PSALMS 51


1 (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.) Have mercy upon me, O Elohim, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.


Distress towards God because of sin


Now, what does this state of mind arise from? Its very kernel, without which it could have no existence is this: the belief in God, the recognition of His loving power and presence, the sense of His personal acquaintance with all our ways, and of His supreme and sovereign proprietorship and authority over us as His creatures.

How could a man have any distress towards God because of sin who had any doubt as to the existence of God? Still less, how could such a man be animated by the love that David expresses towards God in all the Psalms?

It is manifest that the first condition of this state of mind is knowledge. Love always comes after knowledge; never before. The same with fear. Who ever loved or feared a person they did not know of? It is morally impossible. To know God, therefore is the first thing.

To know Him and to love Him, as the scribe said whom Jesus approvingly pronounced to be "not far from the Kingdom of God," is better than all burnt offerings or ceremonial or technical compliances of any kind whatsoever.

This is the inside of the Truth, the knowledge, and love, and worship of God, without which all knowledge and attainments are vain. Those who are not yet in harmony with "the first and great commandment"-

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy strength, and all thy mind"

- have not made a beginning in the course of real and acceptable godliness.

Seasons 2.76



2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Me wash from mine iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin!

For I Acknowledge my transgressions, and

Before me ever is my sin.

‭—‬My sin,‭ ‬i.e.‭ ‬the sin for which I am to be an offering.‭—‬v3.‭ ‬Thee only,‭ ‬this shews the strict applicability of this psalm to Messiah,‭ ‬who never sinned against any man:‭ ‬this can be said of none but of Him,‭ ‬v4.‭ ‬In Sin,‭ ‬i.e.‭ ‬he was to be born of the woman,‭ ‬a quality of the accidental constitution of whose nature is sin‭; ‬the original constitution of human nature was sinless,‭ ‬v5.‭ ‬Purge me with hyssop,‭ ‬i.e.‭ ‬literally,

‭ "‬thou shalt make a sin offering for me",‭

as in cleansing from the typical leprosy—sin‭; ‬by which he had become infected on assuming human nature‭; ‬for God to purge him with hyssop,‭ ‬was to purify his nature from the sin-leprosy,‭ ‬by raising him from the grave to a spiritual body‭; ‬and thus by the proclamation of his resurrection to notify his cure and acceptance of God to the people.‭—‬v8.‭ ‬Judgment of slaughter,‭ ‬i.e.‭ ‬the violent death to which the Messiah was to be adjudged‭; ‬to deliver him from this,‭ ‬was to raise him from the tomb.

Apostolic Advocate, Feb 1836



3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

He to whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much - Lk 7: 47

A balance was needed. A thorn in the flesh. Something to ever remind him of the pitiful weakness and insecurity of the best and strongest of human nature.

The sin changed the whole course and pattern of David's subsequent life, both internally within himself and externally in his experiences and circumstances-

"The sword shall never depart from thine house" (2 Samuel 12:10).

The point is not, how could such a man do such a thing? The point is: If such a man could do such a thing, how vigilant must we be to constantly strengthen our defences against the deceptiveness of sin. Jesus said to Peter-

"Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation" (Matthew 26:40)-

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18 & 4.7



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.

Are we so perfect? Our difficulty -- our marvel -- should be to understand the greatness of God's mercy and patience and love toward constantly erring man.

But our unconsciously self-satisfied inability to understand the great sin of David -- while partly due doubtless to the physical limits of our basic understanding capacity -- is principally due to our need for learning and instruction from the Word of God.

The more we understand the Word, its message of sin and righteousness, of death and life, then the more our shallow "cannot understand" will change from self-congratulation to a humble, sympathetic fellowship with David in his weakness.

Can we understand why the mighty, fearless Elijah should suddenly flee for his life? Why the great John the Baptist should question and doubt? Why James and John should seek the pre-eminence? And why Peter should curse and swear and deny?

We must look upon David's great sin -- as upon the trials of Job, and indeed as upon all the sufferings of Christ -- as the necessary fire of affliction to develop them to the highest beauty in God's sight.

We cannot begin to compare ourselves with Job and David -- rare giants in the eternal purpose of God -- but in our small way we can learn from their experiences the basic lessons of godliness. Job, when his trial was over said

"I abhor myself in dust and ashes."

So did David.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18 & 4.7



5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

The Christ-Deity veiled himself in the Adamic nature defiled by sin,‭ ‬in order that he might condemn sin to death in the nature which, though created "very good," had legally defiled itself by transgression of the Eden law. This purpose would have been defeated if he had veiled himself in a clean nature.

To say that the Man,‭ ‬Jesus, was corporeally clean, or pure, holy, spotless, and undefiled, is in effect to say that he was not "made of a woman;" for Scripture teaches, that nothing born of woman can possibly be clean: but it is credibly testified that he was "born of a woman;" he must therefore necessarily have been born corporeally unclean. Hence, it is written of him in Psa 51:5

‭"‬I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."

He therefore prays,He therefore prays,

"‬Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

This prayer has been answered,‭ ‬and he has been "Washed thoroughly from his (corporeal) iniquity, and cleansed from his sin;" so that now he has a clean nature, which is spirit and divine-"the Lord the Spirit"- once dead as to flesh, but now alive as Spirit for evermore Rev 1:18.

Bro Thomas - Ambassador 1869



9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

Now, what does this state of mind arise from? Its very kernel, without which it could have no existence is this: the belief in God, the recognition of His loving power and presence, the sense of His personal acquaintance with all our ways, and of His supreme and sovereign proprietorship and authority over us as His creatures.

How could a man have any distress towards God because of sin who had any doubt as to the existence of God? Still less, how could such a man be animated by the love that David expresses towards God in all the Psalms? It is manifest that the first condition of this state of mind is knowledge.

