Orthodox Bible Study: Psalm 50 (51)
On Wednesday evening - 26 Jul 2006 - I went to Vespers and Orthodox Bible Study led by Father Daniel at the Church of the Holy Resurrection [301 River Valley Road, #01-01, Singapore 238342 http://www.geocities.com/orthodoxchurchsg/]. The Scriptural passage was Psalm 50 [according to Greek/Septuagint numbering, i.e. Psalm 51 in Hebrew numbering used by Protestant & Roman Catholic Churches].
Thank God! The Orthodox Bible Study session was indeed a blessing from God that opened my eyes to understand many more things from this psalm. Here are some points that I still remember (hopefully correctly), in my own sentences & arrangement [as I don't exactly remember word by word or sentence by sentence].
New King James Version:
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just 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 inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may 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 uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
This penitent psalm is used very frequently in Orthodox Church services, in every Mattins i.e. everyday. Church Fathers even suggest that we should also pray this psalm during our personal daily prayers as a confession.
In this psalm we see that St (King) David understood that he was a sinner and sincerely confessed his sin to God. Our life journey being a Christian consists of falling down and getting up in repentance. The whole Christian life is a process of repentance [Greek: metanoia]. We must always realize that we are sinners. To sin means to miss the perfection of God. Therefore we affirm that only Christ Jesus is sinless and perfect; all human beings are sinners.
Verse 1: "Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions."
This verse teaches us to always ask mercy from God, to confess our transgressions and to hope on His tender mercies. Here St David knew that God is full of overflowing mercy and lovingkindness. All sins can be forgiven if we repent. God's grace is far more abundant than our sins and He is merciful. Merciful is an attribute of God, but not ours. It's not natural for us to be merciful, but we must choose to be. A judge can choose to apply mercy but to be merciful is not his nature. We can be merciful to other people but we don't always apply mercy. God is always merciful and loving. If we confess our sins and repent i.e. to turn to Him, we'll definitely receive His mercies and love.
It's important and beautiful to note that our sins/transgressions are forgiven in the sense that they are blotted out i.e. removed completely, not merely agreement not to notice them or just covered like re-painting.
Verse 2: Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
Here again the image being used is washing. In Christ, we are washed and cleansed from our sins. When a dirty clothe is washed, the clothe and the dirts are separated. When God forgives us, He separates us from our sins. Therefore we are cleansed thoroughly and our iniquities are removed from us.
When we get up again after falling into sin and confess it to God in repentance, we must believe His promise that He'll have mercy on us, forgive us and cleanse us. To keep confessing the same sin over and over again is to disbelieve God's promise of His mercy and love; and is itself a sin.
As far as the Orthodox are concerned, the Old Testament including Psalms are prophesies about our Lord Jesus Christ and are fullfilled in Him [as shown in New Testament]. Therefore in this verse Orthodox see the allusion and prophesy regarding Holy Baptism. Holy Baptism is to cleanse us from our sins and for us to take part in Christ's Death and Resurrection.
Verse 3: For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
We have to acknowledge our sins and realize all the time that we are sinners. We notice that in this psalm St David offered no excuses for his sin but just confessed it. That's what God is interested in, not our excuses but our sincere confession.
Verse 4: Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
St David realized that his sin was against God, although from human point of view he did evil things against Bathsheba [i.e. for her to commit adultery with him] and her husband Uriah the Hittite [i.e. arranged him to be killed in a war]. The definition of sin is fall short of the perfection of God. When we do evil things to ourselves or other people, we rebel against God who wills perfect good for all. Whenever we sin, we are against God. So He is the One to judge us. That's why we have to confess all our sins to Him and ask for His mercies.
In NT our Lord teaches us to seek forgiveness also from those whom we offend. And as members of the Church - the Body of Christ - all our sins are also against His Body i.e. our fellow Christians. In hearing our confession and pronouncing absolution, an Orthodox priest is not acting more superior but representing other members of the Church. If we confess our sins to other fellow Christians, they may not be able to keep them confidential but may fall into the sin of gossiping etc. A priest is bound by his priesthood to keep confessions confidential, that's why we confess to priests.
