King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 5 notes
1Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4Against 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.
What did he mean by 'against God only had he sinned'? He had sinned against a lot of people.
Unless it was an expression 😑 in those days, probably to show how that even if no one could challenge him or knew of this sin because he had covered it up well,
it was not against man he had sinned but against God, against God alone who sees all things, that he had sinned.
5Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
He speaks here of truth in hidden parts, which ties in with the earlier commentary on verse... That it was a secret sin which he could use his influence to cover up.
But here he finds himself having sinned against God; how was he going to cover it up before God's omnipresence?
He was in a fix and could only confess and beg for mercy.
7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
David did not want God to take away his Spirit from him. The very thing that made him the LORD's anointed. This anointed and the anointing was something that David did not take lightly at all. He held it as sacred and rightly so, to the extent that he refused to kill Saul when he had the chance to, a decision that looked very foolish and weak.
But on account of his understanding of the anointing he kept his hand from evil. God also kept him from evil when he became the anointed of the LORD. God held him as sacred and forgave him and led him in the way he should go.
12Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
True, sacrifices in the midst of sin and forgoing God's law are an abomination to him.
18Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
The same God who did not desire burnt offerings and sacrifices in verse 16 is now pleased with them in this verse, because they were the sacrifices of the righteous.
The heart that offers the sacrifice is more important to God than the sacrifice — like King Saul, who offered sacrifices, yet on account of that offering he lost his kingdom.