Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 5 Nov. 2023
As
we meditate on the third and final section of Psalm 51, let me read
the whole Psalm first:
{For the concertmaster, a psalm by
David, when Nathan the Prophet came to him after he had gone into
Bathsheba.} Have mercy on me, God, according to your lovingkindness;
according to the greatness of your compassions, wipe away my
transgressions. Abundantly wash me from my iniquity, indeed from my
sin cleanse me, because, as for me, I know my transgressions, and my
sin is in front of me continually. It is against You – You in
particular – that I have sinned and done what is evil in Your
eyes, such that You are right when You speak, and You are
purely-winsome when You judge. Hey, it was into iniquity that I was
molded and into sin that my mother warmed me up! Yet, it was
faithfulness that You delighted-in concerning what had been
covered-up, and, concerning what had been concealed, you made known
to me {Your} wisdom. You will make a sin-offering for me with hyssop
and I will be ceremonially-clean. You will wash me and I will be
whiter than snow. You will cause me to hear joy and happiness;
{humbled} bones will rejoice! {Turn} Your face away from my sins,
and wipe away all my iniquities. Let it be a clean heart that You
create for me, God, and a steadfast spirit that You renew in my
inside. Don’t cast me out of Your presence, and don’t take Your
Holy Spirit away from me! Please bring back to me the joy of Your
salvation, and lay upon me a spirit of nobility. Let me teach
transgressors Your ways, and then sinners will return to You! O God
– God of my salvation, rescue me from blood-guiltiness! My tongue
will sing aloud of Your righteousness. Master, You will open my
lips, and my mouth will communicate your praise. For You do not
delight in a sacrifice (which I would have donated!); a
whole-burnt-offering is not what pleases You. God’s sacrifices are
of a broken spirit. A heart broken and {humbled}, God {Himself} will
not despise. Please bring good to Zion in Your good-pleasure, and
build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will delight in the
sacrifices of the righteous – in whole and entire burnt-offering;
then they will offer up bullocks on Your altar.
In the first few verses, we considered the depth of the problem of sin and how to ask God for forgiveness,
then, in the middle of the Psalm we considered how God initiates transformation in our hearts to free us from the guilt and power of sin.
Now, in verses 12-19, the focus changes to the future results of God’s forgiveness of sin. In particular, David mentions three different kinds of sacrifices which he, as a forgiven man, will offer to God. As we survey these three kinds of sacrifices, let us also consider what we can offer to God as his forgiven people.
The first category of sacrificial offerings David discusses are the words we say to God and about God, what Hebrews 13:15 calls the “sacrifice” of “the fruit of our lips.”
In v.12, I think David is asking God to restore him to the ability to be a good leader.
When we get bogged down in sin, those of us who believe in Jesus may not lose our salvation, but we can sure lose the joy of our salvation. If you have lost that joy, ask for God to restore His joy to you!
In order to be a good king, David needs to be freed of his depression and grief over his sin and return to an attitude of joy in God’s salvation that will give him the heart to lead others again. When we experience God’s salvation, it gives us enthusiasm to lead others to trust God as well.
The second half of the verse literally reads in Hebrew “and lay upon me a spirit of nobility.”
Many English versions picked less-common meanings of those Hebrew words, translating the “and” as the word “with,” and the verb “lay” as “sustain.”
But practically every instance of that verb translated “sustain”1 previous to this in the Old Testament, involved “laying a hand upon” something else.
For that reason, I suspect that what we have here hearkens back to Joshua’s ordination in Numbers 27:18-23 “And the LORD said to Moses: ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay [סמך] your hand on him, set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight. And you shall give some of your authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient… So Moses did as the LORD commanded him… And he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him.” (NKJV)
Now, in Psalm 51:12, the “willing spirit” could be the “steadfast” human “spirit” mentioned in v.10 or it could be the “Holy [divine] Spirit” mentioned in v.11. I am of the latter opinion2, but I hope we can agree at least that David is asking for a character quality of the Holy Spirit to characterize him.
That character quality is translated “willing” in most English versions, although it has such a wide meaning in Hebrew, that it is hard to narrow it down to one English word. It is the character that every good nobleman should have – generosity, goodness, availability to help, nobility, exemplary character, willingness to lead in doing what is right.
This kind of largesse is what David needed to re-engage as king of Israel, and perhaps he was also asking for a kind of re-inauguration to restore him to leadership after his nose-dive into sin and disrepute.
“Conscious of weakness, mindful of having so lately fallen, he seeks to be kept on his feet by power superior to his own. That royal Spirit, whose holiness is true dignity, is able to make us walk as kings and priests, in all the uprightness of holiness; and he will do so if we seek his gracious upholding.” ~Charles Spurgeon, 1885 AD
David continues in v.13 with an explicit promise in regard to the fruit of his lips: If God will forgive him, he will teach sinners God’s ways, and those sinners will turn to God.
