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Commentary on Psalms 51 verses 7–13
I. See here what David prays for. Many excellent petitions he here puts up, to which if we do but add, "for Christ's sake," they are as evangelical as any other.
1.He prays that God would cleanse him from his sins and the defilement he had contracted by them (Psa 51:7): "Purge me with hyssop; that is, pardon my sins, and let me know that they are pardoned, that I may be restored to those privileges which by sin I have forfeited and lost." The expression here alludes to a ceremonial distinction, that of cleansing the leper, or those that were unclean by the touch of a body by sprinkling water, or blood, or both upon them with a bunch of hyssop, by which they were, at length, discharged from the restraints they were laid under by their pollution. "Lord, let me be as well assured of my restoration to thy favour, and to the privilege of communion with thee, as they were thereby assured of their re-admission to their former privileges." But it is founded upon gospel-grace: Purge me with hyssop, that is, with the blood of Christ applied to my soul by a lively faith, as water of purification was sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop. It is the blood of Christ (which is therefore called the blood of sprinkling, Heb 12:24), that purges the conscience from dead works, from that guilt of sin and dread of God which shut us out of communion with him, as the touch of a dead body, under the law, shut a man out from the courts of God's house. If this blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, then we shall be clean indeed, Heb 10:2. If we be washed in this fountain opened, we shall be whiter than snow, not only acquitted but accepted; so those are that are justified. Isa 1:18, Though your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
2.He prays that, his sins being pardoned, he might have the comfort of that pardon. He asks not to be comforted till first he is cleansed; but if sin, the bitter root of sorrow, be taken away, he can pray in faith, "Make me to hear joy and gladness (Psa 51:8), that is, let me have a well-grounded peace, of thy creating, thy speaking, so that the bones which thou hast broken by convictions and threatenings may rejoice, may not only be set again, and eased from the pain, but may be sensibly comforted, and, as the prophet speaks, may flourish as a herb." Note, (1.) The pain of a heart truly broken for sin may well be compared to that of a broken bone; and it is the same Spirit who as a Spirit of bondage smites and wounds and as a Spirit of adoption heals and binds up. (2.) The comfort and joy that arise from a sealed pardon to a penitent sinner are as refreshing as perfect ease from the most exquisite pain. (3.) It is God's work, not only to speak this joy and gladness, but to make us hear it and take the comfort of it. He earnestly desires that God would lift up the light of his countenance upon him, and so put gladness into his heart, that he would not only be reconciled to him, but, which is a further act of grace, let him know that he was so.
3.He prays for a complete and effectual pardon. This is that which he is most earnest for as the foundation of his comfort (Psa 51:9): "Hide thy face from my sins, that is, be not provoked by them to deal with me as I deserve; they are ever before me, let them be cast behind thy back. Blot out all my iniquities out of the book of thy account; blot them out, as a cloud is blotted out and dispelled by the beams of the sun," Isa 44:22.
4.He prays for sanctifying grace; and this every true penitent is as earnest for as for pardon and peace, Psa 51:10. He does not pray, "Lord, preserve me my reputation," as Saul, I have sinned, yet honour me before this people. No; his great concern is to get his corrupt nature changed: the sin he had been guilty of was, (1.) An evidence of its impurity, and therefore he prays, Create in me a clean heart, O God! He now saw, more than ever, what an unclean heart he had, and sadly laments it, but sees it is not in his own power to amend it, and therefore begs of God (whose prerogative it is to create) that he would create in him a clean heart. He only that made the heart can new-make it; and to his power nothing is impossible. He created the world by the word of his power as the God of nature, and it is by the word of his power as the God of grace that we are clean (Joh 15:3), that we are sanctified, Joh 17:17. (2.) It was the cause of its disorder, and undid much of the good work that had been wrought in him; and therefore he prays, "Lord, renew a right spirit within me; repair the decays of spiritual strength which this sin has been the cause of, and set me to rights again." Renew a constant spirit within me, so some. He had, in this matter, discovered much inconstancy and inconsistency with himself, and therefore he prays, "Lord, fix me for the time to come, that I may never in like manner depart from thee."