Unlike Protestantism, Orthodoxy doesn't believe that our Christian life including our confession of sins is just a matter "between God and me", since all members are interconnected in the Body. And unlike Roman Catholicism's practice of subscribing certain penances as payment/satisfaction for the sins committed, Orthodox Holy Mystery [i.e. Sacrament] of Confession is to heal the sinner and to reconcile him/her to God.
Verse 5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
This verse is usually misinterpreted by Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches to support Western view of Original Sin as Original Guilt. Following Augustinian view, Western Churches believe that Original Sin/Guilt is passed down to next generations via sexual conception, as if it's a sexually transmitted disease.
In Septuagint [i.e. Greek OT that heavily quoted by NT], this verse reads "... and in sins my mother conceived me". Note that "sins" is plural and not singular as in Hebrew text. So the meaning of this verse is that we are conceived by sinful mothers/parents, not that the act of conception is a sin or transmits Original Sin/Guilt.
Augustinian view says that we share in Adam's sin and are guilty of his sin. Orthodoxy rejects this as a wrong interpretation. We are not guilty of Adam's sin but we inherit sinful nature because of Adam's sin i.e. the Fall. When Adam fell/sinned, he opened the door for death, destruction and decay into humanity. That's what we inherit from Adam, not his guilt but his fallen nature.
Because of wrong understanding of Original Sin as Original Guilt, Western Churches - especially RCC - have to debate about the fate of those died in infancy. Also due to this wrong interpretation, RCC has invented another error i.e. the dogma of Immaculate Conception.
Verse 6: Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
God knows everything, not only what are seen. He doesn't want mere ceremonial acts, but sincere repentance.
Verse 7: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Sins must be purged out to allow us be filled by God's grace. And the state of being washed and forgiven by God is purer and whiter than the whitest thing on earth.
Verse 8: Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
St David knew that only by confession and repentance we can receive God's mercy and forgiveness. If we try to hid our sins, we will feel like broken bones. Only God's forgiveness will make us full of joy and gladness.
Verse 9: Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.
Being sinners, we can't stand God's holy face. That's why this verse is asking God to hide His face from our sins. Since God is ever present everywhere, how can God hide His face from our sins? By removing them thoroughly.
Verse 10: Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
God's forgiveness is to create in us a clean heard and to renew our spirit.
Verse 11: Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
St David understood that while his sins couldn't stand God's face (verse 9), he really needed God's presence. Therefore he asked God not to cast him away from His presence. This is a very important distinction.
Holy Spirit is the Giver of life, without Him there is only death; therefore the plea "do not take Your Holy Spirit from me".
Verse 12: Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Verse 13: Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
In His wisdom and mysterious way, God can even make use of our failures to draw us nearer to Him. St David after being forgiven was nearer to God than before he commited the sin. Church Fathers also teach that because of Christ's preaching in Hades [between Good Friday and Paschal Sunday] and His Resurrection, Adam and Eve have been restored to higher position than before their fall. If we have experienced God's abundant mercy, we should have the heart to bring the Gospel to other sinners so that they too will return to Him.
Verse 14: Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
The result of being delivered from sin/guilt is a grateful heart full of overflowing praise and thanksgiving to God.
Verse 15: O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
This verse is quitely prayed by priest right before starting Divine Liturgy [i.e. before pronouncing "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages"].
Verse 16: For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.
Although his era was under Mosaic Law, St David - being a man after God's heart - already understood that God does not desire animal sacrifice or burnt offering.
Verse 17: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
What God really wants from us is a repentant heart, not burnt offering. Thank God that living in New Testament era, we can know this more easily than those in Old Testament era.
