.]

2. Have respect to God under his proper character—
[View God not merely as your Creator, your Governor, and your Judge, but as your
Covenant God and Saviour. See how David addresses him: “O God, thou God of my
salvation!” Thus it will be well for every sinner of mankind to do. See your own
interest in him: see what provision he has made for you; what invitations he has
given to you; what promises he has held forth to you. This will encourage penitence:
this will strike the rock for penitential sorrows to flow out. In a word, view God as
he is in Christ Jesus, a God reconciling the world unto himself; and you will never
indulge despair, nor ever doubt but He will shew mercy to all who call upon him in
spirit and in truth.]
3. Determine, through grace, to improve for God the blessings you receive—
[It was a suitable determination of David, that, if his requests should be granted,
“his tongue should sing aloud of God’s righteousness.” A similar resolution becomes
us. Are we interested in a salvation which displays “the righteousness of God,” and
makes every perfection of his to concur in the promotion of our welfare? Let us not
be silent: let us not be ashamed to confess him before men: though the whole world
should endeavour to silence us, let us not regard them for one instant: but let us say
with David, “I will praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto
thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel: My lips shall greatly
rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. My tongue
also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long [ote: Psalms 71:22?24.].”]
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
BARES, "O Lord, open thou my lips -That is, by taking away my guilt; by
giving me evidence that my sins are forgiven; by taking this burden from me, and filling
my heart with the joy of pardon. The original word is in the future tense, but the
meaning is well expressed in our common translation. There was, in fact, at the same
time a confident expectation that God “would” thus open his lips, and a desire that he
should do it.

And my mouth shall show forth thy praise -Or, I will praise thee. Praise is the
natural expression of the feelings when the sense of sin is removed.
CLARKE, "O Lord, open thou my lips -My heart is believing unto righteousness;
give me thy peace, that my tongue may make confession unto salvation. He could not
praise God for pardon till he felt that God had pardoned him; then his lips would be
opened, and his tongue would show forth the praise of his Redeemer.
GILL, "O Lord, open thou my lips,.... The Targum adds, "in the late"; which were
shut with a sense of sin, with shame of it, and sorrow for it; and though they were in
some measure opened in prayer to God for the forgiveness of it, as appears by various
petitions in this psalm, yet he still wanted a free spirit and boldness at the throne of
grace, which the believer has when his heart is sprinkled from an evil conscience by the
blood of Christ; and especially his lips were shut as to praise and thanksgiving; the guilt
of sin had sealed up his lips, that he could not sing the praises of God as he had formerly
done; and only a discovery of pardoning grace could open them, and for this he prays:
and my mouth shall show forth thy praise: the praise of his mercy, grace,
goodness, truth, and faithfulness, in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; see
Psa_103:1.
JAMISO,"open ... lips— by removing my sense of guilt.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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.
n!Tsicioafltcaonhtic;tZHidcothildckh
Ver. 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 iGtPtjpxPmt(.p_,tv:tmgxt_vmm_xAtcvgv_t
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, James 3:6), "a world oft(vw2x,:xGGAEtc.t)xmmxpt,vGgtI.pt

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."
Colossians 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." Revelation 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. Acts 16:1?40, Isaiah 50:1?11, 2 Kings
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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.
HITS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 15.
1. Confession. His lips are sealed on account??
1. Of his fall??and well they might be.
2. Of natural timidity.
3. Of want of zeal.
2. Petition, "Open thou, "etc. ot my understanding merely and heart, but "lips."
3. Resolution. Then he would speak freely in God's praise.
Ver. 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.

TRAPP, "Psalms 51:15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth
thy praise.
Ver. 15. O Lord, open thou my lips] Which now I find stopped and sealed up, as it
were, with the sin that doth so easily beset me; so that whereas I promised before to
"sing aloud of thy righteousness," this I shall never be able to do without thy special
furtherance, nisi verba suppedites et tanquam praeeas, unless thou please to supply
me both with affections and expressions, as well as with matter of praise.
And my mouth shall show forth thy praise] David had not been dumb till now, all
the while he lay in his sin, but all he did was but liplabour, and therefore lost
labour. Daniel confesseth the like of himself and his people, Daniel 9:13, "All this
evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we
might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth." Prayed they had, but
because they turned not from their iniquities, they got nothing by their prayers or
praises. God is a fountain, and if he meet with a fit pipe (as is an ordinance rightly
performed), there he usually conveyeth his grace; but if he meet with a foul pipe and
obstructed, there he doth not confer a blessing. The Pharisees were not a button the
better for all their long prayers, because rotten at heart.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would
bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
BARES, "For thou desirest not sacrifice ... -On the words rendered in this
verse “sacrifice” and “burnt-offering,” see the notes at
Isa_1:11. On the main sentiment
here expressed - that God did not “desire” such sacrifices - see the notes at Psa_40:6-8.
The idea here is, that any mere external offering, however precious or costly it might be,
was not what God required in such cases. He demanded the expression of deep and
sincere repentance; the sacrifices of a contrite heart and of a broken spirit: Psa_51:17.
No offering without this could be acceptable; nothing without this could secure pardon.
In mere outward sacrifices - in bloody offerings themselves, unaccompanied with the

expression of genuine penitence, God could have no pleasure. This is one of the
numerous passages in the Old Testament which show that the external offerings of the
law were valueless unless accompanied by the religion of the heart; or that the Jewish
religion, much as it abounded in forms, yet required the offerings of pure hearts in order
that man might be acceptable to God. Under all dispensations the real nature of religion
is the same. Compare the notes at Heb_9:9-10. The phrase “else would I give it,” in the
margin, “that I should give it,” expresses a willingness to make such an offering, if it was
required, while, at the same time, there is the implied statement that it would be
valueless without the heart.
CLARKE, "For thou desirest not sacrifice -This is the same sentiment which he
delivers in
Psa_40:6(note), etc., where see the notes. There may be here, however, a
farther meaning: Crimes, like mine, are not to be expiated by any sacrifices that the law
requires; nor hast thou appointed in the law any sacrifices to atone for deliberate murder
and adultery: if thou hadst, I would cheerfully have given them to thee. The matter is
before thee as Judge.
GILL, "For thou desirest not sacrifice,.... Legal sacrifice; for there was no sacrifice
appointed under the law for murder and adultery;
else would I give
it; he would gladly have offered it up;
thou delightest not in burnt offering; at least such kind of sacrifices, though they
were of divine appointment, and at that time in full force and use; yet they were not the
only and principal sacrifices God desired and delighted in; nor were they at all
acceptable to him without faith in Christ, and an humble sense of sin; and when offered
in the best manner, yet spiritual obedience, acts of mercy, and sacrifices of praise and
thanksgiving, were more pleasing to him, 1Sa_15:15; wherefore the psalmist proposed to
offer praise in Psa_51:15, and adds what follows.
HERY 16?17, " David offers the sacrifice of a penitent contrite heart, as that which
he knew God would be pleased with. 1. He knew well that the sacrificing of beasts was in
itself of no account with God (Psa_51:16): Thou desirest not sacrifice (else would I give
it with all my heart to obtain pardon and peace); thou delightest not in burnt-offering.
Here see how glad David would have been to give thousands of rams to make atonement
for sin. Those that are thoroughly convinced of their misery and danger by reason of sin
would spare no cost to obtain the remission of it, Mic_6:6, Mic_6:7. But see how little
God valued this. As trials of obedience, and types of Christ, he did indeed require
sacrifices to be offered; but he had no delight in them for any intrinsic worth or value
they had. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not. As they cannot make satisfaction for
sin, so God cannot take any satisfaction in them, any otherwise than as the offering of
them is expressive of love and duty to him. 2. He knew also how acceptable true
repentance is to God (Psa_51:17): The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. See here, (1.)
What the good work is that is wrought in every true penitent - a broken spirit, a broken

