1-2 Samuel Week Forty: Psalm 51

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
³ For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.

⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
⁶ Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
⁹ Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.

¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
¹⁶ For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

¹⁸ By Your favor do good to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

—Psalm 51

Sermon Outline

1. A Prayer of

2. A Prayer for

3. A Prayer for

References

Weekly Study Guide

Have you ever had big plans—well-thought-out plans that you worked long and hard at—only to discover that God had a different idea? That seems to be a recurring theme in my own life. Sometimes, we can have a desire to honor God in a certain way—and we may even get confirmation from trusted advisors—but then, God opens a new path we had never even imagined. This is exactly what happened to King David. In this season of our journey through the covenants of God—a season in which we are exploring how those covenants reveal the identity of Israel and unpack God’s plan for the ages in a way nothing else can—we have come to the moment where God pours out on David an avalanche of blessing the likes of which he could never have dreamed. And in doing so, He redirected David’s plans in a significant way.

In the books of 1^st & 2^nd Samuel, we’ve been studying the life of David and have seen how God works through this imperfect vessel to bring about His will. When David trusts God and seeks God first in his plans, he is wildly successful. Yet when David does not seek God first, failure and chastisement follow. Several weeks ago, in 2 Samuel 7, we came to a place in David’s life where things had finally fallen into place. After many years of struggle, pain, fear, and exile, David had been crowned king over the entire nation of Israel. God had given David victory over his enemies and he had found enough time and security to build himself a palace.

But, at this point, what does David really know about God’s plans? All he knows is that God had created a people for His own good pleasure. He had brought them out of captivity into the land He had promised them. David knew well that the people had rejected God time and time again during the period of the Judges. The climax of this rejection happened with Israel’s abandonment of God as their king when they asked Samuel for a king “like all the nations around them.” God gave them what they asked for; He gave them that kind of king. Yet, Saul was not the kind of king God had in mind for them. He was not a faithful follower of God and did not rule his people well. God had so much more in store for His beloved people. This was basically the extent of the revelation David would have had knowledge of.

Then something amazing happened. In what must have been the most shocking revelation David could have imagined, Samuel came to him, an insignificant little shepherd boy, and anointed him to be the next king of Israel. Following this—after years of struggle and frustration—David finally does become king over the whole land. But having seen the travesty of the reign of Saul, what would David have thought about this whole “kingship” thing? David surely had many questions. Why was he chosen? What did he have to offer? Would he do any better than Saul? Did he even have a chance of being a good king? We can only imagine what would have been going through David’s mind at this point.

When we look back with the luxury of hindsight through the story of scripture, we can see how, all along, God was orchestrating circumstances and events to get His people into their own land, and how He eventually gave them a king—a move that would set up the eventual coming of the ultimate King/Messiah. But we can’t impose that modern awareness and knowledge on the characters who lived through those times. David had no idea at this point where his kingship would lead or what his legacy would be, but he was about to find out.

In our previous 1^st & 2^nd Samuel study guides, we saw how the Abrahamic Covenant is the lynchpin that ties all of salvation history together. It is God’s initial statement to the world that He is going to make all things right. It is God’s promise to Abraham that He will use Abraham’s family and offspring to bring about this salvation. The rest of scripture simply details the outworking and results of this Abrahamic Covenant. In this promise to Abraham, God specifies three distinct aspects of blessing: land, seed, and spiritual blessing. In book two of our study, we saw how the land aspect is clarified and elaborated upon in the Land Covenant. This brings us to the next aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant: the seed promise. Here, in the Davidic Covenant, the next of the covenants we are exploring, God elaborates on what this promised seed will look like. Here, God promises David that from his seed will come forth one who will reign, not only over Israel, but over the whole world. As we saw last week, this is a narrowing of the focus of God’s promise to Adam and Eve regarding the promised seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). Now, with this revelation by God to David, Satan would know more precisely where to focus his attacks. It was clear now that not only would the Messiah come through the family of Abraham, but now Satan knew He would come through the line of David.

Before we jump into the passages where we find the Davidic Covenant discussed, let’s just take a moment to think about the audacity of this idea: that this tiny, backwater nation—a nation no bigger than the state of New Jersey—would be used by God to bring about His Kingdom. God didn’t choose to use the most powerful, influential nations like Egypt, Babylon, Syria, Medo-Persia, Greece, or Rome—the greatest empires in history—to bring forth the King of the World. No, God created His own nation, His own people. He loved them, nurtured them, disciplined them, and crafted them into a kingdom of priests. And here, in this Davidic Covenant, God is telling this shepherd boy, become king, that this tiny, insignificant nation of Israel will someday rule the world. If you look at the modern state of Israel, you have to marvel at this idea. Less than a hundred years ago, Israel was not even a nation. And today, even though it is the most hated, persecuted, and attacked nation on the planet, having a population of just over 9 million people, God promises that this nation will rule over all the nations, with Messiah sitting on David’s throne.

So, after David becomes king over the entire nation of Israel; after David conquers the stronghold of Jerusalem from the Jebusites and makes it his capital; after David brings the Ark of God up to Jerusalem; and after David builds a palace for himself, David then looks out over all that he has accomplished and decides he wants to build a temple for God. God had given him rest on every side from his enemies. David himself had a beautiful house made of cedar and must have been thinking that it was not right that the God of the universe would not have a beautiful temple. All the other nations had fancy, ornate temples for their made-up gods. Why should the one true God settle for a mere tent? David was thinking that a man-made temple would give God the honor He deserves.