The writing of this Psalm itself is a fulfillment of David’s promise. Sinners throughout history have learned from David’s prayer for forgiveness in Psalm 51 and turned to God for mercy.
Isaiah the Prophet is one of those believed to have been impacted by this Psalm. Franz Delitzsch, the renowned 19th century Biblical Hebrew scholar commented, “Ps 51 was a favourite Psalm of Isaiah's... the Isaianic echoes of it extend equally from the first verse to the last...”
Another person impacted by this Psalm is William Carey, the 18th century “father of modern missions” who started the first Baptist missionary organization, spent his life as a missionary in India, and practically inspired the whole Protestant movement in Europe to engage in world missions. It meant so much to him that he gave instructions for Psalm 51 to be the text preached at his funeral3.
How about you? How can you leverage your experiences of sin and forgiveness like David did? What messages can you give to the generations-to-come that will inspire them to find forgiveness and transformation and life purpose in Jesus Christ?
Charles Spurgeon quipped that the best qualification for being an evangelist is not an M.Div. degree or a Th.D. but an S.S. - that is, a “Sinner Saved” experience.
Or in Matthew Henry’s words, “Penitents should be preachers.”
Of course it is embarrassing to tell other people about things you did wrong, but your testimony can be a lifeline to salvation for others to hear how your sin was forgiven and how they too can find peace with God4.
Bear in mind, however, that this is about teaching God’s ways, as He has revealed Himself in the Bible, not about teaching new spiritual fads that will get people to follow you.
Isaiah 55:7 “Let the wicked forsake his way, and a man of iniquity his thoughts, and let him turn to Yahweh and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will be great to pardon.” (NAW5)
James 5:19-20 “My brothers, if someone among you should be made to wander from the truth and someone should return him, he should know that the one who returns a sinner6 out of his wandering way will save a soul out of death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (NAW)
The third aspect of the sacrifice of the fruit of his lips, which David realizes would be advanced by forgiveness, is God’s own glory and praise, so David promises in vs. 14-15, “Forgive me and open my mouth, and I will sing Your praises!”
Earlier, David had prayed in Psalm 9:14 “Be gracious to me by raising me up away from the gates of death, in order that I may recount all Your praises within the gates of the daughter of Zion, [and] rejoice in Your salvation.” (NAW)
After experiencing God’s grace, David made good on his promise by writing Psalms praising God for saving him from his sin, such as Psalm 32:1-2 “Oh the blessings of the one whose transgression is being lifted away, whose sin is being covered over! Oh the blessings of the person to whom Yahweh will not reckon iniquity... ” (NAW)
In the New Testament7, Jesus instructed us to pray for God to “deliver/rescue” us from evil, using the same Greek word ῥῦσαι that David did in Psalm 51:14 (v.16 in Greek),
and the Apostle Paul used the same Greek verb to describe Christian salvation:
Colossians 1:13 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves… (NIV, cf. 1 Thess. 1:9-10)
“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. [And He will do it!]’” ~Matthew Henry, 1714 AD
And when folks got saved in the New Testament, the Apostles used the same Greek word for “rejoicing” that the Septuagint version of Psalm 51:14 uses to describe the believer’s joy in God’s salvation:
One of the greatest examples is the Philippian jailer, who, after the earthquake, asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved. The Apostles answered, “‘Start believing on the Lord Jesus [Christ], and you will be saved—you and your household.’ ...then immediately he was baptized along with all who belonged to him… And he jumped for joy all over the house after having believed in God.” (Acts 16:30-36, NAW)
Peter also wrote of this “rejoicing”: “...Jesus Christ whom y'all love, not having seen, and in whom y'all now trust while not seeing. Y'all are jumping up and down with unutterable and glorified joy while obtaining the goal of your faith: salvation of souls!” (1 Peter 1:8-9, NAW)
The question is, are you verbalizing praise to God and telling others about His goodness in saving you?
These Hebrew words necessarily mean making some noise, not keeping the good news or the joy to yourself. This is what believers saved by God do:
Psalm 5:11 (Heb v.12) “...all who take refuge in You will be happy, they will sing out forever... lovers of Your name will exult in You!” (NAW)
Psalm 33:1 “Sing out you righteous ones with Yahweh, for it is those who have been made right for whom praise is at-home.” (NAW)
Psalm 32:11 “Be happy in Yahweh, and rejoice, you who are righteous, and sing out, all of y'all who are justified inside!” (NAW)
Maybe you need to pray that God will open your mouth so that you too can declare His praises.
