Psalm 51 contains a record in God's word regarding a time of disaster in the life of David, the King of Israel.
Psalm 51:1-4 1To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon�me,�O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
In order to understand this Psalm a little better I'd like to recap the events leading up to the penning of this Psalm.
2 Samuel 11:2-5 2And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. 3And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. 5And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
David had no right to take another man's wife and commit adultery with her, especially one of his own soldier's wives. Her husband Uriah was out in the field fighting for his king and country.
Well, once David found out Bathsheba was pregnant, he fell deeper into sin and deliberately devised an evil scheme to cover his sin. So David asked his general Joab to call Uriah from the battle to see David.
2 Samuel 11:6-11 6And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. 8And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. 9But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. 10And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? Why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? 11And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
Uriah was a man of great integrity and honor a sterling example of a solider. And look how he was disrespected and mistreated - just like many people are today: disrespected and mistreated by their bosses at work, their spouses, and their family.
David now reaches deeper into the darkness to deal with this mess.
2 Samuel 11:12-15 12And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. 13And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. 14And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
Now David adds murder to the list of sins as he digs himself a hole for which there is no way out. Uriah obeyed Joab's orders and died with integrity and honor serving a King who raped his wife and sentenced him to death.
David thought he got away with it and tried to brush it all under the rug, pick up the pieces, and move on with his life. The problem with that is living in denial and burying your sin will never fix anything.
2 Samuel 11:26-27 26And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
Well God tells Nathan his prophet to confront David and that recorded in chapter 12.
Nathan tells David a story about a rich man who stole and killed a poor man's lamb to feed it to his visiting guest. David was outraged and his comments are recorded in verse 5.
2 Samuel 12:5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this�thing�shall surely die:
Nathan looked David right in the eye and said you are the man. This is the context of Psalm 51.
Psalm 51:1 1To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
David didn't choose words that mitigated his transgression. He was honest in his heart and in his vocabulary. He recognized his transgression and acknowledged his sin. He used words that accurately represented the offences. Words like transgression in verse 1, iniquity and sin in verse 2, transgression and sin in verse 3, and evil in verse 4.
By this time David realized that his way of dealing with things only dug the hole deeper. Sooner or later,if you are going to receive deliverance you need to get honest honest with yourself and then with God.
Isaiah 55:7-9 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
David's ways were wicked especially in how he dealt with his sin. Did you ever stop to think about what David put Bathsheba through?
He manipulated and intimidated her sexually and forced himself on her in short he raped her. He murdered her husband and made her a widow. And subsequently she became the bride of her husband's executioner.
And what about Joab? His integrity had been compromised by following the orders of his King. Not to mention the death of the child that David fathered with Bathsheba only to open up the wound all over again for them both to suffer.
What a mess, but, through it all, God in his great mercy and forgiveness never left David's side.
And David never quit. He stayed the course of repentance with integrity and honesty. Have you ever been in a dark place tempted to give up?
David could have succumbed to condemnation, guilt, despair or on the other hand pride, arrogance, and entitlement. Either way would have taken him away from God.
"For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest."
David owned his sin and took responsibility for it. He said he acknowledged his transgression and he has sinned against God. In our November issue we will continue to study the words of David in Psalm 51 and consider his request to, "blot out my transgressions."
To be continued …ÿ
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.