Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 51:14
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: [and] my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness ] From the power and the punishment of my sin. Cp. Psa 39:8; Psa 40:12. No doubt ‘bloodguiltiness’ may include all ‘mortal sin,’ for which death was the punishment (see Eze 18:13; Psa 9:12, note); and the word is applicable enough to the nation which is repeatedly charged with the crime of murder (Isa 1:15; Isa 4:4; Jer 19:4; Eze 7:23 ; 2Ki 24:3-4; &c.); but it is distinctly appropriate to David’s crimes of adultery and murder. Cp. 2Sa 12:5; 2Sa 12:13.
thy righteousness ] God’s righteousness, i.e. His faithfulness to His character and covenant, is exhibited in the pardon of the penitent not less than in the judgement of the impenitent. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn 1:9). Contrast Rom 2:4 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God – Margin, as in Hebrew, bloods. So it is rendered by the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. Luther renders it blood-guilt. DeWette, from blood. Compare Isa 4:4. The plural form – bloods – is used probably to mark intensity, or to denote great guilt. The allusion is to the guilt of shedding blood, or taking life (compare Gen 9:5-6), and the reference is undoubtedly to his guilt in causing Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, to be slain. 2Sa 11:14-17. It was this which weighed upon his conscience, and filled him with alarm. The guilt of this he prayed might be taken away, that he might have peace. The fact of the shedding of that blood could never be changed; the real criminality of that fact would always remain the same; the crime itself could never be declared to be innocence; his own personal ill desert for having caused the shedding of that blood would always remain; but the sin might be pardoned, and his soul could thus find peace.
The penalty might be remitted, and, though guilty, he might be assured of the divine favor. He could not, indeed, repair the evil to Uriah – for he had gone beyond the power of David for good or for evil – but he could do much to express his sense of the wrong; he could do much to save others from a similar course; he could do much to benefit society by keeping others from the like guilt. He could not, indeed, recall Uriah from the grave, and repair the evil which he had done to him, but he might save others from such a crime, and thus preserve many a useful life from the effects of unrestrained guilty passions. We cannot, indeed, by penitence recall those whom we have murdered; we cannot restore purity to those whom we have seduced; we cannot restore faith to the young man whom we may have made a sceptic; but we may do much to restrain others from sin, and much to benefit the world even when we have been guilty of wrongs that cannot be repaired.
Thou God of my salvation – On whom I am dependent for salvation; who art alone the source of salvation to me.
And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness – Compare the notes at Psa 35:28.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 51:14
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.
Soul murder–who is guilty
Some may question whether such a text as this should be chosen for an ordinary congregation, No one here is guilty of blood. But there are more ways than one of incurring this guilt. And one chief way is in the destroying of souls.
I. A startling crime. We are all guilty of such crime in the death of our Lord; in anger without cause; by youthful transgressions which have led others into sin; by false teaching, insinuating doubts, and causing men to err from the truth and perish. It is a dastardly thing to poison the wells of a city, but what is it to poison the well of truth and make soul-thirst the medium of soul-ruin? Others actually trade in luring men to sin; by this craft they get their wealth. And these are those who delight to lead others astray. Ill example; neglect of religion at home; indifference as to saving souls general want of earnestness–all these bring us under the guilt here told of.
II. Let us make earnest confession of our sin and pray for deliverance from it.
III. A commendable vow. David says if God will deliver him he will sing aloud, etc. Oh, to be clear of others blood. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Blood-guiltiness
I. Who is guilty of it?
1. Those who neglect the atonement of Christ, and continue obstinately to persevere in sin until they lose their own souls.
2. Those who teach principles that lead others to trample upon the blood of Christ.
3. Those who set an example that leads others to disregard religion and die in their sins.
4. Those who neglect to do for others what might promote their salvation.
5. Those who hold their peace when they see prevailing any iniquities that are destroying the souls of men.
II. What it involves.
1. It stains deep.
2. It corrodes fearfully.
3. Oh, what a view this subject gives us of this worlds guilty population I We walk the streets of our city with a multitude of murderers, who will have all this train of blood-guiltiness upon them in the last day.
4. Why, then, are we so surprised that so few are saved, and so many destroyed? (D. A. Clark.)
Blood-guiltiness
Like enough that David at first beguiled himself with this, that inasmuch as Uriah was slain in the field, therefore he was clear; but now he saw this was but a poor shift; God, who was greater than his heart, had now raised up his heart to be a witness against him, and to charge him not only with desiring Uriahs death, but with devising which way closely to bring him to his end. And thus he was guilty of blood who shed no blood; and so may this be found true in many others. A magistrate may be guilty of the sins of the people by not punishing, or by too slight and easy punishing; a man of rule and reckoning in the world may be chargeable with the evils of his inferiors, because his example hath enboldened them. A minister may make himself a party in the enormities of his parish by not preaching against them, or by being too sparing, or too covert, or too gentle in reproving them. It may be I persuade not my people to be ignorant, to be superstitious, to be profaners of the Sabbath; yet, inasmuch as I labour not against these evils in them, my silence, my slighting over of these things, strengtheneth their hands and their hearts to a continuance therein; by this I become guilty before God. Men of ability may be guilty of others perishing, albeit they do to them no kind of actual violence; as by not inquiring into the necessities of those that want, by not making them partakers of their plenty. (S. Hieron.)