and a contrite heart. It is a work wrought upon the heart; that is it that God looks at, and
requires, in all religious exercises, particularly in the exercises of repentance. It is a
sharp work wrought there, no less than the breaking of the heart; not in despair (as we
say, when a man is undone, His heart is broken), but in necessary humiliation and
sorrow for sin. It is a heart breaking with itself, and breaking from its sin; it is a heart
pliable to the word of God, and patient under the rod of God, a heart subdued and
brought into obedience; it is a heart that is tender, like Josiah's, and trembles at God's
word. Oh that there were such a heart in us! (2.) How graciously God is pleased to accept
of this. It is the sacrifices of God, not one, but many; it is instead of all burnt-offering
and sacrifice. The breaking of Christ's body for sin is the only sacrifice of atonement, for
no sacrifice but that could take away sin; but the breaking of our hearts for sin is a
sacrifice of acknowledgment, a sacrifice of God, for to him it is offered up; he requires it,
he prepares it (he provides this lamb for a burnt-offering), and he will accept of it. That
which pleased God was not the feeding of a beast, and making much of it, but killing it;
so it is not the pampering of our flesh, but the mortifying of it, that God will accept. The
sacrifice was bound, was bled, was burnt; so the penitent heart is bound by convictions,
bleeds in contrition, and then burns in holy zeal against sin and for God. The sacrifice
was offered upon the altar that sanctified the gift; so the broken heart is acceptable to
God only through Jesus Christ; there is no true repentance without faith in him; and this
is the sacrifice which he will not despise. Men despise that which is broken, but God will
not. He despised the sacrifice of torn and broken beasts, but he will not despise that of a
torn and broken heart. He will not overlook it; he will not refuse or reject it; though it
make God no satisfaction for the wrong done him by sin, yet he does not despise it. The
proud Pharisee despised the broken-hearted publican, and he thought very meanly of
himself; but God did not despise him. More is implied than is expressed; the great God
overlooks heaven and earth, to look with favour upon a broken and contrite heart,Isa_
66:1, Isa_66:2; Isa_57:15.
JAMISO,"Praise is better than sacrifice (Psa_50:14), and implying faith, penitence,
and love, glorifies God. In true penitents the joys of pardon mingle with sorrow for sin.
SBC, "These words, though none were ever spoken in the world that could be so little
intended to perplex any worshipping Israelite, nevertheless must have strangely clashed
with some of his most cherished and familiar thoughts. "Thou delightest not in burnt-
offering." Why then was it said that the Lord smelled a sweet savour when Noah brought
forth the clean beasts after the Flood? And supposing that, in some sense, the heart was
a better offering than the bullock or goat, must it not, according to all symbols and
analogies, be a whole heart in order to be accepted?
I. The fiftieth Psalm exhibits the chosen race as summoned to answer for itself before its
Divine King. It is assumed that the nation is holy, and that God has claimed it as holy by
taking it into covenant with Himself. The covenant cannot be separated from sacrifice.
This principle was embodied in the institution of the Passover; every part of the service
testified that the Israelites were a dedicated, devoted, sacrificed nation. The animal was a
dead offering; they were a living offering. The great trial or judgment then which the
Lord of the land is making of His subjects has this issue: Have they acted as if this were
their state, as if they were dedicated, sacrificed creatures? They had fancied Him
altogether such a one as themselves, One who could be bribed as they were bribed. Here
indeed was a wonderful exposition of that falsehood which was leading the Israelite

astray in all the periods of his history. He supposed that God’s toleration of his sins was
to be purchased, and that sacrifice was the purchase-money.
II. No one could have taught his countrymen these lessons who had not learned that he
needed to be judged and reformed; that he could not judge and reform himself; that the
Searcher of hearts, the King of his land, was doing that work for him; that to submit
frankly and freely to that process was the man’s part of the covenant, was the sacrifice
which God, above all others, demanded of him. And this is the link between the fiftieth
and the fifty-first Psalms.
III. Here was the explanation of the strange fact that a broken heart was better than a
whole one; that the maimed offering might be presented by the Israelite, who was to
bring only of the firstlings of his flock. The sacrifice was a more complete, a more entire,
one than David had ever yet presented. The discovery that he had nothing to present,
that he was poor and worthless, was the discovery that he belonged wholly to God, that
he was His, and that his sin had consisted in withdrawing from his allegiance, in
choosing another condition than his true and actual one.
F. D. Maurice, The Doctrine of Sacrifice, p. 86.
CALVI, "16.For thou wilt not accept a sacrifice By this language he expresses his
confidence of obtaining pardon, although he brought nothing to God in the shape of
compensation, but relied entirely upon the riches of Divine mercy. He confesses that
he comes to God both poor and needy; but is persuaded that this will not prevent
the success of his suit, because God attaches no importance to sacrifices. In this he
indirectly reproves the Jews for an error which prevailed amongst them in all ages.
In proclaiming that the sacrifices made expiation for sin, the Law had designed to
withdraw them from all trust in their own works to the one satisfaction of Christ;
but they presumed to bring their sacrifices to the altar as a price by which they
hoped to procure their own redemption. In opposition to this proud and
preposterous notion, David declares that God had no delight in sacrifices, (272) and
that he had nothing to present which could purchase his favor. God had enjoined
the observance of sacrifice, and David was far from neglecting it. He is not to be
understood as asserting that the rite might warrantably be omitted, or that God
would absolutely reject the sacrifices of his own institution, which, along with the
other ceremonies of the Law, proved important helps, as we have already observed,
both to David and the whole Church of God. He speaks of them as observed by the
proud and the ignorant, under an impression of meriting the divine favor. Diligent
as he was, therefore, in the practice of sacrifice, resting his whole dependence upon
the satisfaction of Christ, who atoned for the sins of the world, he could yet honestly
declare that he brought nothing to God in the shape of compensation, and that he
trusted entirely to a gratuitous reconciliation. The Jews, when they presented their
sacrifices, could not be said to bring anything of their own to the Lord, but must
rather be viewed as borrowing from Christ the necessary purchase?money of
redemption. They were passive, not active, in this divine service.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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. o 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.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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.

COKE, "Psalms 51:16. For thou desirest not sacrifice, &c.— Chandler renders this
verse, For thou takest no pleasure in sacrifice, that I should give it; thou approvest
not whole burnt?offerings. There were no sacrifices of atonement appointed by the
law for murder and adultery; and therefore the Psalmist says, that God did not in
his case desire them; and that if he was to offer them as a propitiation for his sins,
they would not be accepted; the punishment annexed to these crimes being death.
WHEDO, "16. Thou desirest not sacrifice—The word חבז, (zebahh,) sacrifice, is
the generic term for bloody offerings, but more especially for sin and trespass
offerings. The law of Moses made no provision for the forgiveness or expiation of
such sins as David had committed. See umbers 15:30?31 . He felt that he had
passed the ordinary limits of expiable sins. Forms and types now availed nothing.
But if the letter and the form were impotent, he would still appeal to the spirit of the
sacrificial system. If the blood of a bullock or of a lamb could avail nothing now,
and the death penalty still hung darkly over him, yet God would not overlook the
true spirit of contrition, and a heart bleeding and broken by penitential sorrow.
This is another instance of his profoundly evangelical views of the expiatory system
of Moses, as pointing to an expiation and a pardoning power beyond the letter of the
law. Afterwards he referred back to this crisis of his agony, where he felt the
conscious insufficiency of the bloody sacrifices under the law, and it became the
occasion of a glorious Messianic prophecy. See on Psalms 40:6?8, and compare
Hebrews 10:5?10, and the notes there.
BESO, "Psalms 51:16?17. For thou desirest not sacrifice — Which is not to be
understood absolutely and universally, as appears from Psalms 51:19, but
comparatively, (see on Psalms 40:6,) and with particular respect to David’s crimes
of murder and adultery, which were not to be expiated by any sacrifice, but,
according to the law of God, were to be punished with death. Thou requirest more
and better sacrifices, namely, such as are mentioned Psalms 51:17. Else would I give
it — I should have spared no cost of that kind. The sacrifices of God — Which God,
in such cases as mine, requires, and will accept; are a broken spirit, &c. — A heart
deeply afflicted and grieved for sin, humbled under a sense of God’s displeasure,
and earnestly seeking, and willing to accept of, reconciliation with God upon any
terms: see Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 61:2; Isaiah 66:2; Matthew 11:28. This is opposed to
that hard or stony heart, of which we read so often, which implies an insensibility of
the burden of sin, a spirit stubborn and rebellious against God, impenitent and
incorrigible. O God, thou wilt not despise — This is such an acceptable sacrifice that
thou canst not possibly reject it.
ELLICOTT, "(16) Sacrifice.—The rabbinical commentators on this verse represent
the penitence of David as having taken the place of the sin?offering prescribed by
the Law. In the mouth of an individual, language with such an intention would not
have been possible. To the nation exiled and deprived of the legal rites, and by that
very deprivation compelled to look beyond their outward form to their inner spirit,
the words are most appropriate.

TRAPP, "Psalms 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give [it]: thou
delightest not in burnt offering.
Ver. 16. For thou desirest not sacrifice] This is the reason why David restipulateth
praise, if God will pardon his great sin, Psalms 51:15, viz. because he well
understood that God preferred praise before all sacrifices whatsoever, provided that
it came from a broken spirit, Psalms 51:17, rightly humbled for sin, and thankfully
accepting of pardon. See Psalms 50:14?15; Psalms 50:23.
Thou delightest not in burnt offering] viz. Comparatively, and indeed not at all
without a contrite heart.
Una Dei est, purum, gratissima victima, pectus (azianzen).
Much less, then, doth God respect the sacrifice of the mass, that hath no footing or
warrant in the word. A certain Sorbonist finding it written at the end of St Paul’s
Epistles Missa est, &c., bragged he had found the mass in his Bible. And another
reading John 1:44, Invenimus Messiam, made the same conclusion (Beehive, cap. 3).
Some of them, as Bellarmine for one, would fain ground it upon Malachi 1:11.
Others fetch the name Missa from the Hebrew mass for tribute (Buxtorf); which
comes from Masas, to melt (because it many times melteth away men’s estates),
Recte quidem, saith Rivet; per missam scilicet pietas omnis liquefacta est et
dissoluta.
SIMEO, "A BROKE HEART THE BEST SACRIFICE
Psalms 51:16?17. Thon desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not
in burnt?offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
“WHEREWITHAL shall I come before the Lord?” is the first inquiry that will be
made by an awakened sinner. o sooner were the murderers of our Lord “pricked
to the heart” with a conviction of their guilt, than they cried out, (the whole
assembly of them together), “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” In answer to
this, man proposes many costly offerings; and for the obtaining of peace would
present unto God any thing that he should require [ote: Micah 6:6?7.]. Had God
required sacrifices to be offered for David’s sins, he would gladly have offered them,
however numerous or costly they had been: “Thou desirest not sacrifice: else would
I give it thee.” But there is only one thing required, and that universally, of all
people under heaven: and what that is, we are informed in the words before us:
“The sacrifices of God,” &c.
Here are two points to be inquired into;
I. What is that sacrifice which God approves—