“Sin has a loud voice;” make your thankfulness louder! (Spurgeon)
What does this look like? Often it takes the form of telling other people your personal story about how God brought deliverance to you:
For instance, David did this in Psalm 40:2-3 “...He brought me up from the pit of chaos – from the slimy mud – and he got my feet up on a rock-mountain; He steadied my steps. Then he put a new song in my mouth, a praise-song for our God. Many will see and be afraid and trust in Yahweh.” (NAW, cf. 22:23-25)
The word in the Greek version of Psalm 51 for “praise” only occurs once in the New Testament, and that is in Hebrews 13:15 “Let it be through Him, therefore, that we offer up a sacrifice of praise always to God, which is fruit of lips confessing His name.” (NAW)
And the word in the Greek version of Psalm 51 for “declare/communicate” is used in the New Testament to describe preaching and teaching and sharing the Gospel:
Acts 20:24-27 Paul said, “...my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me -- the task of testifying (μαρτυρεω) to the good news of God's grace… I have gone about preaching (κηρυσσω) the kingdom... Therefore, I declare (μαρτυρεω) to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim (αναγγελλω) to you the whole will of God..” (NIV)
1 John 1:5 The Apostle John added, “And this is the message which we have heard from Him and are announcing to you, that God is light, and darkness is not in Him at all.” (NAW)
This is the first kind of thing offered to God by a forgiven person: the “fruit of the lips” to “teach transgressors [God’s] ways… sing out about [God’s] righteousness… and communicate [the Gospel to bring] praise to [God].” The next thing offered to God by a forgiven person is the heart.
Vs. 16-17 state that what God ultimately desires is the hearts of His people, not animal sacrifices.
This same idea comes out in the New Testament in three places:
Matthew 9:11-13 “...the Pharisees started saying to [Jesus’] disciples, ‘Why is it with the tax collectors and sinners that your teacher is eating?’ But Jesus, having heard, said to them, ‘Those who are strong are experiencing no need of a healer, but rather those who are ill do. Now, as you go, start learning: What is, “I want mercy and not a sacrifice”? Because I did not come to call righteous men but rather sinners.’” (NAW)
Jesus was quoting Hosea 6:6. In context, it reads, “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? ... For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But like men they transgressed the covenant; There they dealt treacherously with Me.” (Hosea 6:4-7, NKJV)
The second mention in the New Testament is Matthew 12:1-8 “...on the Sabbaths, Jesus proceeded through the grainfields. Now, His disciples were hungry, so they began to pick and eat kernels. And upon seeing [this], the Pharisees said to Him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath!’ But He said to them, ‘Did you not read what David did because He was hungry – he and those with him, how he entered into the house of God and ate the loaves set out, which it was not lawful for him to eat – nor for those with him, but only for the priests? And did y'all not read in the Law that on the Sabbaths the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath yet continue to be innocent? Well, I'm telling you that here is something greater than the temple! And, if y'all had known what it means, “It is mercy that I am wishing for and not sacrifice,” you would not have ruled against the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’” (NAW)
The third instance is Heb. 10:5-10 “...it’s impossible for blood from bulls and from goats to take away sins. On account of this, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said [quoting Psalm 40 verses 6 and following], ‘You did not desire a sacrifice or an offering, but you fixed up a body for me. You did not delight in whole-burnt-offerings and [offerings] for sin.’ Then I said, ‘Look, I have arrived! In the volume of the book it has been written concerning me… to do Your will, my God.’ He said above that, ‘you neither desired nor delighted in sacrifices and offerings and whole-burnt-offerings and those concerning sins,’ which are being offered according to the Law. Then He said, ‘Look, I have arrived… to accomplish your desire.’ He is annihilating the first in order that He may officiate the second! Because of His desire, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ singularly.” (NAW)
So, what IS God ultimately desiring, if not animal sacrifice? Verse 17 tells us: it’s your heart in a humble condition.
This fits right along with what David wrote in Psalm 34:18 “Right next to those whose heart has been broken is Yahweh, and He will make safe those whose spirit is crushed.” (NAW) and Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.” (NKJV)
“Do not from without fetch frankincense, but say, ‘In me, O God, are Thy vows, which I will render of praise to Thee.’ Do not from without seek cattle to slay, thou hast in thyself what thou mayest kill: ‘Sacrifice to God is a spirit troubled, a heart contrite and humbled…’” ~Augustine, c. 400 AD
Isaiah 61:1 tells us that is what Jesus is after too: “The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me to evangelize those who are humble. He has sent me to bind up those who are broken of heart...” (NAW)
That’s why Romans 12:1 calls our “bodies” – our selves the “sacrifice” which “God” finds “acceptable” in the New Testament: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service [act of worship].” (NKJV)
Psalm 51:17 tells us that this is the kind of sacrifice that is “God’s [kind of] sacrifice” that “He will not despise.”
You may remember that the same word “despise” was in Nathan’s message to David in 2 Samuel 12:9-10 “Why did you despise the word of Yahweh by doing what is evil in His sight? Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword! ... Now therefore, the sword shall never turn away from your household, in that you despised me and you took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to become your wife.” (NAW) David realizes that he despised God, but he also realizes that if he repents and asks God for mercy, God will not despise him!
