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Text -- Psalms 51:7 (NET)

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Context
51:7 Sprinkle me with water and I will be pure; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Dictionary Themes and Topics: White | Snow | Sanctification | Repentance | Purification | Prayer | NATHAN (2) | LEPER; LEPROSY | INTERCESSION | Hyssop | HEIFER, RED | GOD, 2 | FALL, THE | CONFESSION | COMMANDMENT, THE NEW | CLEAN | BLOODGUILTINESS | BATH-SHEBA | ATONEMENT | ADULTERY | more
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Word/Phrase Notes
Wesley , JFB , Clarke , Calvin , Defender , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Haydock , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Keil-Delitzsch , Constable

Other
Evidence

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Psa 51:7 - -- As lepers, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, so do thou cleanse me a leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace,...

As lepers, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, so do thou cleanse me a leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages.

JFB: Psa 51:7-12 - -- A series of prayers for forgiveness and purifying.

A series of prayers for forgiveness and purifying.

JFB: Psa 51:7-12 - -- The use of this plant in the ritual (Exo 12:22; Num 19:6, Num 19:18) suggests the idea of atonement as prominent here; "purge" refers to vicarious sat...

The use of this plant in the ritual (Exo 12:22; Num 19:6, Num 19:18) suggests the idea of atonement as prominent here; "purge" refers to vicarious satisfaction (Num 19:17-20).

Clarke: Psa 51:7 - -- Purge me with hyssop - תחטאני techatteeni , "thou shalt make a sin-offering for me;"probably alluding to the cleansing of the leper: Lev 14:1...

Purge me with hyssop - תחטאני techatteeni , "thou shalt make a sin-offering for me;"probably alluding to the cleansing of the leper: Lev 14:1, etc. The priest took two clean birds, cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop; one of the birds was killed; and the living bird, with the scarlet, cedar, and hyssop, dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed, and then sprinkled over the person who had been infected. But it is worthy of remark that this ceremony was not performed till the plague of the leprosy had been healed in the leper; (Lev 14:3); and the ceremony above mentioned was for the purpose of declaring to the people that the man was healed, that he might be restored to his place in society, having been healed of a disease that the finger of God alone could remove. This David seems to have full in view; hence he requests the Lord to make the sin-offering for him, and to show to the people that he had accepted him, and cleansed him from his sin.

Calvin: Psa 51:7 - -- 7.Thou shalt purge me with hyssop He still follows out the same strain of supplication; and the repetition of his requests for pardon proves how earn...

7.Thou shalt purge me with hyssop He still follows out the same strain of supplication; and the repetition of his requests for pardon proves how earnestly he desired it. He speaks of hyssop 266 , in allusion to the ceremonies of the law; and though he was far from putting his trust in the mere outward symbol of purification, he knew that, like every other legal rite, it was instituted for an important end. The sacrifices were seals of the grace of God. In them, therefore, he was anxious to find assurance of his reconciliation; and it is highly proper that, when our faith is disposed at any time to waver, we should confirm it by improving such means of divine support. All which David here prays for is, that God would effectually accomplish, in his experience, what he had signified to his Church and people by these outward rites; and in this he has set us a good example for our imitation. It is no doubt to the blood of Christ alone that we must look for the atonement of our sins; but we are creatures of sense, who must see with our eyes, and handle with our hands; and it is only by improving the outward symbols of propitiation that we can arrive at a full and assured persuasion of it. What we have said of the hyssop applies also to the washings 267 referred to in this verse, and which were commonly practiced under the Law. They figuratively represented our being purged from all iniquity, in order to our reception into the divine favor. I need not say that it is the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit to sprinkle our consciences inwardly with the blood of Christ, and, by removing the sense of guilt, to secure our access into the presence of God.

