Psalm 51:2-6, Antiphon, Psalm 51:1 Have mercy on me,
O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundance mercy blot
out my transgressions. The psalmist
asks that God in His mercy would grant pardon. Throughout this psalm look at
the words the psalmist will use: mercy,
unfailing love, great compassion, blot out, was, cleanse, transgressions,
iniquity, sin. This psalm sings the story of salvation. As we are in the midst
of Lent, our focus is now on the cross and of Him who suffered and died for us.
Psalm 51 - Restoration
of a Broken and Contrite King
This psalm is titled To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of
David when Nathan the Prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. The
events are plainly and painfully described in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12.
James Montgomery Boice noted that this psalm has been
long beloved by believers: “It was
recited in full by Sir Thomas More and Lady Jane Grey when they were on the
scaffold in the bloody days of Henry VIII and Queen Mary. William Carey, the
great pioneer missionary to India, asked that it might be the text of his
funeral sermon.”
“This great
song, pulsating with the agony of a sin-stricken soul, helps us to understand
the stupendous wonder of the everlasting mercy of our God.”
Sin confessed, and forgiveness requested.
Vv.1-2 Is a direct plea for mercy.
Have mercy
upon me, O God, According to Your loving-kindness; According to the multitude
of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my
iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness. The title of this psalm gives the tragic context for
David’s plea. He had sinned in murder, in adultery, in covering his sin, and in
hardness against repentance. It took the bold confrontation of Nathan the
Prophet to shake him from this (2 Samuel 12); yet once shaken, David came in
great honesty and brokenness before God.
Have mercy upon me, O God is the prayer of a man who knows he has sinned and
has stopped all self-justification. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against
the LORD (2 Samuel 12:13) – a good and direct confession, without excuse and
with clarity.
David asked for mercy, and that according to the
measure of God’s loving-kindness. This is God’s grace, His loyal love, His
covenant mercy. It was a well-phrased request with the eloquence of true
brokenness.
According to
the multitude of Your tender mercies.
In slightly different words, David repeated the thought of the previous appeal.
He had before experienced the multitude of God’s tender mercies; he asks for
this outpouring again.
David used several words to speak of the kindness he
desired from God.
Mercy denotes God’s loving assistance to the pitiful.
Unfailing love [loving-kindness] points to the continuing
operation of this mercy.
Compassion [tender mercies] teaches that God feels for
our infirmities.
Blot out my
transgressions. David felt a register
of his many sins condemned him, and he wanted the account of them to be erased.
The blotting out may refer to David’s own conscience, or to God’s accounting of
sin – or perhaps to both.
Wash me
thoroughly from my iniquity. The word
of God through Nathan the Prophet worked like a mirror to show David how dirty
and stained he was. He had lived in that condition for some time (perhaps a
year) without an acute knowledge of his iniquity and sin. Now the sense of the
stain drove him to beg to be cleansed.
Wash me
thoroughly: 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 Theme for Lent 4, “God Receives Sinners” is seen in all three lessons. In the Old
Testament lesson - Isaiah 12:1-6 – Salvation is of God. In the Epistle - 2
Corinthians 5:16-21 – Paul speaks of the renewing quality of our salvation in
Christ. We are new people. In the
Gospel lesson -Luke 15:1-3; 11-32 – We see the response to salvation. The Hymn
for the Day, “Salvation unto us has come,”
sings the story of salvation.[1]
[2] Collect for Psalm 51, For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and By the Church, Vol. I © 1994 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
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