Bro Roberts - The inside of the Truth



Sin permeates the constitution of all mankind. It must be burnt out by suffering. And the greater the man, the greater the required suffering -- and the greater the resultant beauty of the vessel for God.

David's great sin, and also his lesser ones, were necessary to his development. He had weaknesses to overcome by bitter experience. He had to be tried to the utmost, to learn his own weaknesses, and the mighty power and terrible evil of sin.

He had to be taught, by the bitterest experiences, that man -- however noble, however capable, however devoted to God, however blessed and used in the purpose of God -- is still a very weak, flimsy, erring, precarious creature of flesh, laden with the latent leprosy of sin.

To him was the great promise that the Savior of mankind should come from his loins, and be known for eternity as his Son. And looking back at his incredible record of faith and courage and suffering, and patience and kindness to his enemies, and his tremendous accomplishments for God in war and government and music and praise, he could almost be entitled to feel that he had earned this high distinction in the purpose of God.

And in a limited sense -- in a relative, comparative sense -- he had. He alone, a boy, had stood in perfect faith when all Israel's mighty men had cowered and trembled before the huge man of the flesh. And from that point on he had served God with unswerving devotion and pre-eminent distinction; and had been made the medium of the Spirit's deepest and most beautiful songs of praise and holiness.

But he must learn to the fullest and bitterest depths and natural depravity and deceptiveness of the human heart, the great need for that Saviour who, by the grace of God, was to come through him -- not only to eternally establish his (David's) kingdom, but to conquer and destroy his sin, and the sin that lies at the root of all mankind's sorrow and suffering and evil.

David was not caused to sin -- either in the numbering or in the case of Bathsheba. But he was permitted to sin. He was put in a position where his weakness would be exposed and tested. God could again have sent an Abigail to stop him, if He had so chosen, but this time he was allowed to fall.

Comparing himself with all around him -- his faith, his accomplishments, his sufferings, his fortitude and obedience under the extremities of totally unjust persecution by the king and people he had selflessly served; and then his great public honour and recognition by God -- he could well feel natural confidence, even complacency, as he settled into his later years; could easily be tempted to relax his guard against the untiring assaults and subtle deceptiveness of sin.

A balance was needed; a thorn in the flesh; something to ever remind him of the pitiful weakness and insecurity of the best and strongest of human nature. This sin changed the whole course and pattern of David's subsequent life, both internally within himself, and externally in his experiences and circumstances--

"My sin is ever before me ... The sword shall never depart from thine house."

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18 & 4.7



10 Create in me a clean heart, O Elohim; and renew a right spirit within me.

Assimilating the spirit word into the heart (not just the intellect) continually, is the process of washing the heart clean Eph 5:26.

Enlighten the intellect, purify the heart and pray (Rom 8:14).



17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Every natural disappointment can and should be a thankful stepping-stone to greater peace with God, for by contrast to all things and persons human it emphasizes the unassailable dependability of that peace.

What we grieve over as a loss, or disappointment, or deprivation, may be a great emancipation and deliverance and opportunity, a fresh turn of our lives in a higher and more satisfying direction.

God's ways of teaching and correcting us are strange and wise and beautiful. The sweetest, deepest scent is from the crushed flower. Natural disappointment and sorrow can be the golden portal to spiritual joy.

Joy that is born of sorrow is a far fuller and stronger-rooted joy. Above all things, never let yourself be sorry for yourself. This is sick, fatal, dead-end folly. That is a reproach on God's love.

Brother Growcott - Search Me O God



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.

Now, Israel had not reached the zenith of their glory when this Psalm was written. The walls of Jerusalem were still intact. No breach had been made therein. The necessity for rebuilding and restoration had not arisen. Hence in this Psalm is foretold the future desolation of the city to be followed by restoration.

To what period did the Psalmist refer ? It could not be the partial restoration from Babylon, because the psalm speaks of a restitution when " burnt offerings, whole burnt offerings, and bullocks would be offered in righteousness." This was just the element which was lacking in that restoration. The Father held aloof.

In consequence of Israel's pollutions of the altar, the manifestation of glory associated with the offering of the first Temple did not return. The audible voice from behind the veil was silent during all the intervening period between the return from Babylon and the terrible evil which at last befel the nation at the destruction of Jersualem by Titus.

Consider the denunciation of Israel in the first chapter of Malachi. This prophecy has never been fulfilled. No. The restoration foretold is yet future, and will find its accomplishment in the Temple of Ezekiel's prophecy

"when the sons of Levi will offer unto Yahweh an offering in righteousness"

Thus we read :

Yahweh whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple. . . . He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may ofter unto Yahweh an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in former years. (Mal. 3., 1-4.)

Here we see that when the Lord comes to His Temple, the sons of Levi will be purified in order that they may " offer an offering in righteousness". And THEN shall the offerings be pleasant unto Yahweh "as in the days of old, and as in former years".

These offerings are to be made in the house of Yahweh's glory at the restoration, thus we read :

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Yahweh is risen upon thee . . . All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee, they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the House of My Glory. (Isa. LX. I, 7.)

We have seen that the glory of the God of Israel will enter the Temple described by Ezekiel, which thus becomes the House of His Glory. The appearance of the Righteous Branch raised up unto David, and His covenanted association with the restoration of the Levitical order of priesthood, as foretold in the testimonies already quoted, is set forth as a challenge defying all the forces of the adversary to hinder or prevent :

Thus saith Yahweh ; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season ; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne ; and with the Levties the priests, my ministers.

As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured ; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. (Jer. xxxiii. 20-22.)

In view of these testimonies, how can anyone doubt that animal sacrifices will be restored, and that in the era of restoration—the restored Temple era—such sacrifices will obtain ?

Bro Henry Sulley