My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 51

1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

I honestly tried to finish the above two verses in our last post but the mercy concept just ate me up. Can we revisit this passage for a short time, and consider verse 2?

As I mentioned in the earlier post, David is taking the sacrificial system that the priests worked at, and as prescribed by God, and internalized it, applying the washing and cleansing performed at the brazen altar to actions he needs for his life, actions that need to be done by God.

Let’s consider the first phrase – Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

Wash

Out of the 51 times this term is found in the Old Testament, Leviticus has the overwhelming number of occurrences (31 times), and is used for the cleansing of those that have been defiled. It is used of anyone who has become defiled, and the required cleansing of the garments (and/or his flesh) required to be performed in order to become clean before God and remain in the camp of Israel. Leviticus is the book of holiness and as such speaks of the methods required to be practiced by the Israelites to walk before the Lord in a prescribed way. Without this cleansing, approaching the Lord was not allowed, with the person actually retaining his iniquity.

Leviticus 17:16 But if he does not wash them or bathe his flesh, he shall bear his iniquity.”

When I hear of washing spoken, especially in this reference, I have the picture of water flowing over my heart, like a waterfall, crystal clear, warm and comforting, gently washing any filth off my “skin”. I’m afraid this picture is simply not the image I should imagine as I read this passage.

The term translated as washed in the second verse is כָּבַס kâbaç kāḇas, and is related to a term which means to trample. The term describes the washing of garments by the stamping of the feet. This type of washing is not the image I had in mind above! The garment is being scrubbed with much force, underfoot and seemingly without mercy. I have an image in my mind of being down at the river bank, with the garments being rubbed/scrubbed against the rocks, a somewhat forceful undertaking. No gentle flow of water comforting the subject, but of trampling, crushing, scouring.

David is begging the Lord to wash him, to “trample on him” in order to produce the cleansing required, that the washing would rid him of his iniquity. This term “iniquity” isn’t used much nowadays, but it speaks of perversity or depravity, a moral evil, and we certainly can see a connection with this concept in David’s past actions. He has, in one decision on the roof of his house, fallen into a depravity that seemed impossible prior to it’s occurrence. This was the man who followed after God’s heart, and yet fell to such a depth of sin. Consider this for our own lives my friend.

1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

cleanse

This term is what I expected, but it does have a few implications that are of interest. Again, it is a term that the book of Leviticus uses heavily (43 times out of 80 verses in the Old Testament), and relates to the cleansing of the defiled one who seeks to be clean before the Lord. The term speaks of purity, and of a cleansing both ceremonially and morally. It came from a root term meaning “to be bright”. It is used very often in relation to the cleansing of leprosy.

David connects this cleansing to his “sin”, the familiar term we associate with evil in our lives. Since this psalm is speaking of confession sin, it may be good to review all of the ways David speaks of sin in this Psalm

Phrase or Word	Hebrew	Synonyms
v1 …blot out my transgressions	פֶּשַׁע peshaʻ	Rebellion, trespass, revolt
v2…my iniquity	עָוֺן ʻâvôn	Perversity, depravity, iniquity
v2…my sin	חַטָּאָה chaṭṭâʼâh	Sin, sinful, guilt of sin, condition of sin
v3…my transgressions	פֶּשַׁע peshaʻ	Rebellion, trespass, revolt
v3…my sin	חַטָּאָה chaṭṭâʼâh	Sin, sinful, guilt of sin, condition of sin
v4… I sinned	חָטָא châṭâʼ	To miss the mark, to lose oneself, to induce sin, to cause to sin
v4…done what is evil in your sight	רַע raʻ	bad, disagreeable, malignant, unpleasant, adverse, wrong
v5…brought forth in iniquity	עָוֺן ʻâvôn	Perversity, depravity, iniquity
v5… in sin did my mother conceive me	חֵטְא chêṭᵉʼ	Sin, fault, grievously offence
v9…my sins	חֵטְא chêṭᵉʼ	Sin, fault, grievously offence
v9…all my iniquities	עָוֺן ʻâvôn	Perversity, depravity, iniquity
v14.Deliver me from bloodguiltiness	דָּם dâm	Bloodshed

David expressed his sin in multiple terms, and multiple ways to make his confession before God. Granted two of the references are possibly speaking of David’s conception (brought forth in iniquity, in sin did my mother…), yet it is David’s description of not only his deeds in relation to God, but his condition before God, his history, his very existence.

You might notice in the table above a repetition of 3 Hebrew root words, that speak of an escalation of evil in the human experience.

châṭâʼ – to miss the mark. May refer to an unintentional sin. May speak of inability to hit the mark, or lack of skill in hitting a mark.

ʻâvâh – to bend or distort. To know the good and to twist or distort.

pâshaʻ – to rebel or revolt. to act defiantly, to know the good and to fight against it

King David was asking for forgiveness, yet he did not shy away from expressing the multiple ways he had offended God. He sought a washing and a cleansing from his sin, and he knew the only One who could provide this was the One whom he had offended.

His name is Jesus and He is the One who not only knows your sin, He entered into our existence in order to deliver us from all our inabilities, distortions and rebellion. Will you look to Him for your salvation, for your deliverance from a wasted life, from a life of distortion and revolt against the truth?

He is the Savior and He is the Lord. Confession of sin is to be addressed to Him, for He died to provide full forgiveness to those who seek Him.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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