Psalm 22:23-24 “Praise Him, you who fear Yahweh! Glorify Him, all you descendants of Jacob, and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel, because He neither despised nor detested the lowliness of a lowly man, and He did not hide His face from him, but when he hollered to Him, He heeded.” (NAW)
Ps. 102:17 “He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, And shall not despise their prayer.” (NKJV)
Isaiah 53:3-5 Explains how God could pass over these sins and not “despise” sinners; it was because Jesus carried our sins to the cross and God spent His wrath on Jesus instead of on us! “He was despised and was the One rejected of men – a sorrowing man also known by grief… Surely our griefs He Himself carried, and our sorrows, He bore them. Yet we, we considered Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. However, He was being pierced as a result of our rebellion – beaten as a result of our iniquity. Chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes there is healing for us.” (NAW)
Ephesians 5:2 “...Christ has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God...” (NKJV) Now, we don’t have to bring a sacrifice to appease God’s wrath against our sins because Jesus has already been that sacrifice. All we need to bring to God is our messed-up selves to be forgiven.
The inward reality of a heart submitted to God is emphasized as more important than outward rituals, such as going to church, giving offerings, and being circumcised or baptized.
Now, there are actually ditches on both sides of the road. This part of the Psalm is more concerned that believers not fall into the “ditch” of thinking that the true faith is all about keeping up outward appearances of doing good while failing to address heart issues.
(The ditch on the other side of the road the one where people believe that their heart is all that matters, so, as long as they feel good about God, they don’t actually need to obey God or do church stuff, and anyone who tries to tell them otherwise they will call a legalist! That extreme is corrected later in verses 18-19.)
“What God desires is inward change, marked by truth, wisdom, and a broken, contrite heart… [This] gives true efficacy to the outward, ritual acts.” ~G. Wilson, NIV Application Commentary, 2002 AD
We who are loved and forgiven by God respond to Him by offering the fruit of our lips (to praise Him and share the good news about Him with others), and we respond by humbly offering our hearts to be controlled by Him. Finally, in vs. 18-19, David brings up a third category of sacrificial offering, the category of service to God in daily duties:
Vs. 18-19 describe the kinds of things that kings, priests, and average people did in David’s day.
“Doing good/prospering” in v.18 was part of God’s promise of blessing to His covenant people in the Old Testament8. So, when David calls upon God here in Psalm 51 to “do good to Zion,” I think he is praying for God to bring prosperity and population grown to the capitol city of Israel, which is what any good king should do as part of his job.
David had the spiritual insight to realize that the prosperity of his nation depended upon God, and that, since he had offended God by his sin, he had put the prosperity of his nation at risk, and as their king, he needed to make that right.
The same goes for anyone in authority – civil magistrates, army officers, business owners, and church officers. Our sin harms those under us, so we must be concerned for their blessing!
Parents, when you sin, you put the prosperity of your whole family at risk. When you ask God to forgive you for your sin, it is also right and proper to pray for God’s blessings on your household. This is one way we fulfill our vocation as an offering of service to God.
Another is the way David and the people served in the development of their city in cooperation with God’s will and blessing, much like we serve in the building up of the church in cooperation with Christ9.
Now finally, after God has convicted David, and his heart has been broken by his sin, and he has come to God for a new, clean heart, and God is inclined to do good to His people, “then” says v.19, “then” God will take delight in the sacrifices of service which His people offered.
Before all that had happened in his heart, David knew that offering sacrifices was pointless, because it wouldn’t actually forgive his sin.
Proverbs 15:8 “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But the prayer of the upright is His delight.”
This raises a conundrum: If you have to be righteous first before you can offer an acceptable sacrifice, yet the only way to get forgiven of your sins is to offer such a sacrifice, how can anyone ever get their sins forgiven and become righteous?
David has prophetic insight here into the difference between, on the one hand, the ceremonies on the Old Testament altar of sacrifice (in which animals are offered to forgive sin) and, on the other hand, the spiritual transactions that must go on in the hearts of God’s people (in which God actually forgives their sin).
As the book of Hebrews pointed out, the animal sacrifices never could actually forgive sins. Only the righteous can offer an acceptable sacrifice, so until your sins are forgiven, God won’t accept a sacrifice from a wicked person!
That’s why Jesus is so important. He is the only human ever to have no wickedness. He is the first and only righteous man ever. He alone has the ability to offer God a sacrifice which God will find acceptable, and so Jesus offered His human body as a sacrifice to pay the price for our sin and to make our hearts righteous, so that God can find us and our offerings to Him acceptable too!
I think that is the idea behind the phrase “Sacrifices of righteousness” in Psalm 51:19.
The NASB, NIV, and ESV all translated “righteousness” as an adjective describing “sacrifices,” but I think KJV was correct in translating “of righteousness” as a prepositional phrase instead of as an adjective.