The term “sacrifice” is metaphorically applied to many things: to praise and
thanksgivings [ote: Hebrews 13:15.]; to almsdeeds [ote: Hebrews 13:16.]; to a
surrender of the soul to God [ote: Romans 12:1.]. But in our text it does not so
much refer to any offerings whereby a pardoned sinner may honour God, as to that
disposition of mind whereby an unpardoned sinner may facilitate his acceptance
with God. As to any external services, David informs us that these would not answer
the desired end: for though many offerings under the law were appointed and
approved of God as typical of the great sacrifice, yet were they in themselves of no
value [ote: Psalms 50:8?14.], especially when compared with obedience [ote: 1
Samuel 15:22. Hosea 6:6.]; and, when substituted for obedience, they were hateful
and abominable in the sight of God [ote: Isaiah 1:11?15; Isaiah 66:3 and Amos
5:21?23.]. For such sins as David’s there was actually no sacrifice appointed: no
penalty less than death could be awarded to the person that was found guilty either
of adultery or murder [ote: umbers 35:31 Deuteronomy 22:22.]. But there is a
sacrifice which will forward the acceptance even of such an atrocious sinner as
David: it is called in our text, “A broken and contrite heart.” To ascertain what is
meant by this, let us consider,
1. The term—
[We all have some idea of what is meant by “a broken heart,” when applied to
worldly sorrow. It signifies a person overwhelmed with sorrow to such a degree,
that he is always bowed down under its weight, and incapable of receiving
consolation from any thing but the actual removal of his burthens. Thus far it may
serve to illustrate the meaning of our text, and to shew what is meant by a heart
broken with a sense of sin — — — But in other respects there is an exceeding great
difference between the two: for a heart broken with worldly troubles, argues an
ignorance of our own demerit—a want of resignation to God—a want of affiance in
him—and a low esteem of those benefits which sanctified affliction is calculated to
produce — — — In these respects therefore it forms a contrast, rather than a
resemblance, to true contrition.
Let us then drop the term, and consider the thing.]
2. The thing—
[“A broken and a, contrite heart” consists in a deep sense of our guilt and misery—a
self?lothing and abhorrence on account of the peculiar aggravations of our sin, (as
committed against a gracious God and a merciful Redeemer,)—a readiness to justify
God in his dealings with us, whatever they be, —and such an insatiable desire after
mercy, as swallows up every other sensation, whether of joy or sorrow — — —
View all these things distinctly and separately—compare them with the workings of
David’s mind as set forth in this psalm [ote: ver. 3, 4, 7–9.] — — — view them as
illustrated by other portions of Holy Writ [ote: 2 Chronicles 34:27. Job 40:4; Job
42:6. with Zechariah 12:10. Luke 15:18?19. 2 Chronicles 33:12?13. or all together. 2
Corinthians 7:11. or as exemplified in other of David’s Psalms, Psalms 38:4?10;

Psalms 40:12. Perhaps it will be best to confine the illustrations to Psalms 51, 38 for
fear of swelling this part of the subject too much.] — — — and the more they are
considered, the more will they discover to us the precise nature of that sacrifice
which is described in the text.]
Let us now proceed to inquire,
II. Why God honours it with his peculiar favour—
That God does signally honour it, is certain—
[When it is said that “a broken and contrite heart God will not despise,” more is
meant than is expressed: it means, that God will honour it with tokens of his
peculiar approbation. Whoever he be that offers to him this sacrifice, God will
notice him, even though there were only one in the universe, and he the meanest and
vilest of mankind. ot all the angels in heaven should so occupy his attention as to
prevent him from searching out that person, and keeping his eye continually fixed
upon him for good [ote: Isaiah 66:2.]— — — Moreover, God will comfort him; he
will not merely view him from heaven, but will come down and dwell in his heart on
purpose to comfort and revive him [ote: Isaiah 57:15.] — — — or is this all; for
God will surely and eternally save him [ote: Psalms 34:18. Job 33:27?28.]: and the
more abased the man is in his own eyes, the higher will God exalt him on a throne of
glory [ote: Luke 18:14.] — — —]
And the reasons of his so honouring it are plain—
[It is the work of his own Spirit on the soul of man. o created power can effect it:
we may break and bruise the body, but we can never produce in any one a broken
and contrite spirit. This is God’s prerogative [ote: Job 40:11. Ezekiel 11:19.]; and
whoever has obtained this blessing must say, “He that hath wrought us for the self?
same thing, is God [ote: 2 Corinthians 5:5.].”—Again, It is the precise disposition
that becomes us. If the holy angels that never sinned veil their faces and their feet in
the presence of their God, what prostration of mind must become such guilty
creatures as we are! Surely we must “put our hands on our mouth, and our mouth
in the dust, crying, Unclean, unclean [ote: Lamentations 3:29. with Leviticus
13:45.]!” yea rather, we should “gird us with sackcloth, and wallow ourselves in
ashes, and make mourning as for an only son, even most bitter lamentation, [ote:
Jeremiah 6:26. with James 4:9?10.].”—Further, It disposes us to acquiesce cordially
in Gods’ appointed method of recovery. Till we are thoroughly broken?hearted with
a sense of sin, we never estimate aright the unspeakable blessings of Redemption.
“We may profess a regard for the Gospel; but we do not really “glory in the cross of
Christ;” Christ does not truly become “all our salvation and all our desire.” But to
the truly contrite, O how precious is the name of Jesus, that adorable name, the
foundation of all our hopes, the source of all our joys!—Lastly, It invariably
stimulates us to a cheerful unreserved obedience. o commandment is hard to a
person, when once his heart is truly broken and contrite. Let us see that we were
dead, and that Christ died for us; and a sense of “his love will constrain us to live to

him,” and to “glorify him with our body and our spirit, which are his.”
Say now, whether here be not reason sufficient for the distinguished favours which
God vouchsafes to the contrite soul? We know that there is nothing meritorious in
contrition: but there is in it a suitableness for the reception of the divine mercies,
and for the reflecting back upon God the honour which he confers upon it.]
This subject may well be improved,
1. For the conviction of the impenitent—
[Worldly sorrow has more or less been the portion of us all: but how few have
“sorrowed after a godly sort!” The generality have never laid to heart their sins at
all: and they who have felt some compunction, have for the most part been satisfied
with a little transient sorrow, and something of an outward reformation of life. But
let this be remembered, that when it is said, “God will not despise the sacrifice of a
broken and contrite heart,” it is manifestly implied, that he will despise every thing
short of that. Do not then deceive yourselves with an expectation that God will
accept your feigned or partial humiliation: your penitence must be deep, and your
change radical: your sorrow for sin must far exceed any worldly sorrow, and must
bring you incessantly to the foot of the cross, as your only refuge and your only
hope: nor will any repentance short of this be “a repentance unto salvation, but only
a repentance eternally to be repented of [ote: 2 Corinthians 7:10.].”]
2. For consolation to the penitent—
[When once you become truly penitent, men will begin to despise you: they will look
upon you as a poor weak enthusiast, and will “cast out your name as evil” — — —
But your comfort is, that God will not despise you. If the Psalmist had merely
affirmed this, it would have been a rich ground of consolation: but he makes it a
matter of appeal to God; “A broken and contrite spirit, thou, O God, will not
despise.” What a glorious truth! When you are so vile and contemptible in your own
eyes that you blush and are confounded before God, and “dare not even lift up your
eyes unto heaven,” God looks upon you with pleasure and complacency, and
acknowledges you as his dearly beloved child [ote: Jeremiah 31:18?20.]. Do you
want evidence of this? See for whom God sent his only?begotten Son into the world
[ote: Isaiah 61:1?3,]; and read the account given of the very first sermon that Jesus
ever preached [ote: Luke 4:17?21.]: and hear to whom in particular he addressed
his invitations [ote: Matthew 11:28.]: consider these, I say, and then reject the
consolation if you can.]
3. For instruction to the more advanced Christian—
[Is a broken and contrite heart the sacrifice with which you must come to God?
Know that it is that which you must continue also to offer him to the latest hour of
your lives. You are not to lose the remembrance of your shame and sorrow, but to
“lothe yourselves after that God is pacified towards youa,” ye [ote: Ezekiel 16:63.],