Thou God of my salvation.—
God is the God of our salvation
David now comes to God to free him from the guilt of a particular sin, which was his blood-guiltiness; and how, now, does he both persuade God and also satisfy and comfort himself in this particular? Namely, from this consideration, that he was the God of his salvation in the latitude and full extent of it. As if he bad said, Thou which wilt save me from all other sins besides, save me also from this. And Thou which hast been my help and Saviour in times past, be Thou now also so unto me. That which we may observe from it is this, that the way to have particular help from God is to have a general interest in Him; He must be our God and the God of our salvation before we can expect that He should actually and particularly save us. God does not do anything to His servant in this kind for a mere fit, but upon a more general principle. All Gods goodness to His servants in the particular dispensation of mercy is founded in His relations to them, and theirs to Him, and the particular flows from the general. And so, if we would have any comfort from Him at any time to this purpose, we must first of all be sure to lay this for a ground and foundation of it. The consideration of this point shows the misery and unhappiness of such persons as are in a state of strangeness to God, and have not as yet made their peace with Him, why they can expect nothing comfortably from Him while they are in that condition, neither pardon of sin, nor power against it, nor at last eternal salvation itself. Why? Because God is not yet theirs, which relation is the ground of all comfort. What I do we think that God saves a man at the very first of His dealings with him? No such matter, but there is somewhat else which goes before it; God makes us sons before He gives us the inheritance; and He plucks us out of the state of nature before he brings us into the condition of glory; and he is the God of our salvation before He saves in such a particular. (Thomas Horton, D. D.)
My tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.—
Davids promise to sing of Gods righteousness
I. Whoso receives or expects any mercy or favour from God must know himself bound to return somewhat back by way of thankfulness unto God.
II. The exercise and act of singing is a duty well becoming Gods people, for the declaration of their due acknowledgment of Gods kindness. And that we might not conceive of this duty as of a service ceremonial, and so ceasing in Christ, who is the body of all ancient types; St. Paul commended it to the practice of Christians in the New Testament; persuading them to psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs; and it is St. Jamess rule, that if any man have a disposition to discover the inward rejoicing of his heart in the feeling of Gods mercies, he should sing. It is an excellent means to quicken and enliven the dulness of mans spirits. It is very effectual both to discover and stir up joy.
III. The tongue and voice of man ought to be used by him for the declaring of Gods praise. It is called a mans glory, both because it is one of the excellencies and prerogatives of man over other creatures, that he is enabled to use his tongue to the expressing of his hand; and because it is the instrument ordained to the setting forth of Gods glory, in the advancement whereof the glory of man as Gods principal creature doth consist. The special matter of praising God is conveyed unto us by the tongue. The knowledge of salvation through Christ is the main ground of glorifying God. And is it not the tongue of man, which God hath consecrated to the begetting of it within us? Now, as God, by the tongues of those whom He hath appointed to be vessels of bearing His name to the world, conveyeth the matter of His praise into our hearts, so by our tongues He requires a testification thereof. By the tongue we receive good, by the tongue we ought to manifest that good we have received; neither can there be a more fitting means for us to be instruments of good to others, than the well-using of our tongues; those duties of admonition, exhortation, comfort, whereby one Christian is bound to further the salvation of another, how shall they be so well performed as by the tongue? That law of grace, which is in the tongue of Gods children, is that which must minister grace unto those which hear us, according to the apostles rule. There is a certain holy salt in the tongue of a godly man, by which others may be seasoned; whereupon it is said, that the lips of a righteous man do feed many; many do receive refreshing and comfort by his talk. Then again, whether it is not a matter of equity that the tongue should be employed for His honour, by whom it is endued with that faculty with which it is accomplished? (S. Hieron.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness] This is one of the expressions that gives most colour to the propriety of the title affixed to this Psalm. Here he may have in view the death of Uriah, and consider that his blood cries for vengeance against him; and nothing but the mere mercy of God can wipe this blood from his conscience. The prayer here is earnest and energetic: O God! thou God of my salvation! deliver me! The Chaldee reads, “Deliver me ( middin ketol) from the judgment of slaughter.”
My tongue shall sing aloud] My tongue shall praise thy righteousness. I shall testify to all that thou hast the highest displeasure against sin, and wilt excuse it in no person; and that so merciful art thou, that if a sinner turn to thee with a deeply penitent and broken heart, thou wilt forgive his iniquities. None, from my case, can ever presume; none, from my case, need ever despair.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
From blood-guiltiness, Heb. from bloods, because he had been the cause of the death, not only of Uriah, but of others of the Lords people with him, 2Sa 11:17.
Thy righteousness; either,
1. Thy faithfulness in making good thy promises; or rather,
2. Thy clemency and goodness, as that word is frequently used.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. Deliveror, “Free me”(Ps 39:8) from the guiltof murder (2Sa 12:9; 2Sa 12:10;Psa 5:6).
righteousnessas inPsa 7:17; Psa 31:1.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Deliver me from blood guiltiness,…. Or “from bloods” q; meaning not the corruption of nature; see Eze 16:6; though to be rid of that, and to be free from the guilt and condemnation of it, is very desirable, Ro 7:24; but either from capital punishment in his family, the effusion of blood and slaughter in it, threatened him on account of his sin, 2Sa 12:10. So the Targum is,
“deliver me from the judgment of slaying or killing;”
or rather from the guilt of the blood of Uriah, and other servants of his, he had been the occasion of shedding, and was chargeable with, being accessary thereunto, 2Sa 11:15; which lay heavy upon his conscience, pressed him on every side, as if he was in prison, and brought upon him a spirit of bondage to fear; and therefore he prays to be delivered from it, by the application of pardoning grace, which would be like proclaiming liberty to the captive;
O God, thou God of my salvation; who has contrived it for his people, chosen them to it, secured it for them in covenant, and provided his Son to be the author of it, and sends his Spirit to apply it. The psalmist knew, that being God he could pardon his sin, remove his guilt, and free him from obligation to punishment, which none else could; and being the “God of [his] salvation”, and his covenant God, he had reason to hope and believe he would;
[and] my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness; goodness, grace, and mercy, in forgiving sin; for “righteousness” sometimes designs clemency, goodness, and mercy; see Ps 31:1; and faithfulness in making good the divine promise to forgive such who are sensible of sin, and repent of it, acknowledge it, and ask for mercy; or the righteousness of Christ, well known to David, Ro 4:6; which justifies from all sin, removes the guilt of it, and fills the soul with joy and gladness,
Isa 61:10.