This may be nitpicking, but as a prepositional phrase, it is the one making the sacrifice who is righteous, rather than the sacrifice itself which is righteous. In other words, God’s good pleasure is not based on sacrificing the animal the “right” way; God’s good pleasure is based on you being “righteous” when you make the sacrifice, and that righteousness comes from God’s previous gracious work in your heart.
Psalm 4:3-5 “...Yahweh caused to separate a godly man for Himself. Yahweh will heed when I call to Him. Y'all should shudder and stop sinning! … [then] sacrifice sacrifices of righteousness and trust to Yahweh.” (NAW) Do you catch the sequence? God “chooses” us for Himself, then he “hears” our prayers. We repent of sin, then we offer the “sacrifices of righteousness.”
David was still in the Old Testament, so animal sacrifices were still the way God had told His people to worship, so David ends his Psalm with his anticipation of worshiping God with those kind of sacrifices. He mentions three in particular:
The ‘olah, which was an animal offered up whole on the altar of burnt offering every day to honor God and atone for sin,
The kuliyl, which is only mentioned three other times10 in the Bible, but appears to describe a grain- or animal- offering made by a priest and burned up on the altar entirely, to worship God and to ask God to bring salvation,
And third, the 2-year-old “bulls,” which were used as burnt offerings to consecrate God’s people (and priests) from sin so that they could serve God.
These acts of worship were the everyday service of the priests of David’s day, analogous to our devotional times and worship services.
It was these kinds of things David promised to offer to God as a forgiven man, in addition to his humble heart and the fruit of his lips, and it is these acts of everyday service in God’s kingdom which we can also offer to God as forgiven children.
Can you conceive of doing your job, whether it be cooking meals or changing diapers or giving medical care to the sick or keeping budgets accountable or bringing bad-guys to justice or creating music or articles or videos or computer programs, as well as devoting yourself to God’s word and prayer and singing of hymns – all of it as your sacrificial offering to God?
May God’s forgiveness of our sins motivate us to rediscover His joy and offer the fruit of our lips in praise to Him and in witnessing this good news to others.
May God’s forgiveness of our sins on the basis of His unmerited grace move us to offer our hearts humbly to Him and devote our whole self to Him.
And May God’s forgiveness of our sins on the basis of Christ’s righteousness give us confidence that He will accept our offerings of service to His kingdom in our community and church and families.
Vulgate (Ps. 50)B |
LXXC
|
Brenton (Vaticanus)D |
KJVE |
NAW |
Masoretic TxtF |
PeshittaG |
14 redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui et spiritu principali confirma me |
14 ἀπόδος μοι τὴν ἀγαλλίασιν τοῦ σωτηρίου σου καὶ πνεύματι ἡγεμονικῷH στήρισόν με. |
12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation: establish me with [thy] directing Spirit. |
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. |
12 Please bring back to me the joy of Your salvation, and lay upon me a spirit of nobility. |
(יד)הָשִׁיבָהI לִּי שְׂשׂוֹןJ יִשְׁעֶךָ וְרוּחַ נְדִיבָהK Lתִסְמְכֵנִי. |
|
15 docebo iniquos vias tuas et impii ad te convertentur |
15 διδάξω ἀνόμους τὰς ὁδούς σου, καὶ ἀσεβεῖς ἐπὶ σὲ ἐπιστρέψουσιν. |
13 [Then] will I teach transgressors thy ways; and ungodly men shall turn to thee. |
13
Then
will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall |
13 Let me teach transgressors Your ways, and then sinners will return to You! |
(טו) אֲלַמְּדָה פֹשְׁעִים דְּרָכֶיךָ וְחַטָּאִים אֵלֶיךָ יָשׁוּבוּ. |
15 דאלף לעולא אורחךO וחטיא לותך נתפנון |
16 libera me de sanguinibus Deus Deus salutis meae exultabit lingua mea iustitiam tuam |
16 ῥῦσαί με ἐξ αἱμάτων, ὁ θεὸς ὁ θεὸς τῆς σωτηρίας μου· ἀγαλλιάσεται ἡ γλῶσσά μου τὴν δικαιοσύνην Pσου. |
14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation: [and] my tongue shall joyfully declare thy righteousness. |
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. |
14 O God – God of my salvation, rescue me from blood-guiltiness! My tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness. |
(טז) הַצִּילֵנִי מִדָּמִיםQ אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֵי תְּשׁוּעָתִיR תְּרַנֵּןS לְשׁוֹנִי צִדְקָתֶךָT. |
16 פצני מן דמא אלה[י] אלהא דזדיקותי [ו]נשׁבח לשׁני זדיקותך |
17 Domine X labia mea aperies et os meum adnuntiabit laudem tuam |