5.He prays for the continuance of God's good-will towards him and the progress of his good work in him, Psa 51:11. (1.) That he might never be shut out from God's favour: "Cast me not away from thy presence, as one whom thou abhorrest and canst not endure to look upon." He prays that he might not be thrown out of God's protection, but that wherever he went, he might have the divine presence with him, might be under the guidance of his wisdom and in the custody of his power, and that he might not be forbidden communion with God: "Let me not be banished thy courts, but always have liberty of access to thee by prayer." He does not deprecate the temporal judgments which God by Nathan had threatened to bring upon him. "God's will be done; but, Lord, rebuke me no in thy wrath. If the sword come into my house never to depart from it, yet let me have a God to go to in my distresses, and all shall be well." (2.) That he might never be deprived of God's grace: Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. He knew he had by his sin grieved the Spirit and provoked him to with draw, and that because he also was flesh God might justly have said that his Spirit should no more strive with him nor work upon him, Gen 6:3. This he dreads more than any thing. We are undone if God take his Holy Spirit from us. Saul was a sad instance of this. How exceedingly sinful, how exceedingly miserable, was he, when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him! David knew it, and therefore begs thus earnestly: "Lord, whatever thou take from me, my children, my crown, my life, yet take not thy Holy Spirit from me" (see Sa2 7:15), "but continue thy Holy Spirit with me, to perfect the work of my repentance, to prevent my relapse into sin, and to enable me to discharge my duty both as a prince and as a psalmist."
6.He prays for the restoration of divine comforts and the perpetual communications of divine grace, Psa 51:12. David finds two ill effects of his sin: - (1.) It had made him sad, and therefore he prays, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. A child of God knows no true nor solid joy but the joy of God's salvation, joy in God his Saviour and in the hope of eternal life. By wilful sin we forfeit this joy and deprive ourselves of it; our evidences cannot but be clouded and our hopes shaken. When we give ourselves so much cause to doubt of our interest in the salvation, how can we expect the joy of it? But, when we truly repent, we may pray and hope that God will restore to us those joys. Those that sow in penitential tears shall reap in the joys of God's salvation when the times of refreshing shall come. (2.) It had made him weak, and therefore he prays, "Uphold me with the free Spirit: I am ready to fall, either into sin or into despair; Lord, sustain me; my own spirit" (though the spirit of a man will go far towards the sustaining of his infirmity) "is not sufficient; if I be left to myself, I shall certainly sink; therefore uphold me with thy Spirit, let him counterwork the evil spirit that would cast me down from my excellency. Thy Spirit is a free spirit, a free gent himself, working freely" (and that makes those free whom he works upon, for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty) - "thy ingenuous princely Spirit." He was conscious to himself of having acted, in the matter of Uriah, very disingenuously and unlike a prince; his behaviour was base and paltry: "Lord," says he, "let thy Spirit inspire my soul with noble and generous principles, that I may always act as becomes me." A free spirit will be a firm and fixed spirit, and will uphold us. The more cheerful we are in our duty the more constant we shall be to it.
II. See what David here promises, Psa 51:13. Observe,
1.What good work he promises to do: I will teach transgressors thy ways. David had been himself a transgressor, and therefore could speak experimentally to transgressors, and resolves, having himself found mercy with God in the way of repentance, to teach others God's ways, that is, (1.) Our way to God by repentance; he would teach others that had sinned to take the same course that he had taken, to humble themselves, to confess their sins, and seek God's face; and, (2.) God's way towards us in pardoning mercy; how ready he is to receive those that return to him. He taught the former by his own example, for the direction of sinners in repenting; he taught the latter by his own experience, for their encouragement. By this psalm he is, and will be to the world's end, teaching transgressors, telling them what God had done for his soul. Note, Penitents should be preachers. Solomon was so, and blessed Paul.
2.What good effect he promises himself from his doing this: "Sinners shall be converted unto thee, and shall neither persist in their wanderings from thee, nor despair of finding mercy in their returns to thee." The great thing to be aimed at in teaching transgressors is their conversion to God; that is a happy point gained, and happy are those that are instrumental to contribute towards it, Jam 5:20.
