07/04/2022
Psalm 51 is one of the few psalms where we are given the historical background. The inscription reads, "A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." That identifies clearly for us the incident out of which this psalm arose.
It was the time when David became involved in adultery and murder while he was king. He had walked with God for many years. He had gained a reputation as a prophet, a man who understood the deep things of God; and he had established himself as a longtime spiritual leader of his people. Then suddenly, toward the end of his reign, he became involved in this terrible sin.
The interesting thing is that David himself records this sin for us. It must have been painfully humiliating. You remember the story. He was on his palace roof one day when the army had gone out to battle and he saw a beautiful woman next door bathing herself. His passion was aroused and he sent over messengers and ordered her to be brought to him. He entered into an adulterous relationship with her while her husband, a soldier in David’s army, was away fighting for his king.
Later, when David learned that she was expecting a child, he panicked and tried to cover up his actions. He ordered the husband, Uriah, to be sent home from battle, hoping that he would sleep with his wife and the child would then be accepted as his own. But Uriah was a faithful soldier, committed to battle, and though he came home at the king’s orders, he would not go into his own house but slept with the soldiers at the palace and returned to the battle the next day.
David knew that ultimately his sin would be found out so he took another step. That’s always what sin does -- it leads us deeper and further away from God, deeper and further than we ever intended to go. Before he knew it, David found himself forced into a desperate attempt to cover up his evil deeds. He ordered Uriah, the husband, to be put in the forefront of the battle where he would most certainly be killed. And when news of Uriah’s death reached King David he felt he was off the hook, he thought it was all safely covered up until one day when Nathan confronted him about his sins in 2 Samuel 12:1-7,
Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
There is the need for us to be cleansed David says, in Psalm 51:7
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. The words he uses imply a thorough scrubbing. David says, “God, that’s what I want you to do to me. I’ve gotten myself dirty and I need You to clean me up.
At some point in all our lives, we have all felt weighed down with the burden of unrepented sin and guilt, when all that we truly needed to do is to follow God’s instructions for Salvation to find forgiveness and hope, then trust that God will always keep his promise. We can take comfort in these words found in Psalm 103:12 & 2 Corinthians 5:17.
"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