17 κύριε X, τὰ χείλη μου ἀνοίξεις, καὶ τὸ στόμα μου ἀναγγελεῖ τὴν αἴνεσίν σου. |
15
|
15
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15 {} Master, You will open my lips, and my mouth will communicate your praise. |
(יז) אֲדֹנָיU שְׂפָתַיV תִּפְתָּח וּפִי יַגִּידW תְּהִלָּתֶךָ. |
17 מריא פתח [לי] ספותי ופומי נפק תשׁבחתךX |
18
quoniam |
18
ὅτι |
16
For |
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. |
16 For You do not delight in a sacrifice (which I would have donated!); a whole-burnt-offering is not what pleases You. |
(יח)כִּי
לֹאY
תַחְפֹּץ |
18
מטל
דלא צבית [ב]דבחא
X |
19
sacrifi-ci |
19
θυσία τῷ θεῷ πνεῦμα συντετριμμένονAB,
καρδίαν συντετριμμένην καὶ
|
17
SacrificeX to
God |
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. |
17 God’s sacrifices are of a broken spirit. A heart broken and {humbled}, God {Himself} will not despise. |
(יט) זִבְחֵי אֱלֹהִיםAE רוּחַ נִשְׁבָּרָה לֵב נִשְׁבָּר וְנִדְכֶּהAF אֱלֹהִים לֹא תִבְזֶהAG. |
19
דבחוהי
דאלהא רוחא הי מכיכתא לבא שׁחיקא XX
אלהא
לא |
20
benigne fac [Domine]
in bona voluntate tua Sion [et]
aedificentur |
20
ἀγάθυνον,
[κύριεAI],
ἐν τῇ εὐδοκίᾳ σου
τὴν Σιων, [καὶ]
οἰκοδομη |
18
Do
good,
[O Lord],
to Sion in thy good
pleasure;
[and]
let the walls of Jerusalem |
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. |
18 Please bring good to Zion in Your good-pleasure, and build the walls of Jerusalem. |
(כ) הֵיטִיבָה בִרְצוֹנְךָAJ אֶת צִיּוֹן תִּבְנֶהAK חוֹמוֹת יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִםAL. |
20 אטאב בצבינך לצהיון [ו]בני שׁוריה דאורשׁלם |
21 tunc acceptabis sacrificium iustitiae oblationes et holocausta tunc inponent super altare tuum vitulos |
21
τότε εὐδοκήσειςAM
θυσία |
19
Then shalt thou be pleased with |
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. |
19 Then You will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous – in whole and entire burnt-offering; then they will offer up bullocks on Your altar. |
(כא) אָז תַּחְפֹּץ זִבְחֵי צֶדֶקAO עוֹלָה וְכָלִילAP אָז יַעֲלוּ עַל מִזְבַּחֲךָ פָרִיםAQ. |
21 הי דין תצטבא [ב]דבחא דקושׁתא [וב]יקדא Xשׁלמא הי דין נסקון תורא על מדבחך |
1If you narrow it down to Qal spellings, as this one is, there are about 39 verses: 2/3 of which are generally agreed to mean “lay,” just under 26% of which could be translated “lay” although most English translations translate with another word (totaling over 92%), and just under 8% which necessitate a translation other than “lay.”
2As were Augustine, J. Calvin, M. Henry (who connected the Hebrew adjective to 2 Cor. 3:17 “...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”), and Spurgeon. Fausset disagreed (“that is... a soul willingly conformed to God’s law.”) as did Delitzsch (“not the Holy Spirit, but the human spirit made free from the dominion of sin by the Holy Spirit”).
3Datta cited The Psalms in Human Life by Rowland Prothero, p.338, as the source of this anecdote.
4“The
one true value invested in our forgiven sin is this possibility
of testifying to the gracious mercy of God.”
~G. Wilson,
NIV Application Commentary, 2002 AD
“Those who have
been mercifully recovered from their falls will feel inflamed by
the common law of charity to extend a helping hand to their
brethren… [P]artakers of the grace of God are
constrained by… regard for the divine glory, to desire that
others should be brought into the participation of it.”
~John Calvin, 1554 AD
5Underlined
words are also in the MT & LXX of Psalm 51:13, and
dotted-underlined words are also in the LXX.
(Note that the
English reference Psalm 51:13 is actually 51:15 in the Hebrew Bible
and 50:15 in the Greek Bible.)
6The Greek word here is ἁμαρτωλὸν, a synonym to the word ἀσεβεῖς in the LXX of Psalm 51:13, but the same Greek root for “sin” in Psalm 51:2,3,4,5,&9.
7Matthew 6:13 “...do not begin to lead us into temptation, but rather rescue us from the evil.” (NAW)
8Genesis
32:12 quotes God saying to Jacob, “...I will surely treat
you well[do good/prosper you], and make your
descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for
multitude.”
Exodus 1:20
says that while Israel was in Egypt, “God dealt
well with[prospered/did
good to] the
midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very
mighty.”
Deuteronomy 28:63
indicates that after Israel entered the Promised land, “...the
LORD rejoiced over you to do
you good and multiply
you,” and Deut. 30:5
indicates that God would do the same again after they were
restored from exile in Babylon, “He will prosper[do
good to] you and
multiply you more than your fathers.” (NKJV)
9See Endnotes on v.18 for extended commentary which had to be omitted from the sermon due to time constraints.
