Psalm 51 - Overcomer - When Nathan the prophet came to David
1st 2 requests:
1. Be gracious to me according to Your mercy.
2. Erase my transgression according to the abundance of Your compassions.
v2 - next 2 requests:
3. Wash me from my iniquity.
4. Fully cleanse me from my sin.
Both iniquity and sin are singular here referring to David's sin regarding Bathsheba and Uriah.
v3 - A prerequisite for the requests in v2.
Lit. For my transgression I know, and my sin is continually before me.
ref Psa 32:5, which many, including me, believe refers to the same sin as in this psalm
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. - C. H. Spurgeon
v4 - David had done great evil in the sight of the LORD (2Sam 12:9-10,14).
How could David say that his sin was against God only? David had committed adultery with Uriah's wife, and then had the faithful hero Uriah murdered. It may be that David knew that God would reward Uriah in paradise and in resurrection.
I am using Paul's inspired translation of the last part of this verse in Rom 3:4, which is the same as LXX. This agrees with the previous clause "that You may be justified".
The Hebrew text is an infinitive verbal noun "judging" with a 2ms pronoun suffix, "You" or "Your". The 2ms pronoun suffix can be either the object of the infinitive verb "judging You" or the possessor of the verbal noun "Your judging".
How does this justify God in His speaking? I think it means that this proves the truth of what God said about mankind in Ps 14, etc, expounded upon in Rom 3 and in the next verse of this psalm.
How does this cause God to prevail when He is judged? God is judged by human beings and by angelic beings.
v5 - I think this means that I was born with a sinful nature. I don't think it means anything immoral about how David's mother begot him.
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. - Spurgeon
v6 - Though all men are constituted sinners, God has desired and still desires truth and wisdom to be in us and acted upon. ref. James 3:15-18
v7 - Hyssop is first mentioned in the Bible in Exo. 12:22 where it is used as the instrument for applying the blood of the Passover lamb to the lintel, the horizontal beam across the door opening of each of the Israelites' houses, so that the angel of death would pass over them.
It was also used to sprinkle the blood on the tabernacle, the book, and all the vessels of service (Exo 24:6-9; Heb 9:19-21).
It is also used for sprinkling the blood on a cleansed leper (Lev 14:4-9) and a cleansed leprous house (Lev 14:48-53).
Also, hyssop was burned with the red heiffer (Num. 19:1-10) and used to apply the ash-water on the tent, utensils and person defiled by death. (Num 19:14-19).
It was the smallest plant that Solomon spoke about (1Ki 4:33).
It was used as a straw to drink (Joh 19:29).
It is right to pray for gladness and joy. We need it.
v10 - lit. and renew
"To create" is to bring into existence something that never existed before. "Create" is a great verb in the Bible. Only God can create. I think this prayer was not fulfilled until the New Covenant (Prov 20:9; etc), It was promised in the Old Testament (Deu 30:6; etc). It is ours to pray for and work out as partakers of the New Covenant (Prov 4:23; etc).
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. None but God can create either a new heart or a new earth. - Spurgeon
v11 - lit.Thy Holy Spirit
David had the Holy Spirit as the anointed king of Israel (1Sam 16:13). In the Old Testament only a few could have the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh, all human beings, for them to be born again by the Holy Spirit. (Joel 2:28).
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; - Spurgeon (1Sam 16:14)
vv12-13 - In order to bring transgressors to the Lord, we need to have the joy of God's salvation.
v14 - guilt of blood - Refering to David's murder of Uriah (2Sam 11:14).
A great sinner pardoned makes a great singer. - Spurgeon
v15 - 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. - Spurgeon
v19 - The burnt offerings in the New Testament age are our offering of ourselves unto Him. (Rom 12:1; etc).