and because that God is pacified towards you. The more abundant is his mercy
towards you, the more should you abhor yourself for having ever sinned against so
gracious a God. You cannot but have seen in others, and probably felt within
yourselves a disposition to depart from this ground, and to indulge a spirit of self?
sufficiency and pride. I entreat you to examine yourselves with respect to it — — —
It is a common evil, and is very apt to lurk in us unperceived. But if we see it not
ourselves, we shall without fail discover it to others; or, if they should not discover
it, God will behold it, and that too with utter abhorrence [ote: Proverbs 16:5 and 1
Peter 5:5.]. Watch over yourselves therefore, and pray that you may grow
continually in lowliness of mind, in tenderness of conscience, in meekness of temper,
and in purity of heart. The more you resemble little children, the higher will you be
in the kingdom of God [ote: Matthew 18:4.].]
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
BARES, "The sacrifices of God -The sacrifices which God desires and approves;
the sacrifices without which no other offering would be acceptable. David felt that that
which he here specified was what was demanded in his case. He had grievously sinned;
and the blood of animals offered in sacrifice could not put away his sin, nor could
anything remove it unless the heart were itself penitent and contrite. The same thing is
true now. Though a most perfect sacrifice, every way acceptable to God, has been made
for human guilt by the Redeemer, yet it is as true as it was under the old dispensation in
regard to the sacrifices there required, that even that will not avail for us unless we are
truly penitent; unless we come before God with a contrite and humble heart.
Are a broken spirit -A mind broken or crushed under the weight of conscious guilt.
The idea is that of a burden laid on the Soul until it is crushed and subdued.
A broken and a contrite heart -The word rendered contrite means to be broken
or crushed, as when the bones are broken,
Psa_44:19; Psa_51:8; and then it is applied to
the mind or heart as that which is crushed or broken by the weight of guilt. The word
does not differ materially from the term “broken.” The two together constitute intensity
of expression.
Thou wilt not despise -Thou wilt not treat with contempt or disregard. That is,

God would look upon them with favor, and to such a heart he would grant his blessing.
See the notes at Isa_57:15; notes at Isa_66:2.
CLARKE, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit -As my crimes are such
as admit of no legal atonement, so thou hast reserved them to be punished by exemplary
acts of justice, or to be pardoned by a sovereign act of mercy: but in order to find this
mercy, thou requirest that the heart and soul should deeply feel the transgression, and
turn to thee with the fullest compunction and remorse. This thou hast enabled me to do.
I have the broken spirit, הרבשנ,חור  ruach,nishbarah; and the broken and contrite heart, ,בל
הכדנו,רבשנ  leb,nishbar,venidkeh. These words are very expressive. רבש  shabar signifies
exactly the same as our word shiver, to break into pieces, to reduce into splinters; and
הכד  dakah, signifies to beat out thin, - to beat out masses of metal, etc., into laminae or
thin plates. The spirit broken all to pieces, and the heart broken all to pieces, stamped
and beaten out, are the sacrifices which, in such cases, thou requirest; and these “thou
wilt not despise.” We may now suppose that God had shone upon his soul, healed his
broken spirit, and renewed and removed his broken and distracted heart; and that he
had now received the answer to the preceding prayers. And here the Psalm properly
ends; as, in the two following verses, there is nothing similar to what we find in the rest
of this very nervous and most important composition.
GILL, "The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit,.... That is humbled under a
sense of sin; has true repentance for it; is smitten, wounded, and broken with it, by the
word of God in the hand of the Spirit, which is a hammer to break the rock in pieces; and
that not merely in a legal, but in an evangelical way; grieving for sin as committed
against a God of love; broken and melted down under a sense of it, in a view of
pardoning grace; and mourning for it, while beholding a pierced and wounded Saviour:
the sacrifices of such a broken heart and contrite spirit are the sacrifices God desires,
approves, accepts of, and delights in;
a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise; but regard, and
receive with pleasure; see Psa_102:17; the Lord binds up and heals such broken hearts
and spirits, Psa_147:3; he is nigh to such persons, looks upon them, has respect unto
them, and comes and dwells among them, Psa_34:18.
CALVI, "17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. He had shown that sacrifices
have no such efficacy in procuring the Divine favor as the Jews imagined; and now
he declares that he needed to bring nothing whatever to God but a contrite and
g”“)_x,tgxPpmAtc.mgv:jt“.pxtvGt:xwxGGPp7Bt.:tmgxtOPrt of the sinner, than to
prostrate himself in supplication for Divine mercy. The plural number is used in the
verse to express more forcibly the truth, that the sacrifice of repentance is enough in
itself without any other. Had he said no more than that this kind of sacrifice was
peculiarly acceptable to God, the Jews might easily have evaded his argument by

alleging that this might be true, and yet other sacrifices be equally agreeable in his
sight; just as the Papists in our own day mix up the grace of God with their own
works, rather than submit to receive a gratuitous pardon for their sins. In order to
exclude every idea of a pretended satisfaction, David represents contrition of heart
as comprehending in itself the whole sum of acceptable sacrifices. And in using the
term sacrifices of God, he conveys a tacit reproof to the proud hypocrite, who sets a
high value upon such sacrifices as are of his own unauthorised fancy, when he
imagines that by means of them he can propitiate God. But here a difficulty may be
started. “If the contrite heart,” it may be said, “hold a higher place in the estimation
of God than all sacrifices, does it not follow that we acquire pardon by our
penitence, and that thus it ceases to be gratuitous?” In reply to this, I might observe,
that David is not speaking at this time of the meritorious condition by which pardon
is procured, but, on the contrary, asserting our absolute destitution of merit by
enjoining humiliation and contrition of spirit, in opposition to everything like an
attempt to render a compensation to God. The man of broken spirit is one who has
been emptied of all vain?glorious confidence, and brought to acknowledge that he is
nothing. The contrite heart abjures the idea of merit, and has no dealings with God
upon the principle of exchange. Is it objected, that faith is a more excellent sacrifice
that that which is here commended by the Psalmist, and of greater efficacy in
procuring the Divine favor, as it presents to the view of God that Savior who is the
true and only propitiation? I would observe, that faith cannot be separated from the
humility of which David speaks. This is such a humility as is altogether unknown to
the wicked. They may tremble in the presence of God, and the obstinacy and
rebellion of their hearts may be partially restrained, but they still retain some
remainders of inward pride. Where the spirit has been broken, on the other hand,
and the heart has become contrite, through a felt sense of the anger of the Lord, a
man is brought to genuine fear and self?loathing, with a deep conviction that of
himself he can do or deserve nothing, and must be indebted unconditionally for
salvation to Divine mercy. That this should be represented by David as constituting
all which God desires in the shape of sacrifice, need not excite our surprise. He does
not exclude faith, he does not condescend upon any nice division of true penitence
into its several parts, but asserts in general, that the only way of obtaining the favor
of God is by prostrating ourselves with a wounded heart at the feet of his Divine
mercy, and supplicating his grace with ingenuous confessions of our own
helplessness.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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. ever 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 16?17. See Psalms on "Psalms 51:16" for further information.
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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 umbers 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.
COKE, "Psalms 51:17. The sacrifices of God, &c.— The sacrifices of God are
either, such as were fit to be offered to God in consequence of such grievous offences
as David had committed, or such as God would regard, or as could be in any degree
available to secure his forgiveness through the alone merit of the great Atonement.
These sacrifices were a broken spirit, or a broken and contrite heart. The
expressions mean in general a mind greatly depressed, humbled, and almost
overwhelmed with affliction and grief, of whatever kind, or whencesover they arise.
Psalms 34:17?19.; whether from poverty, as Psalms 74:21; Psa_109:16 or
banishment, Psalms 147:2?3.; or captivity or imprisonment, Isaiah 61:1.; or from
moral and religious causes, as in the place before us. For David unquestionably
means by it, that deep sense of his offence, that affecting concern and grief of heart
for the guilt he had contracted, which made him humble himself before God, and
take to himself the shame which was his due; filled him with terror lest he should be
deserted of God; and rendered him incapable of possessing himself in peace, till God
should mercifully restore him to his favour. And it may be observed, that the second
word הכדנ nidkeh, which we render contrite, denotes the being bruised, or broken to
pieces, as a thing is broken and bruised in a mortar: comp. umbers 11:8 and
therefore, in the moral sense, signifies such a weight of sorrow, as must wholly crush
the mind, without some powerful and seasonable relief. Such a broken and contrite
spirit, upon account of sins so deeply aggravated and heinous as David's were, was
the only sacrifice which he possibly could offer to God, and which he knew God
would not despise; i.e. would graciously regard and accept, through the merit of the
grand Sacrifice. Religious men argued from the infinite goodness of God, and the
promises he made to his repentant returning people, that he would forgive, upon a
sincere repentance, even those more aggravated sins to which the law of Moses
denounced death, and for the expiation of which it had appointed no sacrifices of
atonement whatsoever. I cannot omit even Mr. Boyle's remarks upon this head:

