Psalm 51:7…purge me with hyssop,
David was seeking forgiveness from God because of his great sin of adultery and murder.
His first request was for mercy. He knew he deserved to be punished yet he was asking the Lord to hold back from him what was due.
David came to
God with complete knowledge of God’s attributes and pleaded Him to have mercy
according to your lovingkindness: according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies.
David asked the Lord to blot out his transgression. To erase it from the recording of David’s life. To make it as though it had never happened.
David knew the forgiveness of
the Lord from sin;
32:1
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
32:5 … and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin
Psa 51:2 Wash me throughly from mine
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the
iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin.
David also knew his part in receiving
forgiveness and keeping his life clean:
Psa 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not:
commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Psa 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD
Psa. 38:3 neither is there any rest in my bones because of
my sin.
Psa 38:18 For I will declare mine
iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.
Psa 51:3 For I acknowledge my
transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psa 119:11 Thy word have I hid in
mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
David knew the extent of his sin, how
it was not against man, but against God.
v.4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in
thy sight:
What interests me in this passage
of scripture is how David asks the Lord to get rid of the sin in his own heart,
in his own mind, and in his own rememberance.
For is David knew the Lord had forgiven him with the prayer of sincere
regret and repentance, why did David go on and on about it.
It was because David was forever going to be thinking about his sin.
Every time the sin was brought to mind, David would not feel for the
people, he would not feel for himself, he would feel the shame and reproach that
he brought on his God and his Saviour.
David asked the Lord to “purge”
him.
To purge is to take away the scum.
To take away the impurities so that “I shall be clean.”
How did David ask the Lord to purge him? With hyssop, why hyssop?