q “de sanguinibus”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Vatablus, Musculus; so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The third part now begins with a doubly urgent prayer. The invocation of God by the name Elohim is here made more urgent by the addition of ; inasmuch as the prayers for justification and for renewing blend together in the “deliver me.” David does not seek to lessen his guilt; he calls it in by its right name, – a word which signifies blood violently shed, and then also a deed of blood and blood-guiltiness (Psa 9:13; Psa 106:38, and frequently). We have also met with construed with of the sin in Psa 39:9. He had given Uriah over to death in order to possess himself of Bathsheba. And the accusation of his conscience spoke not merely of adultery, but also of murder. Nevertheless the consciousness of sin no longer smites him to the earth, Mercy has lifted him up; he prays only that she would complete her work in him, then shall his tongue exultingly praise ( with an accusative of the object, as in Psa 59:17) God’s righteousness, which, in accordance with the promise, takes the sinner under its protection. But in order to perform what he vowed he would do under such circumstances, he likewise needs grace, and prays, therefore, for a joyous opening of his mouth. In sacrifices God delighteth not (Psa 40:7, cf. Isa 1:11), otherwise he would bring some ( , darem, sc. si velles, vid., on Psa 40:6); whole-burnt-offerings God doth not desire: the sacrifices that are well-pleasing to Him and most beloved by Him, in comparison with which the flesh and the dead work of the and the ( ) is altogether worthless, are thankfulness (Psa 50:23) out of the fulness of a penitent and lowly heart. There is here, directly at least, no reference to the spiritual antitype of the sin-offering, which is never called . The inward part of a man is said to be broken and crushed when his sinful nature is broken, his ungodly self slain, his impenetrable hardness softened, his haughty vainglorying brought low, – in fine, when he is in himself become as nothing, and when God is everything to him. Of such a spirit and heart, panting after grace or favour, consist the sacrifices that are truly worthy God’s acceptance and well-pleasing to Him (cf. Isa 57:15, where such a spirit and such a heart are called God’s earthly temple).
(Note: The Talmud finds a significance in the plural . Joshua ben Levi ( B. Sanhedrin 43 b) says: At the time when the temple was standing, whoever brought a burnt-offering received the reward of it, and whoever brought a meat-offering, the reward of it; but the lowly was accounted by the Scriptures as one who offered every kind of sacrifice at once ( ). In Irenaeaus, iv. 17, 2, and Clemens Alexandrinus, Paedag. iii. 12, is found to the addition: .)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Penitential Petitions. | |
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 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.
I. David prays against the guilt of sin, and prays for the grace of God, enforcing both petitions from a plea taken from the glory of God, which he promises with thankfulness to show forth. 1. He prays against the guilt of sin, that he might be delivered from that, and promises that then he would praise God, v. 14. The particular sin he prays against is blood-guiltiness, the sin he had now been guilty of, having slain Uriah with the sword of the children of Ammon. Hitherto perhaps he had stopped the mouth of conscience with that frivolous excuse, that he did not kill him himself; but now he was convinced that he was the murderer, and, hearing the blood cry to God for vengeance, he cries to God for mercy: “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness; let me not lie under the guilt of this kind which I have contracted, but let it be pardoned to me, and let me never be left to myself to contract the like guilt again.” Note, It concerns us all to pray earnestly against the guilt of blood. In this prayer he eyes God as the God of salvation. Note, Those to whom God is the God of salvation he will deliver from guilt; for the salvation he is the God of is salvation from sin. We may therefore plead this with him, “Lord, thou art the God of my salvation, therefore deliver me from the dominion of sin.” He promises that, if God would deliver him, his tongue should sing aloud of his righteousness; God should have the glory both of pardoning mercy and of preventing grace. God’s righteousness is often put for his grace, especially in the great business of justification and sanctification. This he would comfort himself in and therefore sing of; and this he would endeavour both to acquaint and to affect others with; he would sing aloud of it. This all those should do that have had the benefit of it, and owe their all to it. 2. He prays for the grace of God and promises to improve that grace to his glory (v. 15): “O Lord! open thou my lips, not only that I may teach and instruct sinners” (which the best preacher cannot do to any purpose unless God give him the opening of the mouth, and the tongue of the learned), “but that my mouth may show forth thy praise, not only that I may have abundant matter for praise, but a heart enlarged in praise.” Guilt had closed his lips, had gone near to stop the mouth of prayer; he could not for shame, he could not for fear, come into the presence of that God whom he knew he had offended, much less speak to him; his heart condemned him, and therefore he had little confidence towards God. It cast a damp particularly upon his praises; when he had lost the joys of his salvation his harp was hung upon the willow-trees; therefore he prays, “Lord, open my life, put my heart in tune for praise again.” To those that are tongue-tied by reason of guilt the assurance of the forgiveness of their sins says effectually, Ephphatha–Be opened; and, when the lips are opened, what should they speak but the praises of God, as Zacharias did? Luke i. 64.