"David's amour with the wife of Uriah," says he, "and the orders he gave to destroy
her husband, are two most enormous crimes; but he was so grieved for them, and
shewed forth so admirable a repentance, that this is not the passage in his life
wherein he contributes the least to the instruction and education of the faithful. We
therein learn the frailty of the saints; and it is a precept of vigilance; we therein
learn in what manner we ought to lament our sins; and it is an excellent model." Let
me just add, that the wisdom and equity of the law of Moses evidently appears, in
that it appointed no sacrifices to atone for such crimes; the pardoning of which
would have been inconsistent with the peace and safety of civil society; such as those
which David laments in this Psalm, murder and adultery. Here, the punishment
prescribed by the law being death, David had no other way of escaping it than by
the undeserved mercy of God: God was pleased to extend this mercy to him, to shew
how acceptable the sinner's unfeigned repentance will be, through the mediation of
Christ, whatever be the nature and aggravation of his offences. And if we learn
from hence what the Scripture calls the deceitfulness of sin, to be cautious of the
first beginning of it, and not to indulge those sensual appetites, which, when given
way to, draw men insensibly into crimes that they would once have trembled at the
thoughts of committing; we shall make the best and wisest improvement of this
melancholy part of David's history, and be real gainers by his sins and sorrows.
Chandler.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a
contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Ver. 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit] i.e. Such a heart as lieth low, and
heareth all that God saith; such a sacrifice or service as is laid on the low altar of a
contrite heart, which sanctifieth the sacrifice (Mr Abbot); such a person as with a
self?condemning, self?crucifying, and sin?mortifying heart, humbly and yet
believingly maketh out for mercy and pardon in the blood of Christ, this, this is the
man that God expects, accepts, and makes great account of.
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise] This is great comfort to
those that droop under a sense of sin and fear of wrath, being at next door to
despair. Bring but a broken heart, and God will receive you graciously, pouring the
oil of his grace into your broken vessels, This comforted Bernard on his deathbed,
he died with this sentence in his mouth. Austin caused it to be written on the wall
over against his bed where he lay sick and died. Many poor souls even in times of
Popery had heaven opened unto them by meditating on this psalm; and especially
on this verse Psalms 51:17. (Jo. Manl. loc. com. 73)
ISBET, "‘The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit.’
Psalms 51:17 (Prayer Book Version)
otice one or two of those accepted sacrifices which from time to time have been set
up in our world, and which the Holy Spirit has recorded for our humiliation, our
comfort, and our happiness.

I. The repentance of David was the repentance of a fallen child of God.—If we can
say that David’s confession was the cause of his forgiveness, in a truer sense we may
say David’s forgiveness was the cause of his repentance. It was none other than the
fountain of God’s forgiving love that opened the fountain of a penitent spirit.
II. The case of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, was as dissimilar to that of David as
it is possible for the manifestation of the same grace to be in two places.—Manasseh
was a dissolute, godless man for more than half the years of his life. David was
aroused by a voice, Manasseh by an iron chain. Out of the depths he cried to God.
Sorrow made him acquainted with himself; prayer made him acquainted with God.
dddAtogxtgvGm.p7t.Itmgxtcv:x3vmxGtGmP:,Gt.”mt(vmgtmhis signalising mark, that our Lord
Himself adduced it as the very standard of true repentance, by which others at the
last great day shall be measured and condemned.—The distinguishing feature in
their repentance was that it was national.
IV. Mary was saved at Jesus’ feet; Peter by a look from Jesus’ eye.—With each God
deals separately—as He pleases, and as each requires. But in all sin is the parent of
the sorrow, sorrow is the parent of the joy, and joy is the parent of holiness. Grace
and the God of grace are the same yesterday, to?day, and for ever, ‘all in all.’
—Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration
‘I would cherish the sense of sin’s ugliness. Here is something directly opposed to
the Divine nature which has been implanted within me. Here is something which
prevents and interrupts my obedience to the Divine will. Here is something which
breaks my fellowship with my Divine Friend. Ah! sin is hateful and loathsome. I
would cherish, too, the sense of my helplessness when it confronts me. With all the
knowledge I have gained of Christ, with all the love I feel for Him, with all the zeal I
throw into His service, I cannot rid myself of His adversary and mine. So my heart
is humbled and broken. Yet One there is Who can roll the strangling load from me.
I praise God for Him.’
SBC, "
The difference between good and bad men in Holy Scripture may be said to
consist in this: whether they have or have not "a broken and a contrite spirit;" the
degrees of their acceptance with God seem to depend on this; and in consequence we!
shall find in those who are most of all approved some expression that implies this
temper. A broken and contrite heart alone can embrace Christ crucified; and he who is
most diligent in works of evangelical righteousness will be most contrite, and therefore
will most of all have faith in Christ crucified.
I. All good works which God has prepared for us to walk in bring us to know God, and to
know ourselves, and consequently to a broken spirit. And the effect of a careless,
thoughtless, sinful life, and indeed of every sin, is to close the eyes, so that we cannot see,
and the ears, that we cannot hear.
II. It is evident that we have all great reason to fear lest God should take from us His
most Holy Spirit, who dwells with the contrite. Nothing can make the heart contrite but

the Holy Spirit of God. It is certain that the Holy Spirit will depart from those who reject
Him; that it is He who darkens the eyes, and shuts up the ears, and hardens the heart.
The very ease and indifference with which we are apt to hear, and see, and act affords us
a reasonable cause for apprehension. Is not our very unconcern enough to concern us?
"Blessed is he," we are told, "who feareth always."
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. vii., p. 250 (see also J.
Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Christmas to Epiphany, p. 357).
Notice one or two of those accepted sacrifices which from time to time have been set up
in our world, and which the Holy Spirit has recorded for our humiliation, our comfort,
and our happiness.
I. The repentance of David was the repentance of a fallen child of God. If we can say that
David’s confession was the cause of his forgiveness, in a truer sense we may say David’s
forgiveness was the cause of his repentance. It was none other than the fountain of God’s
forgiving love that opened the fountain of a penitent spirit.
II. The case of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, was as dissimilar to that of David as it is
possible for the manifestation of the same grace to be in two places. Manasseh was a
dissolute, godless man for more than half the years of his life. David was aroused by a
voice, Manasseh by an iron chain. Out of the depths he cried to God. Sorrow made him
acquainted with himself; prayer made him acquainted with God.
III. The history of the Ninevites stands out with this signalising mark, that our Lord
Himself adduced it as the very standard of true repentance, by which others at the last
great day shall be measured and condemned. The distinguishing feature in their
repentance was that it was national.
IV. Mary was saved at Jesus’ feet, Peter by a look from Jesus’ eye. With each God deals
separately—as He pleases, and as each requires. But in all sin is the parent of the sorrow,
sorrow is the parent of the joy, and joy is the parent of holiness. Grace and the God of
grace are the same yesterday, today, and for ever, "all in all."
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,1874, p. 181.
Notice:—
I. The broken heart. This is the most emphatic term that can be employed for setting
forth intense sorrow. (1) A broken heart is one which renounces all idea of merit and
seeks alone for mercy. (2) A broken heart will always feel its sins to be peculiarly its own.
(3) A third accompaniment of a broken heart, and one never wanting, is this: a full
confession of sin. When the broken heart makes confession, it does so in the plainest
language possible. (4) A broken heart mourns most over the Godward aspect of sin. This
is a very crucial test. David says, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned." (5) A broken
heart will never cavil with God about the deserved punishment. (6) A broken heart will
mourn its general depravity. (7) A broken heart will always be as anxious for purity as for
pardon. It cries not only, "Blot out my transgressions," but "Create in me a clean heart."
(8) A broken heart is not a despairing heart. A broken heart does not doubt God’s power
to cleanse, nor does it call in question God’s willingness to forgive. A despairing heart
knows nothing about this. (9) A broken heart is an agonised heart.
II. A broken heart is a heart that God will never despise. We have His royal word for it.

(1) Christ will never despise it, and that for a very good reason. He has suffered from it
Himself. (2) He will not despise it because He broke thy heart. It would be despising His
own handiwork were He to reject a contrite spirit.
A. G. Brown, Penny Pulpit, No. 1036.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
BARES, "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion -From himself - his deep
sorrow, his conscious guilt, his earnest prayer for pardon and salvation - the psalmist
turns to Zion, to the city of God, to the people of the Lord. These, after all, lay nearer to
his heart than his own personal salvation; and to these his thoughts naturally turned
even in connection with his own deep distress. Such a prayer as is here offered he would
also be more naturally led to offer from the remembrance of the dishonor which he had
brought on the cause of religion, and it was natural for him to pray that his own
misconduct might not have the effect of hindering the cause of God in the world. The
psalms often take this turn. Where they commence with a personal reference to the
author himself, the thoughts often terminate in a reference to Zion, and to the
promotion of the cause of religion in the world.
Build thou the walls of Jerusalem -It is this expression on which De Wette,
Doederlein, and Rosenmuller rely in proof that this psalm, or this portion of it, was
composed at a later period than the time of David, and that it must have been written in
the time of the captivity, when Jerusalem was in ruins. See the introduction to the
psalm. But, as was remarked there, it is not necessary to adopt this supposition. There
are two other solutions of the difficulty, either of which would meet all that is implied in
the language.
(a) One is, that the walls of Jerusalem, which David had undertaken to build, were not
as yet complete, or that the public works commenced by him for the protection of the
city had not been finished at the time of the fatal affair of Uriah. There is nothing in the
history which forbids this supposition, and the language is such as would be used by
David on the occasion, if he had been actually engaged in completing the walls of the
city, and rendering it impregnable, and if his heart was intensely fixed on the completion
of the work.
(b) The other supposition is, that this is figurative language - a prayer that God would
favor and bless his people as if the city was to be protected by walls, and thus rendered
safe from an attack by the enemy. Such language is, in fact, often used in cases where it
could not be pretended that it was designed to be literal. See
Jud_1:20; Rom_15:20;

