PSALM 51 _To the chief musician_; to be sung by him and other sacred musicians publicly in the temple through all ages; that his repentance might be as manifest and public as his crime and scandal was. _When Nathan the prophet came unto him_: after his conscience was awakened by Nathan's words, 2SA... [ Continue Reading ]
WASH ME THROUGHLY, Heb. _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; which as _Abraham_ saw by faith, 1 T... [ Continue Reading ]
I ACKNOWLEDGE, with grief and shame, and abhorrency 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. MY TRANSGRESSIONS; for it was not a single, but a complicated wickedness, adultery, murder, injus... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAINST THEE, THEE ONLY; which is not to be understood simply and absolutely, because he had unquestionably sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah and many others, who were either injured by it, or scandalized at it; but comparatively. So the sense is this, Though I have sinned against my own body and c... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse is both by Jewish and Christian, by ancient and later, interpreters, generally and most truly understood of original sin; which he here mentions as an aggravation of his crime: and the sense of the place is this, Nor is this the only sin which I have reason to acknowledge and bewail befor... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU DESIREST; or, _delightest in_; or, _requirest_; Heb. _willest. Truth_ either, 1. Sincerity in confessing my sins; which therefore I have now acknowledged, though hitherto I have practised much falsehood and dissimulation in endeavouring to conceal them from men. Or rather, 2. Integrity or upri... [ Continue Reading ]
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 NUMBERS 19:6; so do thou cleanse me, a most leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Send me glad tidings of thy reconciliation to me, and by thy Spirit seal the pardon of my sins to my conscience, which will fill me with joy, that mine heart, which hath been sorely wounded and terrified by thy dreadful message sent by Nathan, and by the dismal sentence of thy law denounced against... [ Continue Reading ]
Do not look upon them with an eye of indignation and revenge, but forget and forgive them. See PSALMS 51:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART; seeing I have not only defiled myself by these actual sins, but also have a most filthy heart, corrupted even from my birth, PSALMS 51:5, which nothing but God's almighty and creating power can purify, do thou effectually work in me a holy frame of heart, whereby both my... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THY PRESENCE, i.e. from thy favour, and care, and gracious communion with thee. THY HOLY SPIRIT; thy sanctifying Spirit, by which alone I can have acquaintance and fellowship with thee.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JOY OF THY SALVATION; the comfortable sense of thy saving grace and help, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation. _Uphold me_; a weak and frail creature, never able to stand against corruption and temptation without thy powerful and gracious succours. FREE;... [ Continue Reading ]
THY WAYS; either, 1. Thy will and their duty, and the way to their eternal happiness; or rather, 2. 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 exampl... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM BLOOD-GUILTINESS, Heb. _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. THY RIGHTEOUSNESS; either, 1. Thy faithfulness in making good thy promises; or rather, 2. Thy clemency and goodness, as that word i... [ Continue Reading ]
OPEN THOU MY LIPS; which are shut with shame, and grief, and horror. Restore unto me the opportunity, and ability, and liberty which formerly I had of speaking to thee with freedom, and boldness, and familiarity, as this phrase signifies, Ezekiel 3:27, Ezekiel 24:27 Ephesians 6:19,20.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU DESIREST NOT SACRIFICE; which is not to be understood absolutely, and universally, as appears from PSALMS 51:19, but comparatively, of which SEE POOLE 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 by t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SACRIFICES: this is instead of or of more value than many sacrifices. OF GOD; which God in such cases as mine requires, and will accept; in which sense we read of _the work of God_, 1 THESSALONIANS 6:28. A BROKEN AND A CONTRITE HEART, i.e. a heart deeply afflicted and grieved for sin, humbled un... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THY GOOD PLEASURE; or, _for_ or _according_ to (for the Hebrew prefix _beth_ is frequently used both those ways) _thy good grace_, or _favour_, or _pleasure_, i.e. thy free and rich mercy, and thy gracious purpose and promise made to and concerning Zion, of which see PSALMS 132:14, and do not rep... [ Continue Reading ]
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. THE SACRIFICES; which now for our sins thou mayst justly reject and abhor. OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; which I and my p... [ Continue Reading ]