PSALM 51

TEHILLIM 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 Elohim, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

For the one directing. Mizmor Dovid. When Natan HaNavi confronted him after he went into Bat- Sheva—2Sm. 11:2) Have mercy upon me, O Elohim, according to Thy chesed; according unto the multitude of Thy rachamim blot out my peysha'im (transgressions, rebellions).

Distress towards God because of sin

Now, what does this state of mind arise from? Its very kernel, without which it could have no existence is this: the belief in God, the recognition of His loving power and presence, the sense of His personal acquaintance with all our ways, and of His supreme and sovereign proprietorship and authority over us as His creatures.

How could a man have any distress towards God because of sin who had any doubt as to the existence of God? Still less, how could such a man be animated by the love that David expresses towards God in all the Psalms?

It is manifest that the first condition of this state of mind is knowledge. Love always comes after knowledge; never before. The same with fear. Who ever loved or feared a person they did not know of? It is morally impossible. To know God, therefore is the first thing.

To know Him and to love Him, as the scribe said whom Jesus approvingly pronounced to be "not far from the Kingdom of God," is better than all burnt offerings or ceremonial or technical compliances of any kind whatsoever.

This is the inside of the Truth, the knowledge, and love, and worship of God, without which all knowledge and attainments are vain. Those who are not yet in harmony with "the first and great commandment"-

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy strength, and all thy mind"

- have not made a beginning in the course of real and acceptable godliness.

Seasons 2.76

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

àMe wash from mine iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin!

For I Acknowledge my transgressions, and

Before me ever is my sin.

‭—‬My sin,‭ ‬i.e.‭ ‬the sin for which I am to be an offering.‭—‬v3.‭ ‬Thee only,‭ ‬this shews the strict applicability of this psalm to Messiah,‭ ‬who never sinned against any man:‭ ‬this can be said of none but of Him,‭ ‬v4.‭ ‬In Sin,‭ ‬i.e.‭ ‬he was to be born of the woman,‭ ‬a quality of the accidental constitution of whose nature is sin‭; ‬the original constitution of human nature was sinless,‭ ‬v5.‭ ‬Purge me with hyssop,‭ ‬i.e.‭ ‬literally,

‭ "‬thou shalt make a sin offering for me",‭

as in cleansing from the typical leprosy—sin‭; ‬by which he had become infected on assuming human nature‭; ‬for God to purge him with hyssop,‭ ‬was to purify his nature from the sin-leprosy,‭ ‬by raising him from the grave to a spiritual body‭; ‬and thus by the proclamation of his resurrection to notify his cure and acceptance of God to the people.‭—‬v8.‭ ‬Judgment of slaughter,‭ ‬i.e.‭ ‬the violent death to which the Messiah was to be adjudged‭; ‬to deliver him from this,‭ ‬was to raise him from the tomb.

Apostolic Advocate, Feb 1836

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

THE WOMAN'S SEED

àThe Christ-Deity veiled himself in the Adamic nature defiled by sin,‭ ‬in order that he might condemn sin to death in the nature which, though created "very good," had legally defiled itself by transgression of the Eden law. This purpose would have been defeated if he had veiled himself in a clean nature.

To say that the Man,‭ ‬Jesus, was corporeally clean, or pure, holy, spotless, and undefiled, is in effect to say that he was not "made of a woman;" for Scripture teaches, that nothing born of woman can possibly be clean: but it is credibly testified that he was "born of a woman;" he must therefore necessarily have been born corporeally unclean. Hence, it is written of him in Psa 51:5

‭"‬I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."

He therefore prays,He therefore prays,

‭"‬Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

This prayer has been answered,‭ ‬and he has been

"Washed thoroughly from his (corporeal) iniquity, and cleansed from his sin;"

so that now he has a clean nature, which is spirit and divine—"the Lord the Spirit"—once dead as to flesh, but now alive as Spirit for evermore Rev 1:18.

Bro Thomas – Ambassador 1869

Now, what does this state of mind arise from? Its very kernel, without which it could have no existence is this: the belief in God, the recognition of His loving power and presence, the sense of His personal acquaintance with all our ways, and of His supreme and sovereign proprietorship and authority over us as His creatures.

How could a man have any distress towards God because of sin who had any doubt as to the existence of God? Still less, how could such a man be animated by the love that David expresses towards God in all the Psalms? It is manifest that the first condition of this state of mind is knowledge.

Bro Roberts - The inside of the Truth

15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

Surely, amid the accumulating cares of life, feeling oftentimes the need of wisdom to guide, of courage and strength to pursue the steady path of duty amid conflicting elements, we shall do unwisely if we neglect to retire to our closets and make our requests known unto God.

He will hear us when we pray, for He cannot lie, and He has said, "Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me" (Psalm 50:15). Paul also encourages the same attitude of mind toward God. He says, "in everything by prayer and supplicaton, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Heb 4:16 "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving."

- SISTER JANE ROBERTS 'The assistance of prayer' from THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN

18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

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.

Now, Israel had not reached the zenith of their glory when this Psalm was written. The walls of Jerusalem were still intact. No breach had been made therein. The necessity for rebuilding and restoration had not arisen. Hence in this Psalm is foretold the future desolation of the city to be followed by restoration.

To what period did the Psalmist refer ? It could not be the partial restoration from Babylon, because the psalm speaks of a restitution when " burnt offerings, whole burnt offerings, and bullocks would be offered in righteousness." This was just the element which was lacking in that restoration. The Father held aloof.

In consequence of Israel's pollutions of the altar, the manifestation of glory associated with the offering of the first Temple did not return. The audible voice from behind the veil was silent during all the intervening period between the return from Babylon and the terrible evil which at last befel the nation at the destruction of Jersualem by Titus.

Consider the denunciation of Israel in the first chapter of Malachi. This prophecy has never been fulfilled. No. The restoration foretold is yet future, and will find its accomplishment

in the Temple of Ezekiel's prophecy

"when the sons of Levi will offer unto Yahweh an offering in righteousness"

Thus we read :

Yahweh whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple. . . . He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may ofter unto Yahweh an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in former

years. (Mal. 111., 1-4.)

Here we see that when the Lord comes to His Temple, the sons of Levi will be purified in order that they may " offer an offering in righteousness". And THEN shall the offerings be pleasant unto Yahweh "as in the days of old, and as in former years".

These offerings are to be made in the house of Yahweh's glory at the restoration, thus we read :

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Yahweh is risen upon thee . . . All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee, they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the House of My Glory. (Isa. LX. I, 7.)

We have seen that the glory of the God of Israel will enter the Temple described by Ezekiel, which thus becomes the House of His Glory. The appearance of the Righteous Branch raised up unto David, and His covenanted association with the restoration of the Levitical order of priesthood, as foretold in the testimonies already quoted, is set forth as a challenge defying all the forces of the adversary to hinder or prevent :

Thus saith Yahweh ; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season ; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne ; and with the Levties the priests, my ministers.

As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured ; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. (Jer. xxxiii. 20-22.)

In view of these testimonies, how can anyone doubt that animal sacrifices will be restored, and that in the era of restoration—the restored Temple era—such sacrifices will obtain ?

Bro Henry Sulley