1Co_3:12; Gal_2:18; Eph_2:22; Col_2:7.
CLARKE, "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion -This and the following
verse most evidently refer to the time of the captivity, when the walls of Jerusalem were
broken down, and the temple service entirely discontinued; and, consequently, are long
posterior to the times of David. Hence it has been concluded that the Psalm was not
composed by David, nor in his time and that the title must be that of some other Psalm
inadvertently affixed to this. The fourth verse has also been considered as decisive
against this title: but the note on that verse has considerably weakened, if not destroyed,
that objection. I have been long of opinion that, whether the title be properly or
improperly affixed to this Psalm, these two verses make no part of it: the subject is
totally dissimilar; and there is no rule of analogy by which it can be interpreted as
belonging to the Psalm, to the subject, or to the person. I think they originally made a
Psalm of themselves, a kind of ejaculatory prayer for the redemption of the captives from
Babylon, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the restoration of the temple worship. And,
taken in this light, they are very proper and very expressive.
The Psa_117:1-2contains only two verses; and is an ejaculation of praise from the
captives who had just then returned from Babylon. And it is a fact that this Psalm is
written as a part of the cxvith in no less than thirty-two of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s
MSS.; and in some early editions. Again, because of its smallness, it has been absorbed
by the cxviiith, of which it makes the commencement, in twenty-eight of Kennicott’s and
De Rossi’s MSS. In a similar way I suppose the two last verses of this Psalm to have been
absorbed by the preceding, which originally made a complete Psalm of themselves; and
this absorption was the more easy, because, like the cxviith it has no title. I cannot allege
a similar evidence relative to these two verses, as ever having made a distinct Psalm; but
of the fact I can have no doubt, for the reasons assigned above. And I still think that
Psalm is too dignified, too energetic, and too elegant, to have been the composition of
any but David. It was not Asaph; it was not any of the sons of Korah; it was not Heman
or Jeduthun: the hand and mind of a greater master are here.
GILL, "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion,.... This verse, and
Psa_51:19, are
thought, by a Spanish Rabbi mentioned by Aben Ezra, to have been added by one of the
holy men that lived in the time of the Babylonish captivity; though rather it is thought,
by the latter, to be written by David, under a spirit of prophecy, concerning, times to
come; and so Kimchi thinks they are prophetic of future things; of the destruction of the
first and second temple, and of the acceptableness of sacrifices in the times of the
Messiah: and by Zion is meant the church, under the Gospel dispensation, Heb_12:22;
and the "good" prayed for includes all the good and glorious things spoken of the church
of Christ in the latter day; such as an increase of its numbers, the bringing in the fulness
of the Gentiles, the conversion of the Jews, and the kingdoms of this world becoming the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; the spread of the Gospel all over the world, the
purity of Gospel doctrine, worship, and ordinances, the spirituality of religion, the power
of godliness, and an abounding of brotherly love, and the like. The "good pleasure" of
God, in which this is desired to be done, may denote either ןוצר,תע, "the acceptable time";

or "time of good pleasure"; the Gospel dispensation, so called Isa_49:8, in which it has
been foretold, and may be expected these things shall be done; or else the cause, source,
and spring of them, which is the sovereign good will and pleasure of God, from whence
flow all the blessings of grace and goodness;
build thou the walls of Jerusalem; not literally taken; for these do not appear to
have stood in need of being repaired or rebuilt in David's time; but the church of God,
which is a spiritual house, built up of lively stones, true believers; which may be said to
be more and more built up by an addition of such unto it: it is as a city compact together,
whose walls are salvation, and its gates praise, Isa_26:1; of the wall of the new
Jerusalem, see Rev_21:12.
HERY, " David intercedes for Zion and Jerusalem, with an eye to the honour of
God. See what a concern he had,
1. For the good of the church of God (Psa_51:18): Do good in thy good pleasure unto
Zion, that is, (1.) “To all the particular worshippers in Zion, to all that love and fear thy
name; keep them from falling into such wounding wasting sins as these of mine; defend
and succour all that fear thy name.” Those that have been in spiritual troubles
themselves know how to pity and pray for those that are in like manner afflicted. Or, (2.)
To the public interests of Israel. David was sensible of the wrong he had done to Judah
and Jerusalem by his sin, how it had weakened the hands and saddened the hearts of
good people, and opened the mouths of their adversaries; he was likewise afraid lest, he
being a public person, his sin should bring judgments upon the city and kingdom, and
therefore he prays to God to secure and advance those public interests which he had
damaged and endangered. He prays that God would prevent those national judgments
which his sin had deserved, that he would continue those blessings, and carry on that
good work, which it had threatened to retard and put a stop to. He prays, not only that
God would do good to Zion, as he did to other places, by his providence, but that he
would do it in his good pleasure, with the peculiar favour he bore to that place which he
had chosen to put his name there, that the walls of Jerusalem, which perhaps were now
in the building, might be built up, and that good work finished. Note, [1.] When we have
most business of our own, and of greatest importance at the throne of grace, yet then we
must not forget to pray for the church of God; nay, or Master has taught us in our daily
prayers to begin with that, Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come. [2.] The
consideration of the prejudice we have done to the public interests by our sins should
engage us to do them all the service we can, particularly by our prayers.
JAMISO,"Do good, etc.— Visit not my sin on Thy Church.
build ... walls— is to show favor; compare
Psa_89:40, for opposite form and idea.
K&D 18?19, "From this spiritual sacrifice, well-pleasing to God, the Psalm now, in vv.
20f., comes back to the material sacrifices that are offered in a right state of mind; and
this is to be explained by the consideration that David's prayer for himself here passes
over into an intercession on behalf of all Israel: Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion.
־ת ֶא may be a sign of the accusative, for בי ִטי ֵה (בי ִט ֵה) does take the accusative of the person
(Job_24:21); but also a preposition, for as it is construed with ,ְל and ם ִע, so also with ת ֵא

in the same signification (Jer_18:10; Jer_32:41). ק ֶד ֶצ־ ֵח ְבִז are here, as in Psa_4:6; Deu_
33:19, those sacrifices which not merely as regards their outward character, but also in
respect of the inward character of him who causes them to be offered on his behalf, are
exactly such as God the Lawgiver will have them to be. By MT IM g” beside ה ָלוּע might be
understood the priestly vegetable whole-offering, Lev_6:15. (ןי ִg ִב ֲח,ת ַחְנ ִמ, Epistle to the
Hebrews, ii. 8), since every ה ָלוּע as such is also MT IM g”; but Psalm-poetry does not make any
such special reference to the sacrificial tôra. לי ִל ָכְו is, like לילכ in 1Sa_7:9, an explicative
addition, and the combination is like ךעורזו,ךנימי, Psa_44:4, לבתו,ץרא, Psa_90:2, and the
like. A MT IM g”B& GM Gx (Hitzig, after the Phoenician sacrificial tables) is unknown to the
Israelitish sacrificial worship. The prayer: Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem, is not
inadmissible in the mouth of David; since .gh g“ signifies not merely to build up what has
been thrown down, but also to go on and finish building what is in the act of being built
(Psa_89:3); and, moreover, the wall built round about Jerusalem by Solomon (1Ki_3:1)
can be regarded as a fulfilment of David's prayer.
Nevertheless what even Theodoret has felt cannot be denied: τοEς,Cν,
Βαβυλ?νι...wρ_όττει,τ^,?ή_ατα. Through penitence the way of the exiles led back to
Jerusalem. The supposition is very natural that vv. 20f. may be a liturgical addition
made by the church of the Exile. And if the origin of Isa_40:1in the time of the Exile
were as indisputable as the reasons against such a position are forcible, then it would
give support not merely to the derivation of vv. 20f. (cf. Isa_60:5, Isa_60:7, Isa_60:10),
but of the whole Psalm, from the time of the Exile; for the general impress of the Psalm
is, according to the accurate observation of Hitzig, thoroughly deutero-Isaianic. But the
writer of Isa_40:1shows signs in other respects also of the most families acquaintance
with the earlier literature of the
Shızr and the Mashal; and that he is none other than
Isaiah reveals itself in connection with this Psalm by the echoes of this very Psalm,
which are to be found not only in the second but also in the first part of the Isaianic
collection of prophecy (cf. on
Psa_51:9, Psa_51:18). We are therefore driven to the
inference, that Ps 51 was a favourite Psalm of Isaiah's, and that, since the Isaianic echoes
of it extend equally from the first verse to the last, it existed in the same complete form
even in his day as in ours; and that consequently the close, just like the whole Psalm, so
beautifully and touchingly expressed, is not the mere addition of a later age.
CALVI, "18Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure: build thou the walls of
Jerusalem (273) From prayer in his own behalf he now proceeds to offer up
supplications for the collective Church of God, a duty which he may have felt to be
the more incumbent upon him from the circumstance of his having done what he
could by his fall to ruin it, Raised to the throne, and originally anointed to be king
for the very purpose of fostering the Church of God, he had by his disgraceful
conduct nearly accomplished its destruction. Although chargeable with this guilt, he
now prays that God would restore it in the exercise of his free mercy. He makes no
mention of the righteousness of others, but rests his plea entirely upon the good
pleasure of God, intimating that the Church, when at any period it has been