II. David offers the sacrifice of a penitent contrite heart, as that which he knew God would be pleased with. 1. He knew well that the sacrificing of beasts was in itself of no account with God (v. 16): Thou desirest not sacrifice (else would I give it with all my heart to obtain pardon and peace); thou delightest not in burnt-offering. Here see how glad David would have been to give thousands of rams to make atonement for sin. Those that are thoroughly convinced of their misery and danger by reason of sin would spare no cost to obtain the remission of it, Mic 6:6; Mic 6:7. But see how little God valued this. As trials of obedience, and types of Christ, he did indeed require sacrifices to be offered; but he had no delight in them for any intrinsic worth or value they had. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not. As they cannot make satisfaction for sin, so God cannot take any satisfaction in them, any otherwise than as the offering of them is expressive of love and duty to him. 2. He knew also how acceptable true repentance is to God (v. 17): The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. See here, (1.) What the good work is that is wrought in every true penitent–a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. It is a work wrought upon the heart; that is it that God looks at, and requires, in all religious exercises, particularly in the exercises of repentance. It is a sharp work wrought there, no less than the breaking of the heart; not in despair (as we say, when a man is undone, His heart is broken), but in necessary humiliation and sorrow for sin. It is a heart breaking with itself, and breaking from its sin; it is a heart pliable to the word of God, and patient under the rod of God, a heart subdued and brought into obedience; it is a heart that is tender, like Josiah’s, and trembles at God’s word. Oh that there were such a heart in us! (2.) How graciously God is pleased to accept of this. It is the sacrifices of God, not one, but many; it is instead of all burnt-offering and sacrifice. The breaking of Christ’s body for sin is the only sacrifice of atonement, for no sacrifice but that could take away sin; but the breaking of our hearts for sin is a sacrifice of acknowledgment, a sacrifice of God, for to him it is offered up; he requires it, he prepares it (he provides this lamb for a burnt-offering), and he will accept of it. That which pleased God was not the feeding of a beast, and making much of it, but killing it; so it is not the pampering of our flesh, but the mortifying of it, that God will accept. The sacrifice was bound, was bled, was burnt; so the penitent heart is bound by convictions, bleeds in contrition, and then burns in holy zeal against sin and for God. The sacrifice was offered upon the altar that sanctified the gift; so the broken heart is acceptable to God only through Jesus Christ; there is no true repentance without faith in him; and this is the sacrifice which he will not despise. Men despise that which is broken, but God will not. He despised the sacrifice of torn and broken beasts, but he will not despise that of a torn and broken heart. He will not overlook it; he will not refuse or reject it; though it make God no satisfaction for the wrong done him by sin, yet he does not despise it. The proud Pharisee despised the broken-hearted publican, and he thought very meanly of himself; but God did not despise him. More is implied than is expressed; the great God overlooks heaven and earth, to look with favour upon a broken and contrite heart,Isa 66:1; Isa 57:15.
III. David intercedes for Zion and Jerusalem, with an eye to the honour of God. See what a concern he had,
1. For the good of the church of God (v. 18): Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion, that is, (1.) “To all the particular worshippers in Zion, to all that love and fear thy name; keep them from falling into such wounding wasting sins as these of mine; defend and succour all that fear thy name.” Those that have been in spiritual troubles themselves know how to pity and pray for those that are in like manner afflicted. Or, (2.) To the public interests of Israel. David was sensible of the wrong he had done to Judah and Jerusalem by his sin, how it had weakened the hands and saddened the hearts of good people, and opened the mouths of their adversaries; he was likewise afraid lest, he being a public person, his sin should bring judgments upon the city and kingdom, and therefore he prays to God to secure and advance those public interests which he had damaged and endangered. He prays that God would prevent those national judgments which his sin had deserved, that he would continue those blessings, and carry on that good work, which it had threatened to retard and put a stop to. He prays, not only that God would do good to Zion, as he did to other places, by his providence, but that he would do it in his good pleasure, with the peculiar favour he bore to that place which he had chosen to put his name there, that the walls of Jerusalem, which perhaps were now in the building, might be built up, and that good work finished. Note, [1.] When we have most business of our own, and of greatest importance at the throne of grace, yet then we must not forget to pray for the church of God; nay, or Master has taught us in our daily prayers to begin with that, Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come. [2.] The consideration of the prejudice we have done to the public interests by our sins should engage us to do them all the service we can, particularly by our prayers.
2. For the honour of the churches of God, v. 19. If God would show himself reconciled to him and his people, as he had prayed, then they should go on with the public services of his house, (1.) Cheerfully to themselves. The sense of God’s goodness to them would enlarge their hearts in all the instances and expressions of thankfulness and obedience. They will then come to his tabernacle with burnt-offerings, with whole burnt-offerings, which were intended purely for the glory of God, and they shall offer, not lambs and rams only, but bullocks, the costliest sacrifices, upon his altar. (2.) Acceptably to God: “Thou shalt be pleased with them, that is, we shall have reason to hope so when we perceive the sin taken away which threatened to hinder thy acceptance.” Note, It is a great comfort to a good man to think of the communion that is between God and his people in their public assemblies, how he is honoured by their humble attendance on him and they are happy in his gracious acceptance of it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
14 Deliver me from bloods His recurring so often to petitions for pardon, proves how far David was from flattering himself with unfounded hopes, and what a severe struggle he sustained with inward terrors. According to some, he prays in this verse to be delivered from the guilt of the blood of Uriah, and, in general, of the whole army. (270) But the term bloods in Hebrew may denote any capital crime, and, in my opinion, he is here to be considered as alluding to the sentence of death, to which he felt himself to be obnoxious, and from which he requests deliverance. By the righteousness of God, which he engages to celebrate, we are to understand his goodness; for this attribute, as usually ascribed to God in the Scriptures, does not so much denote the strictness with which he exacts vengeance, as his faithfulness in fulfilling the promises and extending help to all who seek him in the hour of need. There is much emphasis and vehemency in the mode of his address, O God! the God of my salvation, intimating at once how tremblingly he was alive to the danger of his situation, and how strongly his faith terminated upon God as the ground of his hope. Similar is the strain of the verse which follows. He prays that his lips may be opened; in other words, that God would afford him matter of praise. The meaning usually attached to the expression is, that God would so direct his tongue by the Spirit as to fit him for singing his praises. But though it is true that God must supply us with words, and that if he do not, we cannot fail to be silent in his praise, David seems rather to intimate that his mouth must be shut until God called him to the exercise of thanksgiving by extending pardon. In another place we find him declaring that a new song had been put in his mouth, (Psa 40:3,)and it seems to be in this sense that he here desires his lips to be opened. He again signifies the gratitude which he would feel, and which he would express, intimating, that he sought the mercy of God with no other view than that he might become the herald of it to others. My mouth, he says emphatically, shall show forth thy praise.
