Psalm 51

A psalm by David, this refers to events narrated in 2 Samuel 11-12. That story has it all: adultery, murder and scandal. We struggle to understand a biblical morality that is so foreign to Western instincts. Because of our longstanding cultural taint of legalism and hypocrisy, we don’t see how David escaped the just penalty for adultery and murder in Moses’ Law without at least some hint of divine corruption. How can God be holy and put up with such hideous crimes against the Laws written by His own fingers on stone? God does not play favorites with people who have mere wealth or power, but He plays favorites with people who are powerful in His service. Our sense of fairness recoils that God is more like an Eastern potentate with often inexplicable mercy.

Yet this psalm explains quite well how and why God relents from justified wrath. Not simply because we know that David was a man after His own heart, but because David was the essential and prototypical king of God’s Chosen Nation. At least part of His mercy here was mercy on Israel as a whole. And God chose David despite this known weakness, in part because such public mercy is itself a part of His divine revelation.

To doubt David’s sincerity here would be blasphemous, since God clearly accepted this very prayer of contrition. We are stunned and silent before this majestic writing. It would be almost mockery to offer a summary, so rich is the tapestry of contrition David weaves with masterful poetry. It’s a passion for expression born from a passion for God Himself. A genuine passion for God is how one becomes one of His favorites.

The proper grounds for this plea is God’s character and revelation, not David’s favored place. By no means does the king diminish the damage he has done. He goes to great lengths to confess that there is nothing good in him that God did not put there. He also notes correctly that the substance of the issue is not the loss in human terms, but the insult to God. Before the enemies of God’s truth, David held up the Lord for ridicule. It filled the hands of Satan with blasphemy against the Holy One of Israel. You can be sure the demons distributed to every one who despised Jehovah and His people a fat portion empowering mockery. God was pressing His claims through Israel, a people already notoriously shaky in their faith, and here David throws a huge wrench in the works.

David admits he cannot fix his weakness. He begs, not merely for mercy and forgiveness, but for correction and renewal. He pleads for that sort of wrath that kills the sinful attachments in the soul. This line resounds across the ages: “Create in me a pure heart, O God!” There is no other way a man can have one. David knows that all he possesses or could scrape together would not be sufficient to purchase this mighty gift. It comes only to those who want it on any terms, because those are the terms. David humbled himself publicly.

In the end, he subtly shifts the discussion to the one reason he lives as king: Someone has to rule Israel in such a way as to give God honor. If he fails his mission as king, that alone earns him death. At whatever price, may the Lord save His honor and save the people.