brought low, must be indebted for its restoration solely to Divine grace. Jerusalem
was already built, but David prays that God would build it still farther for he knew
that it fell far short of being complete, so long as it wanted the temple, where he had
promised to establish the Ark of his Covenant, and also the royal palace. We learn
from the passage, that it is God’s own work to build the Church. “His foundation,”
says the Psalmist elsewhere, “is in the holy mountains,” (Psalms 87:1.) We are not to
imagine that David refers simply to the Church as a material structure, but must
consider him as having his eye fixed upon the spiritual temple, which cannot be
raised by human skill or industry. It is true, indeed, that men will not make progress
even in the building of material walls, unless their labor be blessed from above; but
the Church is in a peculiar sense the erection of God, who has founded it upon the
earth in the exercise of his mighty power, and who will exalt it higher than the
heavens. In this prayer David does not contemplate the welfare of the Church for a
short period merely, but prays that God would preserve and advance it till the
coming of Christ. And here, may it not justly excite our surprise, to find one who, in
the preceding part of the psalm, had employed the language of distress and almost
of despair, now inspired with the confidence necessary for commending the whole
Church to the care of God? How comes it about, may we not ask, that one who so
narrowly escaped destruction himself, should now appear as a guide to conduct
others to salvation? In this we have a striking proof, that, provided we obtain
reconciliation with God, we may not only expect to be inspired with confidence in
praying for our own salvation, but may hope to be admitted as intercessors in behalf
of others, and even to be advanced to the higher honor still, of commending into the
hands of God the glory of the Redeemer’s kingdom.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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.
EXPLAATORY OTES AD QUAIT SAYIGS
Ver. 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.
Ver. 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. either 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 (2 Samuel 7:1, etc.), were completed during his
reign. This was only effected under the reign of his son Solomon. 1 Kings 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. 2 Samuel 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 ew
Jerusalem." James Anderson's ote to Calvin, in loc.
COKE, "Psalms 51:18?19. Do good in thy good pleasure, &c.— It has been
observed, that this and the next verse seem plainly to shew this Psalm to have been
written during the captivity, and therefore the title to be wrong; and that when the
Psalm was penned, God could not accept any offering, because the temple and altar
were destroyed; but there seems little weight in these observations. The inscriptions
to the Psalms are very ancient, and all the versions agree in referring this Psalm to
David and the affair of Uriah; nor could any thing be more suitable to his
circumstances than this composition throughout. As to the objection brought from
the words, build thou the walls of Jerusalem, there is no strength in it: when David
made it the place of his residence, he greatly enlarged and fortified it, that it might
be safe against the attacks of the neighbouring nations: these works must require a
considerable time to carry them on; and as, probably, they were not yet finished, he
prays that, though he was unworthy of being prospered by God in this great
undertaking, of rendering Mount Sion and Jerusalem secure by the fortifications
with which he intended to encompass it, yet that God would prosper, according to
his good pleasure, Sion, and enable him to build up the walls of Jerusalem, till he
had fully completed them. Or if these walls were actually completed, David might
pray with great propriety that God would build them, that is, defend and protect
them; uphold and preserve them in safety: for in this sense the word הנב banah, to
build, is frequently used. See Proverbs 14:1.; Psalms 2:4. What is further added,
that God could not accept any offering, because the temple and altar were
destroyed, is without any foundation; because there is not one word mentioned
about the temple, nor the destruction of the altar; and the reason why God would

accept no sacrifice, was, not because there was no altar, but because God had
appointed no sacrifice for adultery and murder; which could be expiated no
otherwise than by the death of the offender. But as God had by his peculiar mercy
remitted the sentence of death, the Psalmist adds, that if God would graciously
favour Sion, enable him to finish the walls of Jerusalem, and establish the safety of
the city by his protection; Then shalt thou be pleased with sacrifices of
righteousness; i.e. such sacrifices as God had appointed by the law; offered on such
occasions, and for such ends, as God himself had prescribed, in opposition to those
which he had just before declared God would not accept. Had David offered
sacrifices of propitiation for his adultery and murder, they would have been illegal,
unwarrantable, impious sacrifices, and not sacrifices of righteousness. The whole
burnt offerings frequently consisted of bullocks, Leviticus 1:5. These, the Psalmist
adds, should ascend to his altar, as some render the word; or, as our version, They
shall offer bullocks upon thine altar. The words are capable of both versions, and
the sense in each is nearly the same. He seems to refer principally to the peace or
thank?offerings, which, when made by pious men, according to God's prescription,
could not fail of being acceptable to him. Chandler. Though the notes on this very
important and useful Psalm have extended to a greater length than we commonly
allow, I cannot withhold the following observations, in conclusion, from Dr.
Delaney; who remarks, that as this Psalm was directed to the chief musician, it was,
without doubt, publicly sung in the tabernacle in the presence of all the people; the
king himself attending and prostrate before the throne of mercy. "It is surely
matter," says he, "of uncommon curiosity to contemplate David in this condition.
Behold the greatest monarch of the earth thus humbled for his sins before God!
confessing his shame with contrition and confusion of face! calling out for mercy,
and imploring pardon, in the presence of his meanest subjects! There is something
in such an image of penitence, more fitted to strike the soul with a dread and
abhorrence of guilt, than it is possible to express: something more edifying, more
adapted to the human infirmities, and more powerful to reform them, than the most
perfect example of unsinning obedience; especially, if the supplications and petitions
he pours out to God be thoroughly suited to the solemnity of the occasion, and
condition of the penitent; as they undoubtedly are in this Psalm. Here the penitent
humbly and earnestly begs for mercy;—he acknowledges his sin, and his innate
depravity, the source of it; he begs to be renewed in the grace of God, and in that
health, which the horror of his wickedness had impaired. Above all, he earnestly
beseeches God, not to cast him off, nor deliver him up to a reprobate sense. Cast me
not away from thy presence:—Take not thy holy spirit from me:—O give me the
comfort of thy help again:—Deliver me from blood?guiltiness, O God, thou God of
my salvation! In one word, the soul of shame, of sorrow, of remorse, of sincere
repentance, and bitter anguish under the agonies of guilt, breathes strong and
fervent through every line of this hallowed composition. And it is, I doubt not,
David's greatest consolation at this moment, when he blesses God for the
providential effects of his fall, that those crimes which wrought his shame, and
sorrow, and infamy, have, in the humility, the piety, the contrition of confessing
them, in this and several other Psalms, composed upon the same occasion, rescued
and reformed millions."

WHEDO, "18. Do good… unto Zion—As a king he feels he has exposed his people
and kingdom, no less than himself, to judgments, and these public calamities had
been sternly foretold by athan. 2 Samuel 12:10?12. They must suffer with him; yea
through their suffering the king more profoundly suffers.
Build… the walls of Jerusalem—A figurative expression for the prosperity and
strength of the nation, and as a proof or symbol of the divine protection. See Psalms
69:35. Or, it may be an allusion to the unfinished walls and fortifications in David’s
time, which were completed in Solomon’s reign. 1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 9:15; 1 Kings
9:19. It is not necessary to suppose these last two verses of the psalm to have been
added by the returned exiles, much less that they are proof that the entire psalm was
written at that date and by another hand than David’s. The word rendered “build”
is never, in our version, translated rebuild, and seldom bears that sense. Hitherto
David’s wars had been carried on in the enemy’s country, and it would be but
natural that he should anticipate the possibility of a recoil of his foreign victories by
an invasion that would test the strength of the fortifications of his capital. Having
finished his penitential prayer for himself, and with his eye on the fiery
denunciation of the prophet above alluded to, “the sword shall never depart from
thy house,” his kingly heart turns to his people in prayer for their safety and the
stability of his kingdom.
BESO, "Psalms 51:18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion — Hebrew,
hנוצרב, birtzonecha, for, or according to, thy grace, favour, or pleasure — That is,
thy free and rich mercy, and thy gracious purpose and promise, made to and
concerning thy church and people, here termed Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem
— Perfect the walls and buildings of that city, and especially let the temple be built
and established in it, notwithstanding my great sins whereby I have polluted it,
which I pray thee to purge away. But he may also be understood as speaking
figuratively in these words, and praying for the enlargement and establishment of
God’s church, often meant by Jerusalem.
ELLICOTT, "(18) Do good.—The last two verses have occasioned much
controversy. They do not fit in well with the theory of Davidic authorship,
Theodoret long ago saying that they better suited the exiles in Babylon. They seem
at first sight to contradict what has just been asserted of sacrifice. On both grounds
they have been regarded as a liturgical addition, such as doubtless the compiler
made, without any sense of infringement of the rights of authorship. On the other
hand, it is not only these two verses which harmonise with the feelings of the
restored exiles, but the whole psalm, and the contradiction in regard to the worth of
sacrifices is only apparent. While vindicating spiritual religion, the psalmist no more
abrogates ceremonies than the prophets do. As soon as their performance is possible
they will be resumed.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the
walls of Jerusalem.

