Psalm 51:1-12 (NRSV)
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Psalm 51 is an individual lament.
The psalm is likely from the period after the exile. The theme is that of
penitence and contrition. The psalm is one of the seven penitential psalms.
Along with Psalms 6, 32, 38, 102, 130 and 143, a special tone of penitence or
contrition marked these psalms. The superscription also attributes the psalm
“To the leader,” presumably the leader of the temple musicians. The psalm
grasps the depth of sin and shows a path toward forgiveness, which will bring
true communion with God. Psalm 51 is unusual for a high degree of psychological
realism it depicts from the perspective of an individual. This penitential prayer psalm gives voice to
our own individual and corporate prayers of repentance. It yearns for God’s
forgiveness, restoration and holiness. When we become alert to our own need, we
may use this prayer. We can let parts of Psalm 51 teach us how to
acknowledge our guilt, to repent (to turn from sin and to God), and to ask for
God’s loving mercy, forgiveness, joyful restoration and inner strength to live
a holy life. Barth will discuss this psalm under the topic of the beginning of
justification. He finds it relatively easy to understand because it is a simple
prayer in I-Thou form. The prayer is almost exclusively a prayer of confession.
The confession of sin in verses 5-7 have a unified structure, while the prayer
for forgiveness and the prayer for renewal inter-cross each other.
Verses 1-2 express the first plea for help as forgiveness, mercy, cleansing. We
find a similar emphasis in verse 7 and verse 9. The author begins with a
prayer for God to have mercy on him, the only time this phrase occurs in the
Hebrew Bible, in accord with the steadfast love (chesed) of God and with the
abundant of mercy. We see here the covenant loyalty, faithfulness, favor, and
graciousness of God. One could hardly pray in the way this psalm prays without
such confidence. This psalm asks for specific manifestations of kindness for
which the psalmist requests. He asks God to blot out (from the book) his
transgressions (rebellion). He asks God to wash (the stain) him thoroughly from
iniquity (perversity) and cleanse him from his sin (missing the mark). Barth
points out that this author knows four things. First, something intolerable is
in his life, this intolerable thing needs to be gone, the removal belongs to
God rather than himself, and that he can turn to God with this request because
God is merciful. Such knowledge is the beginning of justification. Verses
3-5 express the rationale for the request for help in the midst of his deep
awareness of sin. As Barth nicely stresses, given his confidence in divine
mercy, he now has the freedom to confess his sinfulness. His transgressions and
sin are always on his mind, his sin dominating his thoughts. We should note
that such a notion is not typical of the mainstream of the religious thought of
Israel. Against God alone he has sinned and done what is evil. Sin and guilt so
overwhelm the writer that he uses every word he can think of to express what he
feels. He acknowledges that God is justified and blameless in the judgment God
has rendered. The writer realizes that sin is a disruption of the divine and
human relationship. In addition, he shows no attempt to hide the sin. Psalm
32:1-5 and I John 1:8-10 suggest the same orientation. He fully acknowledges
it. He acknowledges that the entire orientation of his life is toward sin. He
is aware of the radical nature of his sin that reaches to the core of every
person. What we find here is a focus not on a particular transgression, as
James L. Mayes puts it, but a whole life conditioned by sin from its beginning.
His point is that sin conditions his whole life from the beginning, that he is
a sinner by his very existence.[3]
Verse 6 is the first wisdom interlude. God desires truth (ongoing
trustworthiness) in the inward being, so he asks God to teach him wisdom in his
secret heart (the inmost core of the Individual and the most private seat of
internal deliberation). Prayer is the place where one gains true religious
knowledge. For Barth, all of this means that the request for forgiveness in
verses 1-2 corresponds to the situation of the one who makes the request. He is
the one who has sinned against God, done what is displeasing to God, and
against whom God is in the right. He is wrong and guilty. Barth expands this to
say that human beings are in the position expressed here. They are with God and
in the presence of God and have transgressed against God, who can only
displease God, not just on the surface but to the very core. Such a confession
of sin is a discovery of the true situation of human beings before God. Such
awareness of the need for mercy is the beginning of justification, but
justification has not yet found its completion. Verses
7-12 express the second plea for help in cleansing and pardon. He asks God to
purge him with hyssop, and then he will be (ritually) clean, to (thoroughly,
ritually) wash him and he shall be whiter than snow. His prayer is that God
would let him hear joy and gladness and the bones God has crushed rejoice.
Rejoicing reverses the divine crushing. His prayer is that God turn away from
his sins (hiding the face of God from sin is also the theme of Psalm 1-3:8-18,
Micah 7:18-20, Jeremiah 31:34 = Hebrews 10:17) and blot out (to wipe something
clear) his iniquities. In the wider biblical context, God would forgive, but
the consequences would endure. His prayer is that God would create (bara') in him a clean heart (the source
of both thoughts and inclinations in the anthropology of the Hebrew Bible) and
put a new and right spirit within him. The author has said that sin is part of
human nature, so that the only way to overcome it would be a new act of God in
the heart. Such a notion, says Pannenberg, relies upon the Old Testament notion
that sin is transgression. Thus, the idea of a new heart is that it is in
harmony with the command of God.[5]
He asks God to not cast him away from the divine presence (even though he has
said that would be a just judgment), nor the divine holy spirit (only here and
Isaiah 63:10-11) from him. The story of Saul is one of the Lord removing the
divine spirit from the king in I Samuel 16:13-14. He asks God to restore to him
the joy of divine salvation and sustain in him a willing spirit. In the
requests here joy and gladness, Barth says, we find that in light of the
forgiveness and confession, he enters into the light of a new situation in the
presence of God. He is reaching toward this supreme gift, but he does not yet
have it. One can look forward to a new heart and spirit, rather than backward
to a time when it happened. Verses
13-19 form a "then clause" of a conditional set. If God forgives,
then the psalmist will offer praise. Verse 13 is the second wisdom interlude.
If God forgives, as the writer has asked, then the writer will teach
transgressors the ways of God and sinner will return to God. The first task of
a person who has experienced new life is to seek the conversion of others. Barth
will also stress in verses 13-14 that the reach forward for a new heart and
spirit says that he will not merely participate in his restoration, but in its
completion, he will be an instrument to glorify God as witness, teacher, and
prophet to fellow sinners. The completion of justification is not a private
affair. It will attain its end in commissioning for the service of God among
fellow sinners, and therefore in realization of the divine calling. Verses
14-17 express the third plea for help in praise and proper piety. He asks the
God of his salvation to deliver him from bloodshed. Then he will sing aloud of
divine deliverance. He asks the Lord to open his lips and he will declare
praise of God. God has no delight or pleasure in sacrifice or burnt offering.
Rather, the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken and contrite spirit. Some
people think that such a direct repudiation of an insincere offering would not
have been possible during the period of the temple of Solomon. The writer
points to the claim of God on the entire person, rather than just an outward
conformity to ritual. Barth will stress that what God expects is the clarity of
the relation between God and the person. The proud person cannot know the truth
of the situation of humanity before God. The person who prays this prayer has
become open to serving the purpose of God in the world. Verses
18-19 express the fourth plea for help for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. He prays
for God to do good to Zion in divine good pleasure and rebuild the walls of
Jerusalem. Then, God will delight in right sacrifices, burnt offerings, whole
burnt offerings, and bulls offered on the altar. Verses 20-21, a later writer
has added. One cannot reconcile it with what the author has just said about
sacrifice.
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