(270) This opinion, although disapproved of by our Author, is very generally held by commentators. When blood is used in the plural number as here, it usually denotes murder or manslaughter, and the guilt following thereupon: as in Gen 4:11, “The voice of thy brother’s bloods crieth unto me from the ground;” 1Ch 22:8, “Thou hast shed bloods abundantly;” and Psa 9:13, “When he maketh inquisition for bloods.” See also Psa 106:38. “A man of bloods” is a bloody man, a man who is guilty of bloodshed, Psa 5:6. David’s conduct towards Uriah, forming as it did a dark and an atrocious deed of treachery and cruelty which has few parallels in the history of mankind, must, on his recovery to a sense of its real character, have inflicted on his soul an agony which cannot be told. He escaped being tried before an earthly tribunal; but his conscience told him that he stood at the bar of Heaven, laden with the guilt of murder; and he was convinced that the mercy of God alone could pardon him and purify his conscience. No wonder then that he cries out with such emphasis and earnestness, O God ! thou God of my salvation ! deliver me ! The Chaldee reads, “Deliver me from the judgment of murder.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) Bloodguiltiness . . .Literally, as in the margin, bloods. So in LXX. and in Vulg., but thus hardly making it clear whether the word implies the guilt of blood already shed or anticipated violence. The latter would rather have taken the form of Psa. 59:2, from men of blood. Probably we should read from death, as in Psa. 56:13.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Bloodguiltiness A direct allusion to 2Sa 11:14-17. He covers nothing of his sin, but openly calls things by their right names. The word rendered “bloodguiltiness” is in the Hebrew simply bloods, (plural.) In the singular it is often used for wilful blood shedding, the taking of human life by violence; in the plural, as here, uniformly so.
Sing aloud of thy righteousness Thus, after forgiveness, according to the law of Moses, comes the offering of praise and thanksgiving. See on Psa 51:19, and Psa 107:22
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Recognising That His Only Hope Lies In Total And Contrite Submission David Makes A Final Plea That God Will Deliver Him From Blood-guiltiness ( Psa 51:14-17 ).
Blood-guiltiness is an idea prominent in the Old Testament. When a person slew another person they were seen as blood-guilty and their lives were seen as forfeit to the ‘avengers of blood’, relatives of the deceased person who sought to take the slayer’s life in return. Indeed, it was seen as incumbent on them to do so. If they slew him no court would find them guilty. It was the only way in which justice could be maintained (there was no police force). That was why ‘cities of refuge’ were provided to which men could flee if they had killed someone accidentally. Once in such a city they were safe. But they could only remain there if they could satisfy the elders of the city that the killing had not been intentional. On the other hand, if the avengers of blood were willing to come to some arrangement (such as compensation) with the killer, then he would go free. Much would depend on the circumstances.
Of course, no one was going to try to kill David. He was too powerful. So in cases like this the idea was that God would take their lives. They were forfeit to Him, which is why Nathan had to assure David, ‘You will not die’ (2Sa 12:13). Thus David, recognising this, is pleading for clemency. He is asking that God will withhold his sentence of death. We are all under sentence of death because of sin (Rom 6:23). We also therefore constantly require God’s clemency.
Psa 51:14-15
‘Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, you God of my salvation,
And my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Sovereign Lord, you will open my lips,
And my mouth will show forth your praise.
He cries to God to deliver him ‘from blood’. The blood of his victim Uriah cries out to God for vengeance, as did the blood of Abel (Gen 4:10), and he hopes that like Cain he might, as a consequence of God’s compassion and mercy, be saved from the final punishment that his crime deserved, just as God has delivered him in the past. For he was fully aware of how much he owed to God for past deliverances. God was the God of his salvation. He was only there because God had watched over him so constantly. And he hoped that He would deliver him again. Strictly he could claim before men that he had not killed Uriah. Uriah had died in battle. But he knew that that plea would not work before God. It was he who in a cowardly way had pronounced sentence of death on Uriah (2Sa 11:15) for no good reason other than to hide his own sinfulness. We can hardly conceive of those words to Joab as being words of David, if they had not been spelled out in black and white. They are an indication of what even the finest Christian man is capable of when trying to hide something of which he is ashamed.
Alternately ‘from blood’ may signify ‘from his own blood being spilled’ (compare Eze 18:10-13), and it may therefore be a plea to be delivered from his own blood being shed as a consequence of high handed sin. It would also then include his adultery. But in either case he is acknowledging that in God’s eyes he is under sentence of death, and that his only hope lies in the granting of a pardon.
