“Dominated by petition, Psalm 51 is ordinarily classified as a prayer for help or an individual lament/complaint. What sets it apart is that the psalmist’s complaint involves his or her own sinfulness. Thus the church has with good reason included it among the seven penitential psalms (Psalms 6; 32; 38; 102; 130; 143) […] The superscription is the first clue to what Psalm 51 is about: sin and forgiveness. Although it is possible to conclude that the superscription dates the psalm accurately, it is much more likely that it was added later by the editors of the psalter to invite readers to hear Psalm 51 against the background of the story of David’s taking of Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah […] This story is as much or more about God’s character than it is about human sinfulness.”1

v.1 “The psalmist appeals to the ‘unfailing love’ of God as the basis of hope for forgiveness. Although he has failed through sin, Yahweh does not fail but continues in his commitment to sinful humans who acknowledge their sin and rely on God’s merciful forgiveness and love.”2

v.3 “The first step to true penitence is a clear recognition of one’s own sin […] This is not the fleeting mood of a depressed conscience, but the clear knowledge of a man who, shocked by that knowledge, has become conscious of his responsibility; it is a knowledge which excludes every kind of self-deception, however welcome it might be, and sees things as they really are.”3

v.4 “The true extent of grace is experienced only where the true depth of sin is grasped. This comes about only when man’s sin is seen in the light of its relationship to something which is final, that is, in its relationship to God […] These words by no means imply a limitation of his sins, as if sins committed against his fellow men were excluded; on the contrary, sin is here conceived in the much wider setting of its relation to God, no matter against whom it has been directed. In the last analysis every sin is directed against God, for it reflects the basic tendency of the human will which accomplishes ‘what is evil in God’s sight’ and thereby destroys the living contact with God.”4

v.5 “The climatic v.5 has traditionally been cited in discussions of ‘original sin,’ […] It is not intended to suggest that sin is transmitted biologically or that sexuality is sinful by definition. Rather, it conveys the inevitability of human fallibility. In each human life, in the human situation, sin is pervasive. We are born into it, and we cannot escape it. While sin is a matter of individual decision, it also has a corporate dimension that affects us, despite our best intentions and decisions.”5

v.6 “God wants truth in the inner parts. The word truth emphasizes reliability and trustworthiness over absolute accuracy. God is seeking a person whose external profession is consistent with the inner reality of his or her being that is often kept hidden away ‘in the inner parts’.”6

v.9 “When God hides his face, the psalmist feels abandoned and distressed. Here, however, he pleads with Yahweh to ‘hide his face’ – not from the psalmist but from his sins. Such an act implies that God chooses not to take one’s failings into account but to ‘blot them out’. Such restoration is entirely in God’s hands and is predicated on the ‘unfailing love’ and ‘compassion’ of Yahweh.”7

vv.13-14, “Here the psalmist’s anticipation of deliverance leads to vows of public acts of praise and contrition that provide instructive exhortation to right actions for other sinners. ‘Transgressors’ and ‘sinners’ will learn the ways of Yahweh by learning of the psalmist’s transformation through God’s redeeming grace.”8

vv.16-17 “What God desires is inward change, marked by truth, wisdom, and a broken, contrite heart […] The object is not the absolute rejection of all substitutionary animal sacrifice. The psalmist instead intends to demonstrate forcefully what sacrifice is really about and what gives true efficacy to the outward, ritual acts. The groundwork for Christian sacramental theology […] is laid by the realization that it is the inward reality that is effective, not the symbolic outward signs.”9

v.18-19, “It may well be that the exilic community read those verses about the spiritualizing of sacrifice as indicative of their own situation, where temple ritual was precluded because of its destruction […] In this way the exilic community reaffirms their understanding that it is the inner attitude of sin that invalidated the sacrificial system of Israel and led to the demise of the kingdom in exile. It will be renewal of the inward life of repentance and faith that will restore the covenant community in its relationship with God”10

Psalm 51:1-19