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Scott's Reference Library
Psalm 51:1 through Psalm 51:12 (NIV)
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSES 1-6
David, being convinced of his sin, poured out his soul to God in prayer for
mercy and grace. Whither should backsliding children return, but to the Lord
their God, who alone can heal them? he drew up, by Divine teaching, an account
of the workings of his heart toward God. Those that truly repent of their sins,
will not be ashamed to own their repentance. Also, he instructs others what to
do, and what to say. David had not only done much, but suffered much in the
cause of God; yet he flees to God’s infinite mercy, and depends upon that alone
for pardon and peace. He begs the pardon of sin. The blood of Christ, sprinkled
upon the conscience, blots out the transgression, and, having reconciled us to
God, reconciles us to ourselves. The believer longs to have the whole debt of
his sins blotted out, and every stain cleansed; he would be thoroughly washed
from all his sins; but the hypocrite always has some secret reserve, and would
have some favorite lust spared. David had such a deep sense of his sin, that he
was continually thinking of it, with sorrow and shame. His sin was committed
against God, whose truth we deny by wilful sin; with him we deal deceitfully.
And the truly penitent will ever trace back the streams of actual sin to the
fountain of original depravity. He confesses his original corruption. This is
that foolishness which is bound in the heart of a child, that proneness to evil,
and that backwardness to good, which is the burden of the regenerate, and the
ruin of the unregenerate. He is encouraged, in his repentance, to hope that God
would graciously accept him. Thou desirest truth in the inward part; to this God
looks, in a returning sinner. Where there is truth, God will give wisdom. Those
who sincerely endeavour to do their duty shall be taught their duty; but they
will expect good only from Divine grace overcoming their corrupt nature.
VERSES 7-15
Purge me with hyssop, with the blood of Christ applied to my soul by a lively
faith, as the water of purification was sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop. The
blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling, Hebrews 12:24. If this blood
of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, then we shall
be clean indeed, Hebrews 10:2. He asks not to be comforted, till he is first
cleansed; if sin, the bitter root of sorrow, be taken away, he can pray in
faith, Let me have a well-grounded peace, of thy creating, so that the bones
broken by convictions may rejoice, may be comforted. Hide thy face from my sins;
blot out all mine iniquities out of thy book; blot them out, as a cloud is
blotted out and dispelled by the beams of the sun. And the believer desires
renewal to holiness as much as the joy of salvation. David now saw, more than
ever, what an unclean heart he had, and sadly laments it; but he sees it is not
in his own power to amend it, and therefore begs God would create in him a clean
heart. When the sinner feels this change is necessary, and reads the promise of
God to that purpose, he begins to ask it. He knew he had by his sin grieved the
Holy Spirit, and provoked him to withdraw. This he dreads more than anything. He
prays that Divine comforts may be restored to him. When we give ourselves cause
to doubt our interest in salvation, how can we expect the joy of it? This had
made him weak; he prays, I am ready to fall, either into sin or into despair,
therefore uphold me with thy Spirit. Thy Spirit is a free Spirit, a free Agent
himself, working freely. And the more cheerful we are in our duty, the more
constant we shall be to it. What is this but the liberty wherewith Christ makes
his people free, which is contrasted with the yoke of bondage? Galatians 5:1. It
is the Spirit of adoption spoken to the heart. Those to whom God is the God of
salvation, he will deliver from guilt; for the salvation he is the God of, is
salvation from sin. We may therefore plead with him, Lord, thou art the God of
my salvation, therefore deliver me from the dominion of sin. And when the lips
are opened, what should they speak but the praises of God for his forgiving
mercy?