In the two verses which follow, the Psalmist prays that God would be pacified towards him. Those put too confined a meaning upon the words who have suggested that, in praying to hear the voice of joy and gladness, he requests some prophet to be sent, who might assure him of pardon. He prays, in general, for testimonies of the divine favor. When he speaks of his bones as having been broken, he alludes to the extreme grief and overwhelming distress to which he had been reduced. The joy of the Lord would reanimate his soul; and this joy he describes as to be obtained by hearing; for it is the word of God alone which can first and effectually cheer the heart of any sinner. There is no true or solid peace to be enjoyed in the world except in the way of reposing upon the promises of God. Those who do not resort to them may succeed for a time in hushing or evading the terrors of conscience, but they must ever be strangers to true inward comfort. And, granting that they may attain to the peace of insensibility, this is not a state which could satisfy any man who has seriously felt the fear of the Lord. The joy which he desires is that which flows from hearing the word of God, in which he promises to pardon our guilt, and readmit us into his favor. It is this alone which supports the believer amidst all the fears, dangers, and distresses of his earthly pilgrimage; for the joy of the Spirit is inseparable from faith. When God is said, in the 9th verse, to hide his face from our sins, this signifies his pardoning them, as is explained in the clause immediately annexed — Blot out all my sins. This represents our justification as consisting in a voluntary act of God, by which he condescends to forget all our iniquities; and it represents our cleansing to consist in the reception of a gratuitous pardon. We repeat the remark which has been already made, that David, in thus reiterating his one request for the mercy of God, evinces the depth of that anxiety which he felt for a favor which his conduct had rendered difficult of attainment. The man who prays for pardon in a mere formal manner, is proved to be a stranger to the dreadful desert of sin. “Happy is the man,” said Solomon, “that feareth alway,” (Pro 28:14.)

But here it may be asked why David needed to pray so earnestly for the joy of remission, when he had already received assurance from the lips of Nathan that his sin was pardoned? (2Sa 12:13.) Why did he not embrace this absolution? and was he not chargeable with dishonoring God by disbelieving the word of his prophet? We cannot expect that God will send us angels in order to announce the pardon which we require. Was it not said by Christ, that whatever his disciples remitted on earth would be remitted in heaven? (Joh 20:23.) And does not the apostle declare that ministers of the gospel are ambassadors to reconcile men to God? (2Co 5:20.) From this it might appear to have argued unbelief in David, that, notwithstanding the announcement of Nathan, he should evince a remaining perplexity or uncertainty regarding his forgiveness. There is a twofold explanation which may be given of the difficulty. We may hold that Nathan did not immediately make him aware of the fact that God was willing to be reconciled to him. In Scripture, it is well known, things are not always stated according to the strict order of time in which they occurred. It is quite conceivable that, having thrown him into this situation of distress, God might keep him in it for a considerable interval, for his deeper humiliation; and that David expresses in these verses the dreadful anguish which he endured when challenged with his crime, and not yet informed of the divine determination to pardon it. Let us take the other supposition, however, and it by no means follows that a person may not be assured of the favor of God, and yet show great earnestness and importunity in praying for pardon. David might be much relieved by the announcement of the prophet, and yet be visited occasionally with fresh convictions, influencing him to have recourse to the throne of grace. However rich and liberal the offers of mercy may be which God extends to us, it is highly proper on our part that we should reflect upon the grievous dishonor which we have done to his name, and be filled with due sorrow on account of it. Then our faith is weak, and we cannot at once apprehend the full extent of the divine mercy; so that there is no reason to be surprised that David should have once and again renewed his prayers for pardon, the more to confirm his belief in it. The truth is, that we cannot properly pray for the pardon of sin until we have come to a persuasion that God will be reconciled to us. Who can venture to open his mouth in God’s presence unless he be assured of his fatherly favor? And pardon being the first thing we should pray for, it is plain that there is no inconsistency in having a persuasion of the grace of God, and yet proceeding to supplicate his forgiveness. In proof of this, I might refer to the Lord’s Prayer, in which we are taught to begin by addressing God as our Father, and yet afterwards to pray for the remission of our sins. God’s pardon is full and complete; but our faith cannot take in his overflowing goodness, and it is necessary that it should distil to us drop by drop. It is owing to this infirmity of our faith, that we are often found repeating and repeating again the same petition, not with the view surely of gradually softening the heart of God to compassion, but because we advance by slow and difficult steps to the requisite fullness of assurance. The mention which is here made of purging with hyssop, and of washing or sprinkling, teaches us, in all our prayers for the pardon of sin, to have our thoughts directed to the great sacrifice by which Christ has reconciled us to God. “Without shedding of blood,” says Paul, “is no remissions” (Heb 9:22;) and this, which was intimated by God to the ancient Church under figures, has been fully made known by the coming of Christ. The sinner, if he would find mercy, must look to the sacrifice of Christ, which expiated the sins of the world, glancing, at the same time, for the confirmation of his faith, to Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; for it were vain to imagine that God, the Judge of the world, would receive us again into his favor in any other way than through a satisfaction made to his justice.