Ver. 18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion] Having made his own peace with
God, he now prayeth for the Church: and the rather, because by his foul sins he had
hazarded, or rather exposed, both Zion and Jerusalem, Church and State, to divine
displeasure. Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.
Build thou the walls of Jerusalem] i.e. Protect, defend, and maintain the civil state,
grant all things necessary for its safety and well?being; supply of all wants,
confirmation and increase of all blessings. Thus pray we, Jeremiah 29:7, Psalms
122:6?8; for except the Lord keep the city, &c. See Isaiah 5:1?3; Isaiah 27:3. He is a
wall of fire, Revelation 20:9, of water, Isaiah 33:20?21; say, therefore, as Isaiah 26:1,
and beware of security, sensuality, senselessness, &c.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the
righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
BARES, "Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness
- “Then,” that is, when God should have thus showed favor to Zion; when he should have
poured out his blessing on Jerusalem; when religion should prosper and prevail; when
there should be an increase of the pure worship of God. In such offerings as would
“then” be made - in sacrifices presented not in mere form, but with sincerity, humility,
and penitence - in the outward offering of blood presented with a corresponding
sincerity of feeling, and with true contrition, and a proper acknowledgment of the guilt
designed to be represented by the shedding of blood in sacrifice - God would be pleased,
and would approve the worship thus rendered to him. Sacrifice would then be
acceptable, for it would not be presented as a mere form, but would be so offered, that it
might be called a “sacrifice of righteousness” - a sacrifice offered with a right spirit; in a
manner which God would deem right.
With burnt-offering -See the notes at
Isa_1:11.
And whole burnt-offering -The word here means that which is wholly consumed,
no part of which was reserved to be eaten by the priests, as was the case in many of the

sacrifices. See Deu_33:10. Compare Lev_6:9; Lev_1:3-17.
Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar -That is, then shall bullocks be
offered. The meaning is, that all the offerings prescribed in the law would then be
brought, and that those sacrifices would be made with a right spirit - a spirit of true
devotion - the offering of the heart accompanying the outward form. In other words,
there would be manifested the spirit of humble worship; of pure religion.
GILL, "Then shall thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,....
Which must be different from the legal ones he desired not, and did not delight in,
Psa_
51:16; but design sacrifices under the Gospel dispensation, as the word "then" shows,
which connects this verse with Psa_51:18, and in the first place intend the sacrifice of
Christ, which is of a sweet smelling savour to God; and his righteousness, with which he
is well pleased, because the law is magnified and made honourable by it; and next the
saints themselves, who present their bodies to him a holy, living, and acceptable
sacrifice, they being accepted with him in Christ the beloved; as also their good works,
particularly acts of charity and beneficence, with which sacrifices God is well pleased;
and especially the spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, which are acceptable to
him through Jesus Christ; as all are that are offered in faith through him, and from love,
and with a view to the glory of God; see Eph_5:2, Rom_12:1;
with burnt offering, and whole burnt offering; the difference between these two,
according to Aben Ezra and Kimchi, was, that the הלוע, "olah", or "burnt offering", was
the daily sacrifice; and the additional ones, which were of beasts and birds, Lev_1:1, and
the לילכ, "calil", was the meat offering of the priests, which was wholly consumed, Lev_
6:22; though this also is sometimes used of beasts, 1Sa_7:9; and both may signify love to
God, and to our neighbour; or a man's devoting himself to the Lord in the flames of love,
as a whole burnt offering to him, and which is better than all burnt offerings, Mar_
12:33;
then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar; or "calves" (r); meaning the calves
of the lips, Hos_14:2; interpreted the fruit of the lips, even giving thanks to the name of
God, Heb_13:16; which sacrifices of praise being offered up on the altar Christ, come
with acceptance before God, Heb_13:10.
HERY, "For the honour of the churches of God, Psa_51:19. If God would show
himself reconciled to him and his people, as he had prayed, then they should go on with
the public services of his house, (1.) Cheerfully to themselves. The sense of God's
goodness to them would enlarge their hearts in all the instances and expressions of
thankfulness and obedience. They will then come to his tabernacle with burnt-offerings,
with whole burnt-offerings, which were intended purely for the glory of God, and they
shall offer, not lambs and rams only, but bullocks, the costliest sacrifices, upon his altar.
(2.) Acceptably to God: “Thou shalt be pleased with them, that is, we shall have reason
to hope so when we perceive the sin taken away which threatened to hinder thy
acceptance.” Note, It is a great comfort to a good man to think of the communion that is
between God and his people in their public assemblies, how he is honoured by their
humble attendance on him and they are happy in his gracious acceptance of it.

JAMISO,"God reconciled, material sacrifices will be acceptable (Psa_4:5; compare
Isa_1:11-17).
CALVI, "19Then shalt thou accept sacrifices of righteousness In these words there
is an apparent, but only an apparent, inconsistency with others which he had used
in the preceding context. He had declared sacrifices to be of no value when
considered in themselves, but now he acknowledges them to be acceptable to God
when viewed as expressions or symbols of faith, penitence, and thanksgiving. He
calls them distinctly sacrifices of righteousness, right, warrantable, and such as are
offered in strict accordance with the commandment of God. The expression is the
same employed in Psalms 4:5, where David uses it with a tacit condemnation of
those who gloried in the mere outward form of ceremonies. We find him again
exciting himself and others by his example to the exercise of gratitude, and to the
expression of it openly in the solemn assembly. Besides sacrifices in general, two
particular kinds of sacrifice are specified. Although some consider לילכ, calil, and
הלוע, olah, to be both of one signification, others maintain with more correctness,
that the first is to be understood as meaning the priest’s sacrifice, because in it the
offering was consumed or burnt with fire. (274) In the enumeration which he makes,
David designs to teach us that none of all the legal rites can find acceptance with
God, unless they be used with a reference to the proper end of their institution. The
whole of this verse has been figuratively applied by some to the kingdom of Christ,
but the interpretation is unnatural and too refined. Thanksgivings are indeed called
by Hosea “the calves of the lips,” (Hosea 14:2;) but it seems evident that in the
passage before us there are conjoined along with the frame or disposition of the
heart those solemn ceremonies which constituted part of the ancient worship.
SPURGEO, "Ver. 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.
n!Tsicioafltcaonhtic;tZHidcothildckh
Ver. 18?19. See Psalms on "Psalms 51:18" for further information.
HITS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 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.
1. Holy obedience.
2. Self sacrifices, not half offerings, but whole "burnt offerings; "not lambs merely,
but "bullocks."
3. 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.
BESO, "Psalms 51:19. Then — When thou hast granted my humble requests,
expressed in the former verses; when thou hast renewed, and pardoned, and
comforted me, and restored thy favour unto thy people and this city; shalt thou be
pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness — Which I and my people, being
justified and reconciled to thee, shall offer with sincere and penitent hearts. These
are opposed to the sacrifices of the wicked, which God abhors, Proverbs 15:8; Isaiah
1:11; and, withal, by thus speaking, he intimates that God, for their sins, might
justly now reject their sacrifices as not being, properly speaking, sacrifices of
righteousness, because they who offered them were not righteous. Then shall they,
&c. — That is, they who, by thy appointment, are to do that work, namely, the
priests in the name and on the behalf of thy people. Offer bullocks upon thine altar
— The best and most costly sacrifices, and that in great numbers, in testimony of
their gratitude for thy great favour, in pardoning mine and their sins, and
preventing that total ruin which we had reason to expect and fear upon that
account.
WHEDO, "19. Sacrifices of righteousness—The construct or genitive relation of
the nouns yields the sense of sacrifice in order to justification—expiatory sacrifices.
So the word denotes Psalms 51:16. In perfect analogy with this construction, the
phrase sacrifices of thanksgiving, the exact opposite, occurs; that is, sacrifices for, or
to express, thanksgiving for justifying favour received. See Psalms 107:22; Psalms
116:17.
Burnt offering and whole burnt offering—Two synonymous words, the latter in
apposition to the former, and added for emphasis, as in 1 Samuel 7:9. The order of
sacrifices here observed is to be noticed. The “sacrifices of righteousness” were for
expiation, or atonement; the “burnt offering” “was the sacrifice of entire, full,
unconditional surrender to Jehovah.” The former for justification, the latter
expressive of complete self?consecration.
Bullocks—Young “bullocks,” as being fat, vigorous, and full of life. The description
gives the climax of acceptable worship and of national prosperity.
TRAPP, "Psalms 51:19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine
altar.
Ver. 19. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices, &c.] i.e. Such as are offered in faith,

and according to the will of God, Psalms 4:6.
Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar] They shall be free hearted and frequent in
thy work and service; Vae torpori nostro, Woe to our dulness and backwardness in these
happy days of peace and free profession, which we had need improve as they did, Acts
9:31. Otherwise, we may desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and not see it,
Luke 17:22. Go to Shiloh, &c.

Psalm 51 commentary

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Psalm 51 commentary

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