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Robert Neighbour

Wells of Living Water Commentary - Psalms 51:1-19

A Penitent's Prayer Psalms 51:1-19 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We will set forth, by way of introduction, the story of David's sin and of how he was reproved by Nathan, the Prophet. We may also emphasize how David had groaned within himself for two miserable years. 1. The story of David's sin. David had become enamored with Bath-sheba, who was wife to Uriah. In this he sinned grievously. God had given him wives who should have been his full joy and satisfaction. Bath-sheba was the wife of another man... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 51:1-2

An Appeal For Forgiveness And Cleansing (Psalms 51:1-2 ). The Psalm commences with an appeal to God for forgiveness and cleansing. In these verses David throws himself on the mercy of God, in recognition that only in God’s supreme compassion is there any hope for him. He knew that he had committed the sins of adultery and murder, which in earlier times would have resulted in his execution. He knew that for these sins there was no pardon. And yet such is his intense faith that he is convinced... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 51:3-6

David Freely And Openly Admits His Total Sinfulness And Guilt (Psalms 51:3-6 ). David tells God that he now knows the truth about himself. He no longer dismisses what he has done as unimportant because he is a king and chief judge, and therefore, as the one finally responsible for the law, above the law. For God has brought home to him the depths to which he has fallen. He now recognises his responsibility towards a greater King and Judge. As he said to Nathan when his sin was made clear to... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 51:1-19

LI. A Penitential Psalm. Psalms 51:1-2 Kings : . Prayer for pardon and inward renewal. Psalms 51:13-Esther : . A promise to proclaim God’ s mercy and bring sinners back to Him. Psalms 51:18 f. Prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem, which will make sacrifice possible and popular once more.The Ps. was not written by David, and still less by David after his double sin of murder and adultery. How could David have said, “ Against thee, thee only, have I sinned” ? Besides, the Ps. shows the... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Psalms 51:1

Have mercy upon me; pity, and help, and answer me, in the desires I am now spreading before thee. According to thy loving-kindness: I pretend to no merit, but humbly implore thy free grace and mercy. Thy mercies are infinite, and therefore sufficient for my relief, and such indeed do I need. Blot out; either, 1. Out of my conscience and soul, where it hath left a stain and filthy character. Or, 2. Out of thy book of remembrance and accounts, in which all men’s sins are written, and out of Which... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Psalms 51:2

Wash me throughly, Heb. multiply to wash me; by which phrase he implies the greatness of his guilt, and the insufficiency of all legal washings, and the absolute necessity of some other and better thing to wash him, even of God’s grace, and the blood of Christ; which as Abraham saw by faith, John 8:56, so did David, as is sufficiently evident (allowing for the darkness of the dispensation and expressions of the Old Testament) from divers passages of the Psalms, of which I have spoken in their... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Psalms 51:3

I acknowledge, with grief and shame, and abhorrency of myself and of my sins; which hitherto I have dissembled and covered. And being thus truly penitent, I hope and beg that I may find mercy with thee. My transgressions; for it was not a single, but a complicated wickedness, adultery, murder, injustice, perfidiousness; and frequent repetition of and long and stupid continuance in abominable filthiness, and that with public scandal. My sin is ever before me; that which I had cast behind my back... read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Psalms 51:1-19

INTRODUCTIONTHE superscription informs us both as to the author of the psalm, and the occasion of its composition. “To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” The contents of the psalm accord with the superscription on both points. For the history of the painful circumstances, see 2 Samuel 11:0 and 2 Samuel 12:1-14.That the psalm is addressed “To the Chief Musician” shows that it was not merely a private confession of the... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Psalms 51:1-2

Psalms 51:1-2 I. Looking at this triad of petitions, they teach us, first, how David thought of his sin. (1) Observe the reiteration of the same earnest cry in all these clauses. It is not a mere piece of Hebrew parallelism. It is much more the earnestness of a soul that cannot be content with once asking for the blessings and then passing on, but dwells upon them with repeated supplication, not because it thinks that it shall be heard for its much speaking, but because it longs for them so... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Psalms 51:1-19

Psalms 51:0 David, in the opening of this Psalm, appeals for mercy. No penitent man ever approached God on the side of His justice. The Pharisee, indeed, appeals to righteousness; but the publican appeals for mercy. I. "Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." Mark the thoroughness of this desire. Not only must sin be blotted out, but the sinner himself must be. washed and cleansed. There must be not merely a change of state, but a change of nature. David's words all... read more

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