Defender: Psa 51:7 - -- Hyssop was a small shrub used to sprinkle blood and water over the cleansed leper symbolizing his purification and cleansing (Lev 14:4-7)."

Hyssop was a small shrub used to sprinkle blood and water over the cleansed leper symbolizing his purification and cleansing (Lev 14:4-7)."

TSK: Psa 51:7 - -- Purge : Lev 14:4-7, Lev 14:49-52; Num 19:18-20; Heb 9:19 and : Heb 9:13, Heb 9:14; 1Jo 1:7; Rev 1:5 whiter : Isa 1:18; Eph 5:26, Eph 5:27; Rev 7:13, R...

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Psa 51:7 - -- Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean - On the word hyssop, see the notes at Joh 19:29; notes at Heb 9:19. The plant or herb was much used...

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean - On the word hyssop, see the notes at Joh 19:29; notes at Heb 9:19. The plant or herb was much used by the Hebrews in their sacred purifications and sprinklings: Exo 12:22; Lev 14:4, Lev 14:6,Lev 14:49, Lev 14:51; 1Ki 4:33. Under this name the Hebrews seem to have comprised not only the common "hyssop"of the shops, but also other aromatic plants, as mint, wild marjoram, etc. - Gesenius, "Lexicon"The idea of the psalmist here evidently is not that the mere sprinkling with hyssop would make him clean; but he prays for that cleansing of which the sprinkling with hyssop was an emblem, or which was designed to be represented by that. The whole structure of the psalm implies that he was seeking an "internal"change, and that he did not depend on any mere outward ordinance or rite. The word rendered "purge"is from the word חטא châṭâ' - which means "to sin."In the Piel form it means to bear the blame (or "loss") for anything; and then to "atone for, to make atonement, to expiate:"Gen 31:39; Lev 6:26; Num 19:19. Here it conveys the notion of cleansing from sin "by"a sacred rite, or by that which was signified by a sacred rite. The idea was that the sin was to be removed or taken away, so that he might be free from it, or that "that"might be accomplished which was represented by the sprinkling with hyssop, and that the soul might be made pure. Luther has rendered it with great force - Entsundige mich mit Ysop - "Unsin me with hyssop."

Wash me - That is, cleanse me. Sin is represented as "defiling,"and the idea of "washing"it away is often employed in the Scriptures. See the notes at Isa 1:16.

And I shall be whiter than snow - See the notes at Isa 1:18. The prayer is, that he might be made "entirely"clean; that there might be no remaining pollution in his soul.

Poole: Psa 51:7 - -- With hyssop or, as with hyssop ; the note of similitude being frequently understood. As lepers and other unclean persons are by thy appointment puri...

With hyssop or, as with hyssop ; the note of similitude being frequently understood. As lepers and other unclean persons are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, Lev 14:6 Num 19:6 ; so do thou cleanse me, a most leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by the virtue of that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages.

Haydock: Psa 51:7 - -- Thy, is not found in Hebrew. Doeg would not dare to enter the tabernacle, after he had slain the priests. (Calmet) --- Houbigant properly suppli...

Thy, is not found in Hebrew. Doeg would not dare to enter the tabernacle, after he had slain the priests. (Calmet) ---

Houbigant properly supplies thy. (Berthier) ---

Living. The Jews inform us, that Doeg slew himself with his master at Gelboe, and that David punished his offspring with death. (Calmet)

Gill: Psa 51:7 - -- Purge me with hyssop,.... Or "thou shalt purge me with hyssop" f; or "expiate me"; which was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb on the d...

Purge me with hyssop,.... Or "thou shalt purge me with hyssop" f; or "expiate me"; which was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb on the door posts of the Israelites in Egypt, that the destroying angel might pass over them, Exo 12:22; and in the cleansing of the leper, Lev 14:4; and in the purification of one that was unclean by the touch of a dead body, &c. Num 19:6; which the Targum on the text has respect to; and this petition of the psalmist shows that he saw himself a guilty creature, and in danger of the destroying angel, and a filthy creature like the leper, and deserving to be excluded from the society of the saints, and the house of God; and that he had respect not hereby to ceremonial sprinklings and purifications, for them he would have applied to a priest; but to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, typified thereby; and therefore he applies to God to purge his conscience with it; and, as Suidas g from Theodoret observes, hyssop did not procure remission of sins, but has a mystical signification, and refers to what was meant by the sprinkling of the blood of the passover; and then he says,

