Psalms 51:1-19

Title.—(RV) 'For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David: when Nathan the prophet' came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.' It is impossible not to feel the general appropriateness of this Ps. to the occasion mentioned in the title, and there is no historic OT. figure except David to whom we can point as an illustration of the great sin and deep penitence which are the theme of the Ps. The theory that the speaker is the nation of Israel hardly accounts for the highly personal tone of the whole poem. At the same time, the affinity of the thought and language with the closing Chapter s of Isaiah (see especially on Psalms 51:11) favours the view that the writer lived during the exile, in which case he may well have chosen David's great transgression and its results as the subject of a 'dramatic lyric' On any supposition as to authorship and date Psalms 51:18 are to be regarded as a liturgical addition appended to the Ps. when it came to be used in the Temple services. Part of Psalms 51:4 is quoted (from LXX) in Romans 3:4.