After this white robes were given to you as a sign that you were putting off the covering of sins and putting on the chaste veil of innocence, of which the prophet said, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.” For one who is baptized is seen to be purified according to the law and according to the gospel: according to the law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop; according to the gospel, because Christ’s garments were white as snow, when in the Gospel he showed forth the glory of his resurrection. One, then, whose guilt is forgiven is made whiter than snow. Thus God said through Isaiah: “Though your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
I need not go through the lives of the saints or call attention to the moles and blemishes that mark the fairest skins. Many of our writers, it is true, unwisely take this course; however, a few sentences of Scripture will dispose alike of the heretics and the philosophers. What does Paul say? “For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all”; and in another place, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” The preacher also who is the mouthpiece of the divine Wisdom freely protests and says, “There is not a just person on earth, that does good and sins not,” and again, “When your people sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin,” and “who can say, I have made my heart clean?” and “none is clean from stain, not even if his life on earth has been but for one day.” David insists on the same thing when he says, “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me”; and in another psalm, “in your sight shall no man living be justified.” This last passage they try to explain away from motives of reverence, arguing that the meaning is that no human being is perfect in comparison with God. Yet the Scripture does not say, “in comparison with you no one living shall be justified” but “in your sight no one living shall be justified.” And when it says “in your sight” it means that those who seem holy to people are by no means holy to God in his fuller knowledge. For “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” But if in the sight of God who sees all things and to whom the secrets of the heart lie open no one is just; then these heretics, instead of adding to human dignity, clearly take away from God’s power. I might bring together many other passages of Scripture of the same import; but were I to do so, I should exceed the limits not of a letter but of a volume.
But we, according to the epistle of James, “all stumble in many things,” and “no one is pure from sin, no not if his life is but a day long.” For who will boast “that he has a clean heart? or who will be sure that he is pure from sin?” And we are held guilty after the likeness of Adam’s transgression. Hence David says, “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” And the blessed Job, “Even if I were righteous, my mouth will speak wickedness; even if I were perfect, I will be found guilty. If I wash myself with soap and make my hands ever so clean, yet you will plunge me in the ditch, and even my own clothes will abhor me.”
"You shall sprinkle me," he says, "with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed" [Psalm 51:7]. Hyssop we know to be a herb humble but healing: to the rock it is said to adhere with roots. Thence in a mystery the similitude of cleansing the heart has been taken. Do thou also take hold, with the root of your love, on your Rock: be humble in your humble God, in order that you may be exalted in your glorified God. You shall be sprinkled with hyssop, the humility of Christ shall cleanse you. Despise not the herb, attend to the efficacy of the medicine. Something further I will say, which we are wont to hear from physicians, or to experience in sick persons. Hyssop, they say, is proper for purging the lungs. In the lung is wont to be noted pride: for there is inflation, there breathing. It was said of Saul the persecutor as of Saul the proud, that he was going to bind Christians, breathing slaughter: [Acts 9:1] he was breathing out slaughter, breathing out blood, his lung not yet cleansed. Hear also in this place one humbled, because with hyssop purged: "You shall wash me," that is, shall cleanse me: "and above snow I shall be whitened." "Although," he says, "your sins shall have been like scarlet, like snow I will whiten." [Isaiah 1:18] Out of such men Christ does present to Himself a vesture without spot and wrinkle. [Ephesians 5:27] Further, His vesture on the mount, which shone forth like whitened snow, [Matthew 17:2] signified the Church cleansed from every spot of sin.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 51:7 is a profound and desperate plea from King David, traditionally voiced in the aftermath of his egregious sins with Bathsheba and Uriah. This verse encapsulates a fervent yearning for radical spiritual cleansing and complete restoration, moving beyond the limitations of ceremonial purification to an earnest desire for an internal, divine transformation. It expresses a deep longing for God's sovereign hand to effect a state of absolute purity, an unblemished condition of heart and soul before a holy God.