Psalms 51:1 “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
Unless you are really rank liberal you will probably not question the authorship of this Psalms. It not only specifically names David as the author but actually relates to a specific occasion for this Psalm which is when Nathan the prophet confronted David’s sin of adultery and murder (II Samuel 12:1-13). He does it in a most gentle way, at least I can think of no more gentle way of telling a guy he is an adulterer and murderer by telling him the story. As a king civil and criminal cases were presented to him and he determined the verdict. So Nathan presents to David an offense and asks him what his verdict would be. Nathan tells of a family who had one little ewe lamb that they cared for, loved and treated like a member of the family, it was like a daughter to this poor man. Then there is this rich man with many flocks of sheep. He had a visitor come and instead of taking from his own flock he takes this poor man’s one little ewe lamb and slaughters it and serves it to his guest. The wealthy man probably had a legal right to the ewe lamb as the suggestion is that the poor man was indebted to the rich man.
When Nathan asks David what should be done about this heartless rich man David’s anger burned within him and declared that the man was not fit to live, however, since this was not a capital crime he should follow the law as described in Exodus 22:1 and repay the man fourfold. Of course Nathan then pointed out to David that he was that rich man. This Psalms expresses the grief that David felt over the realization of the effects of his sin. He had committed two capital crimes under Jewish law and he should have been put to death, but before he even asked, God had forgiven him (II Samuel 12:13). Nathan predicted a heavy consequence as a result of this sin, yet we learn in Psalms 51 that this is not what brings David to grief. David’s grief, as we will lean in this Psalm, is in his separation from the presence of God.
I found something very curious in this Psalm. Throughout the Psalm David refers to God as Elohim and not YHWH. The sages teach that when the word Elohim which is masculine is used for God it represents the protection, provision and discipline of the Lord. When the word YHWH is used which is in a feminine form it represents the nurturing, loving and caring nature of God. It would appear that for David to use the word Elohim He wants to face God as a judge. He is ready to accept whatever the consequences of his sin might be, but what he cannot accept is to be alienated from his God.
David’s first plea is for mercy. Now what is he asking mercy for? Is it for deliverance from the consequences of his sin? I don’t think so for the reason mentioned above because he does not call God YHWH but Elohim. Also after twelve verses of pleas for a clean heart and forgiveness he reveals where is heart is really at. It is not that he is asking God: “Spare me my kingdom, spare me the disgrace, spare me from any loss,” but in verse 13 we learn he says “Cast me not away from thy presence.” For this he asked for mercy.
The word mercy in Hebrew backs this up. The Hebrew word used here is chesed which is rendered many different ways, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, favor, pity and sometimes as beauty. However in its Semitic origins it has the idea of reproach or shame. This evolved to mean mercy because when someone feels shame and reproach after offending someone they will plead for forgiveness so that their relationship will be restored. This really fits David, he is so filled with shame and remorse that he can only plead with God to overlook it so he can be restored to his relationship with God.
The point here is that chesed is a relationship word. Mercy or chesed is given to restore a relationship. Today we use mercy for more than the restoration of a relationship, we use it be spared the penalty for a fault or error. When we make a big mistake we plead for mercy from our boss so we don’t get docked our pay or even fired. That is not chesed. That is not the mercy we find David seeking in Psalms 51.
Even today we talk of seeking mercy from God so we will not suffer the consequences of our sins like judgment or hell. That is not what mercy is all about at least from the Hebrew word chesed. That is something else. When we seek mercy from God we are seeking, like David, restoration of our relationship with God, nothing more.
King Saul was a man who followed the laws of God, as far as we know he only had one wife and was faithful to her. King Saul was basically a good man but he was disobedient. The ax fell when he was getting ready to go to battle but knew he could not go to battle without first offering a sacrifice and Samuel was the one to offer that sacrifice. But Samuel was a no show, tensions were rising, the enemy was getting ready to attack and his men were about to desert because Saul would not move until he made the sacrifice. He was after all, a good religious man. So he finally took matters in his own hands and offered the sacrifice. Samuel walked up and said: “Saul, how could you, you know this is in disobedience to God. You have now lost your kingdom.” Saul immediately repented and plead with Samuel to go with him before the people to declare his sin. Samuel said: “Forget it God will not forgive you.”
God would not forgive Saul for his disobedience, but along comes David who commits adultery and murder and God forgives him before even asking, Why? Because David sought mercy. Sure Saul sought mercy too, but it was not chesed, he wanted mercy to protect his own gizzard. David wanted chesed, he wanted to protect his relationship with God.
Why do you try to avoid sin? When you do sin why do you confess it seeking forgiveness? Are you afraid God will not bless you, maybe punish you or maybe you will go to hell? Forget it, God will not give you chesed (mercy) for you are not seeking chesed or mercy. You are only seeking forgiveness to protect your own gizzard like King Saul. But if you seek chesed mercy to restore a relationship like David, the God will grant that before you even ask. Because, like David, you are a person after God’s own heart. You are someone who, like David, who loves God so much that he understands God’s heart and fears wounding the heart of the God.
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