10Leviticus
6:23 “So every grain-offering of a priest shall be entirely
[committed]. It shall not be eaten." (NAW)
Deuteronomy
33:10 “They [the Levites] shall teach Jacob Your judgments,
And Israel Your law. They shall put incense before You, And a whole
burnt sacrifice on Your altar.” (NKJV)
1 Sam. 7:8-10
“And the children of Israel said to Samuel, ‘Don't let there be
silence from us; you keep crying out to Yahweh our God so He will
save us from the control of the Philistines!’ So Samuel took one
suckling lamb and offered it up whole
as a burnt offering [עולה]
to Yahweh, and Samuel cried out to Yahweh in behalf of Israel, and
Yahweh answered him! So, there was Samuel, offering up the whole
burnt offering [עולה]…”
(NAW)
AMy
original chart includes the NASB, NIV, and ESV, but their copyright
restrictions force me to remove them from the publicly-available
edition of this chart. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation
adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done
so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words
in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is
different from all the other translations, I underline it.
When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either
departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs
too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea
Scrolls containing Psalm 51 are 4Q85 Psalmsc (which
contains parts of verses 1-3) and 4Q91
Psalms (containing
parts of vs. 1-4),
both of which date
around 50 AD. Where the DSS is legible and reads the same as
the MT, the Hebrew text is colored purple. Where the DSS and ancient
versions support each other against the MT in such a way that I
suspect they are the original reading, I have highlighted
them with
yellow.
BJerome's Latin Vulgate w/ Deuterocanon using Gallican Psalter, 405 AD. As published electronically by E-Sword.
CThis Greek New Testament (GNT) is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era as a break from the traditional Greek Bible by compiling just a few of the oldest-known manuscripts, but even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.
DEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851, “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published electronically by E-Sword.
E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword.
FFrom
the Wiki Hebrew Bible
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8_%D7%AA%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D.
DSS text comes from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com
GThe Leiden Peshitta, Copyright © 2012 by The Peshitta Foundation c/o Leiden University Institute for Religious Studies, as published electronically in BibleWorks.
HAquila = eudokhton (“good-will”). LXX translation focuses more on the aspect of “leading,” but both meanings are in the Hebrew word.
IAfter
8 imperatives and two prohibitives without a paragogic he, it
is curious that the paragogic he
should be added to this imperative. Often the he
suffix on an imperative denotes respectfulness or urgency, like the
added “please” to an English imperative. There is only one other
paragogic-he-imperative
in this psalm, and it is “do good” in v.18. (“Teach”
in v.13 is imperfect but has a cohortative he.)
So why would these two imperatives in particular have the
paragogic he, but not
the other imperatives?
In
verses 12-15, David offers three reasons why God should forgive him.
In order to do this, David has to draw upon all that God has
revealed about Himself and think about what God cares about, in
order to argue the case that God’s interests would be served by
forgiving David. His three reasons are 1) it would make David a good
leader of God’s people again, 2) God’s forgiveness of David
would instruct many other sinners how to get right with God, and 3)
it would result in more glory and praise to God.
Jcf. v.8 – which also contains sisown and, interestingly, a homonym for סמך (“support”), שמח (“happy”). Was that intentional?
KDelitzsch denied that “spirit” could be the subject of “uphold,” asserting that it is a “second accusative of the object… ‘with a spirit of willingness… sustain me.’” He also denied that “willing” was an adjective but asserted that it was in a genitive relationship to “spirit” “since the poet has just used רוח in the same personal sense in [the previous verse].”
LI suspect that what we have here hearkens back to Joshua’s ordination in Numbers 27:18-23. Practically every instance of this verb in the Qal stem previous to this in the O.T. involves “laying a hand upon” something else. Following is a breakdown of verses with this verb in the Qal stem in the Hebrew O.T.:
Those in which everyone agrees it means “lay/laid”: Exod. 29:10, 15, 19; Lev. 1:4; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33; 8:14, 18, 22; 16:21; 24:14; Num. 8:10, 12; 27:18, 23; Deut. 34:9, 2 Chr. 29:23, Psalm 88:8; Isa. 26:3, Amos 5:19.
Those in which everyone agrees it does not mean “lay”: Psalm 111:8; 119:116, Isa. 63:5.
Those in which it is not generally translated “lay,” but could just-as-well be translated “lay” and make perfect sense: Gen. 27:37; Ps. 3:6; 37:17, 24; 51:14; 54:6; 112:8; 145:14; Ezek. 24:2; 30:6.
The ancient versions could be evidence against this hypothesis, however. Vulgate = “strengthen,” LXX = “stand,” Peshitta = “hold” – all of which would be more along the lines of “support” instead of “lay upon.”