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 51:7 is exceptionally rich in Imagery and Metaphor, drawing upon the familiar Old Testament purification rituals involving Hyssop and Washing to convey a profound spiritual reality. David employs these physical acts of ceremonial cleansing as powerful metaphors for the deep, internal purification he desperately seeks from God for his grievous sin. The phrase "whiter than snow" functions as a striking Simile, directly comparing the desired state of purity to the pristine, unblemished appearance of snow. This also carries an element of Hyperbole, emphasizing the desired state of absolute, pristine purity—a level of cleanliness that goes beyond what is naturally possible, thereby highlighting the miraculous and supernatural nature of divine forgiveness and cleansing. Furthermore, the verse masterfully employs Synonymous Parallelism, where the second clause ("wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow") reiterates, intensifies, and expands upon the meaning of the first clause ("Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean"), reinforcing David's earnest desire for complete and profound spiritual renewal and an unblemished standing before God.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 51:7 stands as a profound testament to the biblical truth that sin is a deeply defiling force that necessitates divine intervention for true cleansing. It powerfully underscores the inadequacy of human efforts, self-atonement, or mere external rituals to purify the heart and soul. Instead, it points unequivocally to God as the sole source of genuine spiritual purification and restoration. David's prayer articulates a profound understanding of sin's pervasive depth and God's boundless capacity for radical forgiveness and comprehensive restoration, moving the repentant soul from a state of utter defilement to one of absolute purity. This verse lays foundational groundwork for a deeper understanding of atonement, foreshadowing the ultimate need for a perfect, divine sacrifice to truly cleanse the stain of sin and reconcile humanity to God.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
David's desperate cry in Psalms 51:7 offers timeless guidance and profound encouragement for believers grappling with the reality of sin and the longing for spiritual renewal. It serves as a potent reminder that true cleansing begins not with self-justification or external performance, but with an honest, humble acknowledgment of our impurity and a wholehearted turning to God. We are called to recognize that no amount of human effort, good works, or external religious observance can truly purify a sin-stained heart. The powerful promise of being made "whiter than snow" assures us of the completeness and totality of God's forgiveness, offering not just a partial pardon but a radical transformation and a fresh start, regardless of the depth or nature of our past transgressions. This verse encourages us to approach God with genuine remorse, a contrite spirit, and a deep desire for inner change, trusting implicitly in His boundless mercy and infinite power to make us pure and new. It is a liberating call to embrace the truth that God's grace is profoundly sufficient to cleanse us thoroughly and restore us fully to unhindered fellowship with Him.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the significance of "hyssop" in this verse, and how does it relate to David's spiritual condition?
Answer: The mention of "hyssop" (אֵזוֹב, 'ezov, H231) in Psalms 51:7 immediately connects this verse to ancient Israelite purification rituals prescribed in the Mosaic Law. Hyssop was a small plant used for sprinkling blood or water in various ceremonies for cleansing from different forms of defilement, such as leprosy (Leviticus 14:4) or contact with a dead body (Numbers 19:18). It symbolized the application of a cleansing agent to remove impurity. However, in Psalms 51:7, David is not asking for a human priest to perform a ritual on him; rather, he is pleading with God directly to apply the spiritual equivalent of this cleansing. He recognizes that his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah has defiled him at a profound spiritual level, a defilement that no mere external ceremony could address. Therefore, his request signifies a desire for genuine, God-initiated purification that goes far beyond ritual, seeking a deep, internal cleansing that only divine power can accomplish. It highlights the inadequacy of human means for true spiritual purity and points to God as the sole source of such transformative cleansing.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 51:7 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament rituals involving hyssop and washing, while pointing to the deep human need for cleansing from sin, were ultimately symbolic and insufficient to remove the stain of sin permanently or perfectly (Hebrews 10:1-4). David's fervent cry for a divine "purge" and "wash" that would make him "whiter than snow" beautifully foreshadows the perfect, complete, and eternal cleansing offered through the sacrifice of Jesus. He is the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, whose precious blood cleanses us from all sin, making us truly pure before a holy God (1 John 1:7). Through His atoning death and resurrection, Christ provides the ultimate purification, enabling believers to be truly "de-sinned" and declared righteous before God. The spiritual washing David longed for is fully realized in the "washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5), making believers not just ceremonially clean, but spiritually reborn and clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness, truly "whiter than snow" in God's sight (Isaiah 61:10).