Psalms of David

This is a Psalm of David, written after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his affair with Bathsheba. David pleads for God’s mercy and forgiveness, expressing his deep remorse for his sins. He acknowledges that he has sinned against God alone and asks for purification and renewal. David promises to teach others about God’s ways and praises Him for His righteousness. He understands that God desires a broken spirit and contrite heart rather than mere sacrifices. David concludes by praying for the well-being of Zion and the restoration of Jerusalem.

This summary was achieved using AI.

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Psalms in Book 2 are like Book 1 in that they are mostly lament and distress although they now include a communal voice in addition to the singular voice of the first book.

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The books of Psalms are roughly themed like this:

Book 1: Psalms 1 – 41: God is beside us.
Book 2: Psalms 42 – 72: God goes before us
Book 3: Psalms 73 – 89: God is all around us.
Book 4: Psalms 90 – 106: God is above us.
Book 5: Psalms 107 – 150: God is among us.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51 Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!
³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgement.
⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶ Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
    build up the walls of Jerusalem;
¹⁹ then will you delight in right sacrifices,
    in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Psalm 51

The AI is all well, but it misses out that Psalm 51 is a song of joy. What I am interested in is why this psalm is so popular? The joy is missing from the summary, and AI cannot fill in the emotional content. Not yet anyway.

This is a song in 6 parts:

Verses 1-2: An appeal for mercy.
Verses 3-6: A personal confession.
Verses 7-9: A prayer for forgiveness and joy.
Verses 10-12: A prayer for purity and joy.
Verses 13 – 17: Personal consecration.
Verses 18-19: An appeal for communal blessing.

David gets more than he asks for. He asks for mercy, forgiveness and purity and gets them, but there’s more. David gets joy.

David deserves none of this. David deserves the death penalty under the Old Testament law, the law God gave. And he knows it and so does the prophet Nathan. Nathan delivered the “You are that man” speech. If David turns to God it could be mercy or death. But David trusts God and turns anyway.

David asks for mercy and forgiveness, he gets mercy, forgiveness and joy.

He asks for purity, there is no doubt that David is impure, he has had sex with another man’s wife and then sends the husband, an officer in David’s army on a suicide mission. He has broken commandments, you shall do murder, you shall not commit adultery and you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife are obvious, then Nathan convicted David by talking about theft. David lied to send Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, on a suicide mission. David’s parents would not have been proud of him if they had known. All six of the ten commandments that deal with how we treat other people have been broken. David is certainly impure.

But David says something odd in the prayer for purity, he says, “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.” Odd because even despite what he has done he still feels that God is with him. What that gives him is the ability to respond to God’s message through Nathan and respond in repentance, asking for mercy.

And the joy? The joy comes with repentance. David got his joy back.

“ Let me hear joy and gladness,” (v8) “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.”(v 12) Joy is at the centre of this song, why would David write about joy when being convicted of sin? Maybe it was a lack of joy that led him to sin? David was a king with wives, plural, and concubines, why would he need to have sex with Bathsheba? He saw her bathing on the roof, so what? David had a harem. I suspect David had lost his joy and thought sex with this woman could bring it back. I don’t know why, but I suspect that the cover-up that cost the life of a man was the worst crime here. Which is why I am so upset when I see coverups in churches and Christian organisations. You can’t cover things up from God.

David knows something about God’s forgiveness. He knows it is absolute. If David had done it the way the law stated, he would have been under the punishment of the law and his sin had a death penalty. Instead, he puts himself under God’s mercy. The apostle Paul also knew he deserved death under the law, which is why his writing is so full of the mercy and grace of God.

Have you lost your joy? I have suffered from depression and I have found that what is needed is to walk with God through your dark times. God saying, “It’s OK my child, I shall be here with you,” didn’t have me jumping in the air in delight, but it did give me inner joy and peace. Exuberant outward joy has never come back. I am content to walk with God in the darkness.

Put yourself under God’s mercy and you too could experience God’s grace.

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