and I shall be clean; thoroughly clean; for the blood sprinkled on the heart by the spirit clears it from an evil conscience, purges the conscience from dead works, and cleanses from all sin;

wash me; or "thou shall wash me" h; alluding to the washing at the cleansing of a leper, and the purification of an unclean person, Lev 14:8; but had in view the fountain of Christ's blood, in which believers are washed from all their sins, Zec 13:1;

and I shall be whiter than snow; who was black with original corruption, and actual transgressions; but the blood of Christ makes not only the conversation garments white that are washed in it; but even crimson and scarlet sins as white as wool, as white as snow, and the persons of the saints without spot or blemish, Rev 7:14, Eph 5:25; "whiter than the snow" is a phrase used by Homer i, and others, to describe what is exceeding white.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 51:7 I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Psa 51:1-19 - --1 David prays for remission of sins, whereof he makes a deep confession.6 He prays for sanctification.16 God delights not in sacrifice, but in sinceri...

MHCC: Psa 51:7-15 - --Purge me with hyssop, with the blood of Christ applied to my soul by a lively faith, as the water of purification was sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop...

Matthew Henry: Psa 51:7-13 - -- 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 a...

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 51:7-9 - -- The possession of all possessions, however, most needed by him, the foundation of all other possessions, is the assurance of the forgiveness of his ...

Constable: Psa 42:1--72:20 - --II. Book 2: chs. 42--72 In Book 1 we saw that all the psalms except 1, 2, 10, and 33 claimed David as their writ...

Constable: Psa 51:1-19 - --Psalm 51 In this psalm David confessed the sins he committed against Bathsheba and Uriah. It is a model ...

Constable: Psa 51:5-10 - --3. Petition for renewed forgiveness 51:7-12 51:7 Again David pleaded for purification and cleansing (vv. 1-2). In Israel the priest sprinkled animal b...

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Commentary -- Other

Evidence: Psa 51:7 " Direct my thoughts, words, and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate Blood of the Lamb, and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit...Daily frame me m...

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Introduction / Outline

JFB: Psalms (Book Introduction) The Hebrew title of this book is Tehilim ("praises" or "hymns"), for a leading feature in its contents is praise, though the word occurs in the title ...

JFB: Psalms (Outline) ALEPH. (Psa 119:1-8). This celebrated Psalm has several peculiarities. It is divided into twenty-two parts or stanzas, denoted by the twenty-two let...

TSK: Psalms (Book Introduction) The Psalms have been the general song of the universal Church; and in their praise, all the Fathers have been unanimously eloquent. Men of all nation...

TSK: Psalms 51 (Chapter Introduction) Overview Psa 51:1, David prays for remission of sins, whereof he makes a deep confession; Psa 51:6, He prays for sanctification; Psa 51:16, God de...

Poole: Psalms (Book Introduction) OF PSALMS THE ARGUMENT The divine authority of this Book of PSALMS is so certain and evident, that it was never questioned in the church; which b...

MHCC: Psalms (Book Introduction) David was the penman of most of the psalms, but some evidently were composed by other writers, and the writers of some are doubtful. But all were writ...

MHCC: Psalms 51 (Chapter Introduction) (Psa 51:1-6) The psalmist prays for mercy, humbly confessing and lamenting his sins. (Psa 51:7-15) He pleads for pardon, that he may promote the glor...

Matthew Henry: Psalms (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of Psalms We have now before us one of the choicest and most excellent parts of all the Old Te...

Matthew Henry: Psalms 51 (Chapter Introduction) Though David penned this psalm upon a very particular occasion, yet, it is of as general use as any of David's psalms; it is the most eminent of th...

Constable: Psalms (Book Introduction) Introduction Title The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is Tehillim, which means...

Constable: Psalms (Outline) Outline I. Book 1: chs. 1-41 II. Book 2: chs. 42-72 III. Book 3: chs. 73...

Constable: Psalms Psalms Bibliography Allen, Ronald B. "Evidence from Psalm 89." In A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus,...

Haydock: Psalms (Book Introduction) THE BOOK OF PSALMS. INTRODUCTION. The Psalms are called by the Hebrew, Tehillim; that is, hymns of praise. The author, of a great part of ...

Gill: Psalms (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS The title of this book may be rendered "the Book of Praises", or "Hymns"; the psalm which our Lord sung at the passover is c...

Gill: Psalms 51 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 51 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. The occ...

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