So, David told Nathan the prophet that he wanted to build a house for God. How did Nathan respond? He told David to go and do all that was in his heart—that God was with him. But Nathan spoke presumptuously, didn’t he? Later that night God spoke to Nathan and corrected him. This is what God told Nathan to say to David:

This is what the LORD says: “Should you build Me a house for My dwelling? For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; rather, I have been moving about in a tent, that is, in a dwelling place. Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’” (2 Sam 7:5-7)

David had thought he had a great idea—a God-honoring idea. But was he running ahead of God? Had God ever asked His people to build Him a permanent structure? Perhaps God had a reason that He had always “tabernacled” among His people. In their wilderness wanderings, the Tabernacle was the way that the people of Israel experienced God. It was what God had specifically commanded them to build—a temporary, portable dwelling where the presence of God would dwell in a unique way. The Tabernacle was the center of Israel’s camp. It was a place of worship. It was a gathering place for God’s people. And it was where the priests would come to meet with and hear from God. The Tabernacle, the temporary tent, pointed forward to a time when, as it says in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” The Tabernacle ultimately pointed the people to Jesus.

A.W. Pink reminds us that outwardly, the temple was humble and unattractive in appearance. Just as Isaiah described the coming Messiah: “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa 53:2). The Tabernacle was called, “the tent of meeting.” It was where God met with man (Ex 25:21-22). So too, Jesus is God in human flesh—the ultimate coming together of God and man. If we want to know what God is like, we look to Jesus. Also, the Tabernacle was the place where sacrifice was made. We also see in Jesus, the ultimate sin sacrifice—what the entire sacrificial system in the Old Testament was pre-figuring and waiting for. As one writer said, “In Jesus, God pitched His tent among us for 33 years.”

Thus, the Tabernacle had its purpose and its message. But there was a change afoot. No longer were the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness. No longer were they searching for a home. God had brought them home to a new land—a land which God gave them forever. Perhaps it was time for a new dwelling place for God. God did, indeed, allow a temple to be built—a new dwelling place. He did not allow David to build it, but He ultimately allowed it to be built.

A.W. Pink goes on to describe how the Tabernacle foreshadowed Christ in His first coming, but the temple looks forward to Christ at His second coming. The Tabernacle was temporary, but the temple was permanent. The Tabernacle was built by a prophet (Moses), and the temple was built by a king (Solomon). Likewise, in His first coming, Christ served as a prophet; in His second coming, He will reign as a king. The Tabernacle was used in the wilderness, picturing Christ’s humiliation, while the temple will be used in the Millennium, the place of Christ’s glorification. In the transition from Tabernacle to temple, God was communicating some profound truths and previewing for His people aspects of the coming Messiah.

The temple was the house David wanted to build for God. David had beautiful, God-honoring motives in wanting to do this. But God had so much more in mind for David. He revealed to David that He (God) would build him (David) a house. Not just a building to dwell in, but an enduring dynasty from which Messiah Himself would come. Over the next few weeks, we will explore how rich and significant this Davidic Covenant is where God builds this lasting house for David.

Discussion Questions

1. Describe a time when you were young and got caught doing something you shouldn’t.

2. Reviewing 2 Samuel 11, in what specific ways did David sin? In light of this, what does Psalm 51:4 mean? Even though sins truly do affect others, how does our sin always ultimately point back to God? What does this reveal about the nature of sin? As you read through Psalm 51, what do you think David is feeling? Why do you think David is able to approach God as he does while under the cloud of such shame?

3. What does Psalm 51:5 mean? How can a newborn baby be considered sinful? From what you understand, what is “original sin” all about? What does this verse reveal about our sin, our salvation, and our sinful tendencies throughout our life? What does it reveal about God? If God created all things “good,” then why do we all have this sinful tendency? What is David’s remedy for this sinful morass in which we find ourselves (vv. 7-12)? What do we learn in this psalm about God’s perspective on sin?

4. What does this psalm reveal about David’s attitude toward God? How does this psalm serve as a model for what repentance looks like in the Christian life? Where do you see those around you following David’s example of repentance as expressed here? Where do you see others deflecting and becoming defensive in similar situations? Why do you think this is?

5. How does God’s mercy and grace draw us to repentance? Read through Psalm 51 again and highlight the terms David uses (wash, clean, pure, cleanse). If you had to summarize the message of this psalm, what would it be? What does it cost for our sins to be washed clean? How can focusing on Jesus’ sacrifice motivate our repentance as well? What is one activity you can engage in this week that will focus your heart on what repentance and forgiveness look like in your life?

Going Deeper

1. What do verses 16-17 refer to? In a culture where bloody animal sacrifices were a daily occurrence, what would this mean to them? What did the sacrificial system mean to the people of Israel? How did this system point them to Christ? In the context of this sacrificial mindset, what does Christ’s death represent? What did it accomplish?

2. How has your sensitivity to sin changed over the course of your Christian life? What happens in your heart when you confess and own up to your sin? How have you experienced God’s mercy and restoration in these situations? What have you learned about God in these circumstances that you cannot learn elsewhere? What do we learn in this psalm about the role of confession, repentance, and restoration in our lives?

Transformational Activity

Prayer

Psalm 51 offers us incredible insight into what God did in David’s heart in the time surrounding this horrible Bathsheba encounter and its aftermath. This entire psalm is basically a prayer. Most often in scripture we get the details of the story presented to us, but every so often, we also get a peek “behind the scenes”—details that fill out the picture so much more fully. What is the focus of David’s prayer in this psalm? How does this focus compare with our own prayers? Take some time this week to pray this same prayer to God—using your own circumstances in life. Then perhaps reflect on how we might learn how better to pray by following David’s example.