Verse 18: Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Verse 19: Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
St David prophesied that there would be a time when God would be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, which has been fullfilled in Christ's Ultimate Sacrifice on the Cross. The nature of prophesies in the Bible is that they were described in languages and symbols known to the prophets. Also that they might not know the exact details but the underlying truths. So St David being familiar with Mosaic sacrificial practices, described the prophesy he received regarding Christ in terms and symbols he knew.
Thank God! The Orthodox Bible Study session was indeed a blessing from God that opened my eyes to understand many more things from this psalm. Here are some points that I still remember (hopefully correctly), in my own sentences & arrangement [as I don't exactly remember word by word or sentence by sentence].
New King James Version:
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just 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 inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may 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 uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
This penitent psalm is used very frequently in Orthodox Church services, in every Mattins i.e. everyday. Church Fathers even suggest that we should also pray this psalm during our personal daily prayers as a confession.
In this psalm we see that St (King) David understood that he was a sinner and sincerely confessed his sin to God. Our life journey being a Christian consists of falling down and getting up in repentance. The whole Christian life is a process of repentance [Greek: metanoia]. We must always realize that we are sinners. To sin means to miss the perfection of God. Therefore we affirm that only Christ Jesus is sinless and perfect; all human beings are sinners.
Verse 1: "Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions."
This verse teaches us to always ask mercy from God, to confess our transgressions and to hope on His tender mercies. Here St David knew that God is full of overflowing mercy and lovingkindness. All sins can be forgiven if we repent. God's grace is far more abundant than our sins and He is merciful. Merciful is an attribute of God, but not ours. It's not natural for us to be merciful, but we must choose to be. A judge can choose to apply mercy but to be merciful is not his nature. We can be merciful to other people but we don't always apply mercy. God is always merciful and loving. If we confess our sins and repent i.e. to turn to Him, we'll definitely receive His mercies and love.
It's important and beautiful to note that our sins/transgressions are forgiven in the sense that they are blotted out i.e. removed completely, not merely agreement not to notice them or just covered like re-painting.
Verse 2: Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
Here again the image being used is washing. In Christ, we are washed and cleansed from our sins. When a dirty clothe is washed, the clothe and the dirts are separated. When God forgives us, He separates us from our sins. Therefore we are cleansed thoroughly and our iniquities are removed from us.
When we get up again after falling into sin and confess it to God in repentance, we must believe His promise that He'll have mercy on us, forgive us and cleanse us. To keep confessing the same sin over and over again is to disbelieve God's promise of His mercy and love; and is itself a sin.
As far as the Orthodox are concerned, the Old Testament including Psalms are prophesies about our Lord Jesus Christ and are fullfilled in Him [as shown in New Testament]. Therefore in this verse Orthodox see the allusion and prophesy regarding Holy Baptism. Holy Baptism is to cleanse us from our sins and for us to take part in Christ's Death and Resurrection.
Verse 3: For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
We have to acknowledge our sins and realize all the time that we are sinners. We notice that in this psalm St David offered no excuses for his sin but just confessed it. That's what God is interested in, not our excuses but our sincere confession.
Verse 4: Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
St David realized that his sin was against God, although from human point of view he did evil things against Bathsheba [i.e. for her to commit adultery with him] and her husband Uriah the Hittite [i.e. arranged him to be killed in a war]. The definition of sin is fall short of the perfection of God. When we do evil things to ourselves or other people, we rebel against God who wills perfect good for all. Whenever we sin, we are against God. So He is the One to judge us. That's why we have to confess all our sins to Him and ask for His mercies.
In NT our Lord teaches us to seek forgiveness also from those whom we offend. And as members of the Church - the Body of Christ - all our sins are also against His Body i.e. our fellow Christians. In hearing our confession and pronouncing absolution, an Orthodox priest is not acting more superior but representing other members of the Church. If we confess our sins to other fellow Christians, they may not be able to keep them confidential but may fall into the sin of gossiping etc. A priest is bound by his priesthood to keep confessions confidential, that's why we confess to priests.