‘And my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.’ He promises that if he is pardoned he will use his gifts as a psalmist and musician to sing about and proclaim God’s righteousness. He will not take his pardon as indicating that God’s standards have been watered down. He will continually declare God’s righteousness and His righteous requirements, in the same way as he has been faced up with them himself. He will not lower God’s requirements by even the smallest amount. But the paralleling of salvation with righteousness would be a theme of Isaiah, where righteousness paralleled with salvation often signifies righteous deliverance. Thus we could translate ‘righteousness’ as ‘righteous deliverance’. He would make clear how a righteous God could deliver in mercy.
‘O Sovereign Lord, you will open my lips, and my mouth will show forth your praise.’ The king whose power was a byword in his day now addresses God as his Sovereign Lord. He is dumb before Him because of his sins. He recognises that as a rebel he has no right to speak. (In those days a person would not speak in the presence of the king unless given the right to do so by the king. Compare Est 5:1-2). Thus he tells God as his Sovereign Lord, that when, having pardoned him, He gives him permission to speak (opens his lips), his mouth will show forth His praise. He will humbly (Psa 51:17) proclaim the goodness, righteousness and mercy of God.
Psa 51:16-17
‘For you do not delight in sacrifice, else would I give it,
You have no pleasure in burnt-offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
He acknowledges that no offering that he offers, no sacrifice that he sacrifices, will be acceptable to God, because for the sins that he has committed no such sacrifice was provided. If offered in repentance sacrifices could atone for unwitting sins, but they could not atone for the sins of which he was guilty, ‘sins with a high hand’. He had blatantly committed capital crimes for which the only remedy was execution. If he brought sacrifices God would not delight in them (the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to YHWH – Pro 15:8). If he brought offerings God would have no pleasure in them. That his particular situation was in mind comes out in the words ‘or else I would give it’. Both before and after this time he would offer offerings and sacrifices aplenty, but at this stage he recognised that they would simply not be acceptable. He was restrained from offering them because he had put himself beyond their scope.
The only sacrifices that he could offer to God at this stage were the sacrifices of a broken spirit, and a broken and contrite heart. It was all that was open to him But these he was sure God would receive. He would not despise them (as He would offerings and sacrifices from the unrighteous). It was possibly these words that Isaiah had in mind in Isa 57:15.
‘A broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.’ A broken spirit and heart are a spirit and heart whose resistance has been ‘broken’ by God’s rebuke and chastening (Pro 3:11-12), and which are thus contrite (repentant and grieved). These are what God seeks in all cases of sin. ‘Whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. — If you are without chastening, then you are illegitimate children and not sons’ (Heb 11:6; Heb 11:8).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 51:14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness This is the proper sense of the expression. The Hebrew damim, is bloods, in the plural; which generally signifies murder. See 2Sa 16:7-8.; Psa 59:2-3.; Eze 7:23. The meaning of the petition here is, “Deliver me from the bloods I have unrighteously spilled; from the guilt of Uriah’s murder.” Thy righteousness here signifies thy truth; veracity, and steadfastness to the promises which God had given. He further prays, Open thou my lips, &c. Psa 51:15. “Remember thy gracious promises, and accomplish them, notwithstanding my unworthiness, that I may have renewed reasons to celebrate thy praises:” for this is the meaning of God’s opening his lips; furnishing him with new motives and occasions of gratitude and thankfulness; Chandler. Mudge thinks that bloods does not mean blood spilled, but that debt of blood whereby a man is rendered guilty of death for any capital crime; such as, adultery, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 592
THE PENITENT ENCOURAGED
Psa 51:14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation! and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
THIS psalm is full of encouragement to a real penitent; but in particular the petition before us. Consider the crime committedmurder; the most atrocious murder that ever was committed. Consider by whom it had been committedthe man after Gods own heart, who had experienced from God more signal interpositions than almost any other man that ever breathed. Consider the long and inconceivable obduracy which he had indulged since the commission of if, even to the very hour when his guilt was charged upon him by the Prophet of the Lord. Could such a sin as this be forgiven? Could such an offender dare to ask forgiveness, or entertain the remotest hope of obtaining it? Surely, if David could approach his God under such circumstances as these, with the smallest hope of acceptance, then may we see in this passage,
I.
The privilege of a contrite soul
There is not a sinner in the universe who may not go to God, as a God of salvation
[Were there only a hope that mercy might be a constituent of the divine character, and an attribute which might by some possibility be displayed, it were a sufficient encouragement to the vilest sinner upon earth to call upon his God. But the title here assigned to the Most High, opens to us a most wonderful view of his character. He is a God of salvation; as having devised a way of salvation for a ruined world: as having given us his only dear Son to effect it: as having accepted the sacrifice of his Son in our behalf; and, as applying that salvation to those whom he has chosen in Christ Jesus before the world began. He is a God of salvation, as making the redemption of the world his great concern; yea, as altogether occupied in it; so as, if I may so speak, to be swallowed up in it, and to be a God of it. We read of him as a God of patience and consolation, yea, a God of all grace: but the title given in my text meets most fully the necessities of mankind, and opens a door of hope to every sinner under heaven.]
