19 OCTOBER 2003
PSALM 51
SALEM EV. LUTHERAN CHURCH, MILWAUKEE, WI
JOHN L. HOH, JR.
Psalm 51
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
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 [1];
you teach [2] 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.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are [3] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Footnotes
51:6 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
51:6 Or you desired?; / you taught
51:17 Or My sacrifice, O God, is
Dear fellow Redeemed:
The scene is familiar to many of us. A ruler does as he pleases, he seems to be above the Law. But there is a conscience. It is pricked when things go awry and the lady with whom he has an affair is found to be "with child." The ruler tries to cover-up his actions-call it Bathsheba-gate, if you will. He tries to have her husband sleep with her so that no one is the wiser. But the husband, a life-long military man, has too much honor to sleep in his own bed when his comrades are sleeping out side on the hard ground with no comforts of home. Finally, the king devises a battle plan that only a lunatic would plan-a certain suicide mission, only it is intended to see to the death of one man. And this part of the plan succeeds. Finally, the ruler can take the lady he cheated with as his wife, and no one is the wiser as to the father of the child. To most people, the child Bathsheba carries is Uriah's own child, and King David is all too gracious to take in his best friend's widow! Certainly Uriah isn't around to set any records straight-dead men tell no tales, the saying goes.