Unlike Protestantism, Orthodoxy doesn't believe that our Christian life including our confession of sins is just a matter "between God and me", since all members are interconnected in the Body. And unlike Roman Catholicism's practice of subscribing certain penances as payment/satisfaction for the sins committed, Orthodox Holy Mystery [i.e. Sacrament] of Confession is to heal the sinner and to reconcile him/her to God.
Verse 5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
This verse is usually misinterpreted by Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches to support Western view of Original Sin as Original Guilt. Following Augustinian view, Western Churches believe that Original Sin/Guilt is passed down to next generations via sexual conception, as if it's a sexually transmitted disease.
In Septuagint [i.e. Greek OT that heavily quoted by NT], this verse reads "... and in sins my mother conceived me". Note that "sins" is plural and not singular as in Hebrew text. So the meaning of this verse is that we are conceived by sinful mothers/parents, not that the act of conception is a sin or transmits Original Sin/Guilt.
Augustinian view says that we share in Adam's sin and are guilty of his sin. Orthodoxy rejects this as a wrong interpretation. We are not guilty of Adam's sin but we inherit sinful nature because of Adam's sin i.e. the Fall. When Adam fell/sinned, he opened the door for death, destruction and decay into humanity. That's what we inherit from Adam, not his guilt but his fallen nature.
Because of wrong understanding of Original Sin as Original Guilt, Western Churches - especially RCC - have to debate about the fate of those died in infancy. Also due to this wrong interpretation, RCC has invented another error i.e. the dogma of Immaculate Conception.
Verse 6: Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
God knows everything, not only what are seen. He doesn't want mere ceremonial acts, but sincere repentance.
Verse 7: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Sins must be purged out to allow us be filled by God's grace. And the state of being washed and forgiven by God is purer and whiter than the whitest thing on earth.
Verse 8: Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
St David knew that only by confession and repentance we can receive God's mercy and forgiveness. If we try to hid our sins, we will feel like broken bones. Only God's forgiveness will make us full of joy and gladness.
Verse 9: Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.
Being sinners, we can't stand God's holy face. That's why this verse is asking God to hide His face from our sins. Since God is ever present everywhere, how can God hide His face from our sins? By removing them thoroughly.
Verse 10: Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
God's forgiveness is to create in us a clean heard and to renew our spirit.
Verse 11: Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
St David understood that while his sins couldn't stand God's face (verse 9), he really needed God's presence. Therefore he asked God not to cast him away from His presence. This is a very important distinction.
Holy Spirit is the Giver of life, without Him there is only death; therefore the plea "do not take Your Holy Spirit from me".
Verse 12: Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Verse 13: Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
In His wisdom and mysterious way, God can even make use of our failures to draw us nearer to Him. St David after being forgiven was nearer to God than before he commited the sin. Church Fathers also teach that because of Christ's preaching in Hades [between Good Friday and Paschal Sunday] and His Resurrection, Adam and Eve have been restored to higher position than before their fall. If we have experienced God's abundant mercy, we should have the heart to bring the Gospel to other sinners so that they too will return to Him.
Verse 14: Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
The result of being delivered from sin/guilt is a grateful heart full of overflowing praise and thanksgiving to God.
Verse 15: O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
This verse is quitely prayed by priest right before starting Divine Liturgy [i.e. before pronouncing "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages"].
Verse 16: For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.
Although his era was under Mosaic Law, St David - being a man after God's heart - already understood that God does not desire animal sacrifice or burnt offering.
Verse 17: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
What God really wants from us is a repentant heart, not burnt offering. Thank God that living in New Testament era, we can know this more easily than those in Old Testament era.
Verse 18: Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Verse 19: Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
St David prophesied that there would be a time when God would be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, which has been fullfilled in Christ's Ultimate Sacrifice on the Cross. The nature of prophesies in the Bible is that they were described in languages and symbols known to the prophets. Also that they might not know the exact details but the underlying truths. So St David being familiar with Mosaic sacrificial practices, described the prophesy he received regarding Christ in terms and symbols he knew.
posted by Yokhan Juta Neo at 5:47 PM
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