Psalms 51-53

Thoughts

Psalm 51

 Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God. To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

• “Blot out” (מָחָה, māḥāh) is same word God uses when He says He will “blot out” man in Genesis 6
• Sin is something that requires washing and cleansing

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.

• David refuses denial and knows he has sinned. 
• “Against you, you only” is odd as obviously many humans were harmed because of his sin. This seems to mean that he knows ultimately we sin against God. 

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

• “In sin did my mother conceive me” is not blaming his mother but acknowledging the universal sin nature 

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

• hyssop was used to apply sacrificial blood.
• “Bones you have broken” God’s discipline feels like broken bones.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

• Restoration includes joy, not just forgiveness

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

• Forgiven people become teachers of what they have experienced
• “Bloodguiltiness” (Hebrew מִדָּמִים, middāmim)

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

• Again a rejection of empty ritual
• True repentance is internal

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

• David prays for the nation, not just himself.
• When hearts are right, sacrifices become meaningful

Psalm 52

Why Do You Boast of Evil, O Mighty Man? To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
Your tongue plots destruction,
like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking what is right.
You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.

• Doeg’s words cut like a razor

But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.

• Doeg will not endure and his influence won’t last.

The righteous shall see and fear,
and shall laugh at him, saying,
“See the man who would not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and sought refuge in his own destruction!”

• The wicked man trusted in riches  rather than God.
• He “sought refuge in his own destruction” he trusted the very things that ruined him.

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.
I will thank you forever, because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.

• “Green olive tree” symbolizes life, stability, and fruitfulness in contrast to Doeg, who is uprooted.
• “You have done it” David speaks of God’s future deliverance
• Waiting for God’s name= confident hope 

Psalm 53

Title: To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David.

• Similar of Psalm 14
• “Mahalath” also mentioned in Psalm 88 עַל־מַחֲלַת (al-maḥălath) from the Hebrew root ḥ-l-h (חל”ה), “to be sick.” Could be musical term, author, or tune. 

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.

• “There is none who does good”- theme of universal corruption

God looks down from heaven on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

• Similar to God looking at earth during Noah’s time
• Paul quotes these lines in Romans 3 

Have those who work evil no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon God?

• Evil harming others as casually as eating

There they are, in great terror,
where there is no terror!
For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

• “Terror where there is no terror” could mean God terrifying the enemy when no earthly situation is putting them in terror. 

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

• “Restores the fortunes” both present day of David and the future to come

Questions

Application

Psalm 51 shows that God values “truth in the inward being”. No hiding, no excuses.. God sees our heart not just our outward image. Psalm 52 shows that God also sees the wicked and upholds the righteous. Remember, human power is temporary and God’s power is eternal. Lastly, Psalm 53 gives us a portrait of human sin. We cannot save ourselves as “there is none who does good”. We all need a Savior.