What Should You Do If You Sin? (Psalms 49-51)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

How do you respond to God after you’ve sinned?

Psalm 51 gives us the answer. Traditionally, most commentators have said the background of this psalm is David’s sin with Bathsheba.[1] It’s a convicting chapter, and as Abraham Cohen writes, “Among the outpourings of the human heart agonized by the consciousness of sin, this Psalm stands pre-eminent.”[2] This is the fourth of seven “penitential psalms,” and through it, we see how we are to respond when we have sinned against God.

Notice what the psalmist does. In Verse 1, he appeals to God’s hesed, or covenantal love, when he says, “Be gracious to me, God, according to your faithful love; according to your abundant compassion.” From there, the psalmist uses three imperative verbs for cleansing, translated as “blot out,” “wash away,” and “cleanse.” As Gerald Wilson writes, “It is certainly possible that this concern with cleansing reflects a ritual activity in the temple. We know that worshipers immersed themselves in ritual baths carved in the limestone at the southern approach to the Temple Mount. Some such ritual of confession, repentance, and cleansing may be in mind here.”^[3]

The psalmist then uses three nouns for sin. The CSB translates these as “rebellion,” “guilt,” and “sin.” Wilson notes that “Rather than focus on specific types of sin, the use of all three terms seems intended to be comprehensive, so that the psalmist’s confession is far-reaching and complete.”^[4]

While some might see Verse 4, where the psalmist says, “Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight,” as a slight to his sin against Bathsheba or Uriah, it’s more likely that David is simply underscoring the gravity of his sin. He hasn’t just sinned against humanity. He has committed a terrible sin against God.

The psalmist then says in Verse 7, “Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” As Derek Kidner says, this “alludes to the cleansing of the leper, sprinkled seven times with the sacrificial blood into which the bunch of hyssop was dipped as a sprinkler (Lev. 14:6f.); or it may refer to the ritual for cleansing those who had come into contact with a dead body (Num. 19:16–19).”^[5] Wilson goes on to say:

Branches of the “hyssop” plant were apparently bound together to form an aspergillum, which was dipped in water and used in rituals of cleansing to sprinkle water on the persons or items requiring purification. This more formal ritual of cleansing is accompanied by “fulling” in order to make them “whiter than snow.” Perhaps the two references are to inner (invisible) cleansing and outer (visible) purification. To be cleansed of sin and its consequences is to experience joy and restoration. ^[6]

While the extent of this cleansing is uncertain, the key to the psalmist’s confession is Verse 17, which says, “The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.” This shows he has a firm grasp on reality. Unlike other ancient gods who could be appeased through physical sacrifice, this passage shows what God most wanted—David’s heart.