Nor is there a sin which, if truly repented of, shall not be forgiven
[We read, indeed, of the sin against the Holy Ghost, as excepted from the tremendous catalogue of pardonable sins. But it is not excepted because of its enormity, as though it were too great to be forgiven; but only because that sin implies a wilful and deliberate rejection of the only means of salvation: it destroys, not because it exceeds the efficacy of the Redeemers blood, but because it tramples on that blood which alone can expiate even the smallest sin. A man who determinately rejects all food, needs not to do any thing else to ensure his own destruction: he rejects the necessary means of life, and therefore must inevitably perish. But we may say without exception, that the blood of Jesus Christ both can and will cleanse from all sin, if only we sprinkle it upon our conscience, and trust in it for salvation. It is worthy of observation, that the Psalmist expresses no doubt as to the possibility of his acceptance with God. He does not say, If such guilt can be forgiven, deliver thou me; but simply, Deliver me. Nay, in a preceding part of this psalm he says, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow [Note: ver. 7.]. Whatever guilt, therefore, may lie upon the conscience of the vilest sinner under heaven, let him go to God, and cry with humble confidence, Deliver me, O God of my salvation!]
From this example of David, we may further learn,
II.
The duty of all who have obtained mercy of the Lord
The world are ready to complain, Why do you not keep your religion to yourself? But no pardoned sinner ought to do so: he is bound to render thanks for the mercies vouchsafed unto him.
1.
He owes it to God
[Surely God is to be honoured, as a God of providence and a God of grace. Are we distinguished above the brute creation? We should bless God for the faculties bestowed upon us. Are we elevated above any of our fellows by the communication of spiritual blessings to our souls? We are bound to praise God for such an unspeakable gift. If we forbore to speak His praises, methinks the very stones would cry out against us.]
2.
He owes it to the world
[How are the world to be instructed in the knowledge of God, if those to whom that knowledge is imparted are silent respecting him? We owe a debt to them. What our eyes have seen, our ears have heard, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life, we are bound to declare to them. We are not at liberty to put our light under a bushel; but must make it to shine before men, that they also may glorify our Father who is in heaven. When we are converted, we are bound in every possible way to strengthen our brethren.]
3.
He owes it to himself
[Suppose a man to have been forgiven much, will he not love much? and will not love vent itself in the praise of the object beloved? Especially if a man have been made a partaker of Gods righteousness, will he not sing aloud of that righteousness? No doubt he will: and, if the angelic hosts would account it a painful sacrifice if silence were imposed upon them, and they were forbidden to shew forth the praises of their God, so would it be with the believing soul, in proportion to the measure of grace that had been conferred upon him.]
To all, then, I say,
1.
Be particular in your applications to God for mercy
[Do not rest in mere general confessions or general petitions; but search out the hidden iniquities of your hearts, and spread them distinctly before God in prayer. We have not all committed the sins of David: but are we not all sinners? And if we would search the records of our conscience, might we not find some evils which call for more than ordinary humiliation? Or, if in acts we have been free from any remarkable transgression, have we not felt such motions of sin within us, as might, if God had given us up to temptation, have issued in the foulest transgressions? We need only recollect what our Lord tells us, that an impure and angry-thought is constructive adultery and murder; and we shall see little reason to cast a stone at others, and abundant reason for humiliation before God. I say, then, search out, every one of you, your besetting sins, and implore of God the forgiveness of them.]
2.
Have respect to God under his proper character
[View God not merely as your Creator, your Governor, and your Judge, but as your Covenant God and Saviour. See how David addresses him: O God, thou God of my salvation! Thus it will be well for every sinner of mankind to do. See your own interest in him: see what provision he has made for you; what invitations he has given to you; what promises he has held forth to you. This will encourage penitence: this will strike the rock for penitential sorrows to flow out. In a word, view God as he is in Christ Jesus, a God reconciling the world unto himself; and you will never indulge despair, nor ever doubt but He will shew mercy to all who call upon him in spirit and in truth.]
3.
Determine, through grace, to improve for God the blessings you receive
[It was a suitable determination of David, that, if his requests should be granted, his tongue should sing aloud of Gods righteousness. A similar resolution becomes us. Are we interested in a salvation which displays the righteousness of God, and makes every perfection of his to concur in the promotion of our welfare? Let us not be silent: let us not be ashamed to confess him before men: though the whole world should endeavour to silence us, let us not regard them for one instant: but let us say with David, I will praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel: My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long [Note: Psa 71:22-24.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Behold, now David’s heart is awakened, how the foul sin of murder haunted his guilty conscience!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: [and] my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Ver. 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God ] Heb. from bloods; in every drop whereof is a tongue crying for vengeance. Besides, if David’s adultery was a sin of infirmity (he was preoccupied, as Gal 6:1 ), yet his murdering of Uriah, and many others that fell together with him, was a sin of presumption; a deliberate prepensed evil, done in cold blood, and therefore lay very heavily upon his conscience. Howbeit he obtained pardon for this great sin also; so that it never troubled him on his deathbed, as some other did, though not so great, whereof he had not so thoroughly repented, 1Ki 2:5-9
Thou God of my salvation
And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 51:14-17
14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
16For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Psa 51:14-17 This strophe continues the thought of
1. deliver BDB 664, KB 717, Hiphil imperative, the psalmist was sinful and needed to be forgiven. Psa 51:14 may link to David’s murder of Uriah (lit. bloods, BDB 196, assumed to refer to bloodguiltiness, that is, murder of an innocent person).
2. the teach transgressors (BDB 540, KB 531, Piel cohortative) of Psa 51:13 a is explained/defined
a. my tongue will joyfully sing (David was a singer) of Your righteousness (this key term [BDB 842] basically means a standard, ruler, straight edge. All the words for sin are a deviation from the standard; in this context it has the connotation of vindication or just actions, cf. Psa 71:2; Psa 71:15; see SPECIAL TOPIC: RIGHTEOUSNESS ).
