| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. |
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| 1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. |
Have mercy – Pray, trusting in God's love and mercy. R5380:5*
God showed mercy to David, as to all Jews under the Law covenant, in that he made allowance for their fallen condition and punished with trouble, not everlasting death. R1397:2
Blot out – David's sins were not blotted out nor forgiven, for the Lord punished him severely for his sin; yet he did not exact the full penalty, everlasting death. R1397:2
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| 2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. |
Mine iniquity – These words of honesty assure us that the king was overtaken in some kind of mental fog. R5681:5
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| 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. |
I acknowledge – Commendable that he did not attempt to justify his course or deny the wrong. R1396:6
My transgressions – Because he had allowed earth-born clouds to arise between the Lord and himself. R5681:5
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| 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. |
Thee only – God is the Great Judge. R3254:5
David's confession here was to God, for the wronged Uriah was dead. R1397:5
While the wrong to fellow-creatures was recognized by the king, he recognized a still higher responsibility to God. R3254:5
Be clear – He confessed his sin that others might know, when the chastisements should come, that the king's troubles were just punishments and not violations of God's covenant promises. R1397:5
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| 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. |
Shapen in iniquity – By heredity. E484; R4752:6, R5032:3, R5093:1, R5768:4; OV329:6; HG351:4; HG574:2
Mis-shapen. CR451:3
None was ever born perfect except one, Jesus. CR427:2
These conditions of the fallen race may be accentuated or diminished to a considerable degree by the mental condition of the parents. R5615:3
We cannot assent to the doctrine of total depravity. CR113:3
We cannot do perfectly because we are imperfect. We are imperfect because we are born in sin. Q798:T
Therefore we cannot be perfectly holy in every action, word and thought. CR451:3
But God has graciously arranged that the merit of Christ's sacrifice shall compensate for the weaknesses and blemishes of the followers of Jesus. R4558:2
"We cannot do the things that we would." (Rom. 7:14-25) OV366:1
Poor material out of which to form likenesses of God's dear Son. R4837:1
Selfishness seems right to man in his depraved condition because he was born with it. SM162:2
If the perfect man by disobedience forfeited his standing, we who are imperfect could have no hopes of justifying ourselves before God. F101
"Condemned already" as children of Adam. HG434:3
Therefore our need for the robe of Christ's righteousness. HG409:5
Not that God made us sinners. We received our life from our parents, all the way back to Adam. These first parents sinned and came under the death sentence. HG650:2
Imperfection of mind, morals and body is passed from mother to child. HG693:4; R4982:2
Nevertheless, we cannot accept the doctrine of total depravity--that there is nothing good in any man, nor in all men. SM501:3; HG650:1
Confident that the Lord would give him the benefit of every mitigating circumstance. R3254:5
If no fall, then no death, no ransom. R1616:1
The very essence of Jewish belief, upon and into which were fitted the various typical sacrifices for sins, atonements and washings from uncleanness. R1794:1
Therefore our minds, at first conformed to earthly things, generally take the earthly view of matters, the selfish view. R4628:1
The shape of the brain of the child is largely influenced by heredity--particularly by the mother. R4752:6
The realization of this helps to make us more sympathetic with the depraved and degraded, not approving their wrong, but intelligently assisting to better mental views. R4866:5, R5102:1, R4991:4; HG650:3
Few parents realize how much they have to do with the moral and physical status of their children--in the qualities which are given them at the time of their begetting and during the period of gestation. R5360:3; F551; HG650:4-6
And in sin – Under the death curse. E409; R5093:1, R5360:3; SM436:2; CR496:2; HG193:5
The dying process of 6000 years has affected the race mentally, morally and physically. R5063:6, R4443:4, R4612:3, R5149:3; CR428:1
But all are not born in the same degree of degradation. Some parents produce types higher than themselves. R2902:2, R5201:1
The only exception to this rule of being born condemned is in the case of children, one or both of whose parents are believers. (1 Cor. 7:14) R2719:1, R3773:6
The statement that in Christ there was life (John 1:4) implies that he did not receive his life from an earthly father. R4154:3
The rationale for infant baptism. HG252:6
The better we understand the origin of sin and the methods of its operation in ourselves and others, the more successful we will be in combating it. R650:1
My mother conceive – Accounts for the fact that the infant shares in the dying process and the pain as well as those who live longer and participate personally in transgression. F333
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| 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. |
Thou desirest truth – Candor, honesty, truthfulness. Any who have not this quality in the heart cannot be pleasing to God. R5453:5, R2943:6
"Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (2 Tim. 2:19) R1527:3
The inward parts – In the heart. R1527:3
Although mankind is fallen in the flesh, and unable to do perfectly, God demands purity of heart, purity of motive or intention, and this David realized he had not manifested. R1397:5
We are to be loyal to the very core or God will reject us. SM346:1
Outward crime and a crime allowed in the mind are alike heinous in God's sight. R3254:5
Although David had not directly taken the life of Uriah, but merely connived at his death in battle, he was a murderer. R3254:5
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| 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. |
Purge me – The pardoned sinner in the Millennial age. T112
With hyssop – With the application of the instructions that will be given by the Ancient Worthies. T112; R1872:5
Used in the sprinkling of the unclean under the Law. David desired the antitypical cleansing of his heart. R3254:6
Wash me – With the truth. T112
I shall be whiter – The Hebrew root word from which we get the word "frankincense." R84:5*
Made so in the great fountain of redeeming love, the Redeemer's merit. C209
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| 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. |
Hear joy and gladness – Implying that during the preceding year even the music of singers and joyous songs of nature were sore to his heart. R3254:6
May rejoice – As freely as God forgave, so must all his people; and therefore we rejoice to recognize David as one of the Ancient Worthies. R2017:6
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| 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. |
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| 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. |
In me a clean heart – The lesson here is that we shall keep close accounts with God. R5681:6
The world's need is thus foreshown. D450
Renew a right spirit – Disposition. R2322:4
If we would realize the influence of our minds over our own bodies what a great thought-reform movement would speedily begin in us. R2322:1
Sinners . . . converted – Prophetic. R3600:5
In the present time, sinners are reclaimed through good example. In the future, we hope that they will be turned to the Lord under the more favorable Millennial conditions. R3600:5
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| 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. |
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| 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. |
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| 13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. |
Then – After we have experienced the joys of his salvation and forgiveness. R3255:2
Will I teach – Those who would be thus used of the Lord, in this age or the next, must be fully consecrated to God-- clean, pure in heart. R1397:5, R3600:5
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| 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. |
Of thy righteousness – The mission of the cleansed ones is to accept the Lord's mercy, extol his righteousness, acknowledge their unworthiness and call upon others to recognize this fountain of forgiveness. R3255:2
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| 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
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Open thou my lips – None can tell the glad tidings of great joy unless first the Lord shall have opened his lips with his mercy and truth. R3255:2
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| 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. |
Desirest not sacrifice – Typical sacrifices. R3255:4
In burnt offering – Only the Day of Atonement sacrifices were sin offerings. The burnt offerings and peace offerings of the remainder of the year represented consecration to the Lord. R3255:4
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| 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. |
Sacrifices of God – The thing which is most difficult for us to sacrifice is self. R3845:3
A broken spirit – Nothing we can give the Lord, even after our acceptance in Christ, has any value in his sight until we first give him ourselves--our hearts and our wills. R3255:4
A contrite heart – Of humble mind. R5596:3
Those who have broken and contrite hearts may know that they have not committed the "sin unto death," for it is impossible to renew such "again unto repentance." (Heb. 6:6) R3255:5
It is the crushed olive that yields the oil, the pressed grape that gives forth the wine; and it was the smitten rock that gave water in the wilderness. So it is the broken, contrite heart that is most rich in holiness and most fragrant in grace. R1775:5
Wilt not despise – All who are mourning and sorrowful, drawing nigh to God through Christ, will be comforted. Q782:T
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| 18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. |
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| 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. |
Then – At the close of the Millennial age. T96
Of righteousness – Of right doing. T96
With burnt offering – Thankful prayers to Jehovah for a ransom through Christ. T97
They – Mankind, on reaching perfection. R5383:3
Offer bullocks – Perfect sacrifices. T96
Cannot refer to the Church in the present time, for on the Atonement Day the Church is represented by a goat, and our Lord by a bullock. R5383:3
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