(1) open my lips
(2) my mouth may declare Your praise
The new thought is begun in Psa 51:16-17. There was no sacrifice listed in Leviticus 1-7 that dealt with intentional, premeditated sin (cf. Lev 4:2; Lev 4:22; Lev 4:27; Lev 5:15-18; Lev 22:14; Num 15:27-28). If there were he would give it (BDB 678, KB 733, Qal cohortative), but there was not, so he threw himself on the mercy of God. He trusted/believed that God would not reject (both Niphal participles)
1. a broken heart over sin (BDB 990, cf. Psa 34:19; Isa 61:1; Jer 23:9)
2. a contrite heart (lit. crushed, BDB 194, cf. Isa 57:15)
This refers to a Rom 12:1-2 kind of worshiper. Repentance has an effect on God (cf. Psa 34:18)!
Psa 51:15
NASB (1970)Lord
NASB (1995)Lord
The MT has Adon, not YHWH. The covenant name for Israel’s God is not found in Book II of the Psalter as frequently as in Book I. Some scholars speculate that the compiler of Book II changed many of the references of YHWH to Elohim.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Deliver = Rescue.
bloodguiltiness = bloods, plural of majesty; put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Species), for the great murder of Uriah (2Sa 11:14-21). Compare Gen 4:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 51:14-17
Psa 51:14-17
DAVID’S VOW TO OFFER SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES
“Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation;
And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
O Lord, open thou my lips;
And my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it:
Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
“Deliver me from bloodguiltiness” (Psa 51:14). Reputable versions still retain this reading, although an alternative word for bloodguiltiness is alleged to be “death”; and from this some have concocted the theory of David’s suffering here from some terrible disease. There is no need whatever for such an interpretation. David here calls the murder of Uriah by its right name. “The word means `blood violently shed,’ or a deed of blood and bloodguiltiness.
“O Lord, open my lips” (Psa 51:15). David truly desired to worship and sing God’s praises, but his sins had seriously interfered with such activity. One reason for this is cited in the next verse.
“For thou delightest not in sacrifice, else would I give it” (Psa 51:16). David could not mean here that God was changing Moses’ Law regarding animal sacrifices. The problem was that the Law provided no sacrifice for willful sins. Therefore, David was in a state of seeking restoration before he could offer sacrifices.
“A broken spirit … a contrite heart” (Psa 51:17). Although no animal sacrifice could take away the guilt of willful and deliberate sin, David remembers that a broken spirit and a contrite heart are indeed true sacrifices that God will not despise.
This verse inspired the immortal lines of Kipling’s Recessional:
“Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 51:14. David had been guilty of violating the moral code. He also had been guilty of bloodshed and asked to be forgiven all guilt.
Psa 51:15. Open thou my lips means for God to suffer him to speak the words that would be appropriate under the circumstances.
Psa 51:16. This verse and the following (Psa 51:17) are related to Psa 51:15. Material sacrifices would not atone for the terrible sin that David had committed. Could such things be sufficient to “balance the account” in God’s sight, David would gladly have provided a myriad of the best animals. He knew that God could not be “bought off” in that way.
Psa 51:17. Instead of offering animal sacrifices to atone for such a sinful circumstance, David named the kind that God would desire and accept. It was a broken spirit and a contrite heart. That means that the whole being of the guilty one should be brought to the foot of the throne of God, and be prostrated in humble and sincere reverence to the God of all mercy.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Deliver: Psa 26:9, Psa 55:23, Gen 9:6, Gen 42:22, 2Sa 3:28, 2Sa 11:15-17, 2Sa 12:9, 2Sa 21:1
bloodguiltiness: Heb. bloods, Eze 33:8, Hos 4:2, Act 18:6, Act 20:26
thou God: Psa 38:22, Psa 68:20, Psa 88:1, Isa 12:2, Isa 45:17, Hab 3:18
tongue: Psa 35:28, Psa 71:15-24, Psa 86:12, Psa 86:13
righteousness: Ezr 9:13, Neh 9:33, Dan 9:7, Dan 9:16, Rom 10:3
Reciprocal: Num 35:31 – Moreover Deu 21:6 – wash their hands 2Sa 11:17 – there fell 2Sa 16:7 – bloody man 1Ch 21:17 – on my father’s Psa 7:17 – according Psa 39:8 – Deliver Psa 71:8 – General Psa 71:16 – thy righteousness Psa 102:21 – General Psa 119:43 – take not Psa 119:175 – Let my Psa 145:7 – sing Dan 4:2 – I thought it good Dan 9:14 – the Lord Jam 3:9 – Therewith
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 51:14-15. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness Hebrew, , middamim, from bloods, because he had been the cause of the death, not only of Uriah, but of others of the Lords people with him, 2Sa 11:17. My tongue shall sing of thy righteousness, of thy faithfulness in making good thy promises; or, rather, of thy clemency and goodness, as the word righteousness often signifies. Open thou my lips Which are shut with shame, and grief, and horror. Restore unto me the opportunity, ability, and liberty which I formerly had of speaking to thee in prayer and praise, and to my fellow-creatures, by way of instruction, reproof, or exhortation, with freedom and boldness. And my mouth shall show forth thy praise In thy mercy and thy faithfulness remember thy gracious promises, and accomplish them, notwithstanding my unworthiness, and, as I shall be furnished with new motives and occasions for gratitude and thankfulness, my mouth shall everywhere declare thy goodness, to thy perpetual praise and glory.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
51:14 Deliver me from {m} bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: [and] my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
(m) From the murder of Uriah and the others who were slain with him, 2Sa 11:17.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"Bloodguilt" refers to guilt as a result of killing someone without divine authorization. When God saved him from this guilt and opened his lips by forgiving him, David would joyfully praise the Lord.