MBauscher correctly translated the Leiden Peshitta “But return your sweetness to me and your salvation…” (Greyed-out words are not in the Masoretic Hebrew text.) Lamsa’s translation follows the MT, which makes me wonder if he defaulted to his memory of the KJV instead of actually translating the Peshitta here, or if he was translating a different Peshitta.
NBauscher and Lamsa both translated this word “glorious.”
O“your way” is singular here, whereas it is plural in the MT, LXX, and Vulgate.
PSymmachus’ 2nd century Greek translation offered the synonyms “dialogue” dialalhsei instead of “sing out” and “mercy” elehmosunhn instead of “righteousness.” The LXX is a more-literal translation of the MT here.
QThis plural form of “blood” seems to denote the guilt of a crime worthy of death. (It is singular in the Peshitta, but plural in the LXX and Vulgate versions.) Cf. Leviticus 20:7-11, where this principle of legal blood-guilt is delineated.
R“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.” ~Calvin
SSyriac inserts a conjunction which improves readability (and is thus followed by the NIV and ESV), but the Vulgate and LXX agree with the MT which has no “and.” This Piel form is preceded by three other instances of this verb in the Piel in the Psalms: 5:11 (Heb v.12), 20:5 (Heb. v.6), and 33:1. There are two more instances of this verb in a stem other than Piel, Psalm 32:11 (Hiphil) and Psalm 35:27 (Qal).
T“God's
righteousness is often put for his grace, especially in the great
business of justification and sanctification.” ~Henry
“David
can see the divine way of justification, that righteousness of God
which Paul afterwards spoke of by which the ungodly are justified,
and he vows to sing, yea, and to sing lustily of that righteous way
of mercy. “ ~Spurgeon
UAccording to both the Groves-Wheeler Morphology and the Open Source Hebrew Bible Morphology, the final yod is a first person pronoun “my,” but every version omits it – the ancient Latin, Greek, and Syriac versions as well as the modern English versions.
VThere are only three other verses with this subject and verb in the O.T., all having to do with beginning to say something: Job 11:5, Job 32:20, and Dan. 10:16. This verb is not a Hebrew imperative form, nor is it imperative in the LXX or Vulgate (thus Augustine rendered it as a simple future tense, but every other commentator I read interpreted it as imperative.). The Peshitta, appears to interpret it as an imperative, as do all standard English versions.
WAll the other O.T. verses which contain “mouth” and “praise” are Ps. 34:2; 40:4; 71:8, and 145:21. The only other containing “declare” and “praise” is Isa. 42:12. And the only others containing “mouth” and “declare” in the same phrase are Gen. 43:7, Deut. 17:10-11, Isa. 48:3, and Jer. 9:11.
XLamsa’s translation “will show forth Thy praise” parallels the MT, but Bauscher’s translation “will sing your glory” is slightly different, although ultimately synonymous.
YSeptuagint & Vulgate translate this as though it were “if” instead of “not,” but Peshitta agrees with “not.”
Z“The common interpretation, ‘Else would I give it thee,’ says Rogers, ‘is harsh.’ Gesenius attributes... the sense of a gift, reward. It is used only in Hosea 2:14. If this sense might be given to the word in this passage, the verse might be translated, ‘For thou desirest no sacrifice or gift, [In] a burnt-offering thou hast no delight.’” Book of Psalms in Hebrew, volume 2, p. 208. As quoted in a footnote in Calvin’s commentary. In another footnote, Anderson suggests that David is saying that there is no provision for the forgiveness of murder and adultery by means of a sacrifice because they instead deserve the death penalty. But that sidesteps the whole point of forgiveness of sin applied to eternity, implying erroneously that no murderer can have eternal life.
AALit. “nor (mistaking ‘I would give’ for a negative?) sacrifice of peace (instead of MT ‘not’) chosen”
ABSymmachus used the synonym sunteqlasmenon.
ACSymmachus used the synonym kateaguian.
ADLater Greek versions spelled this word with a delta instead of a theta. The spelling with the theta is peculiar, but it is related to the delta (both letters are lingua-dental phonemes), so it is merely a spelling change, not a meaning change.
AEThis
seems to be an abbreviated form of זבחים
לאלהים
"sacrifices to/for/belonging
to God” (found in Gen. 46:1 & Ex. 18:12 – and with
the singular “sacrifice” in 2 Ki. 5:17 & Judges 16:23) in
which the two greyed-out letters fell out. This abbreviated form is
found only here and Num. 25:2.
“Nothing more is necessary, on
the part of the sinner, than to prostrate himself in supplication
for Divine mercy. The plural number is used in the verse to express
more forcibly the truth, that the sacrifice of repentance is enough
in itself without any other” ~Calvin
AFBoth
here and where this same word occurs in v.10, the Peshitta,
Septuagint, and Vulgate all render a word which means “humbled”
rather than “crushed.” The Hebrew word in the MT is not found
outside the Psalms and occurs in only three other places: Ps. 10:10,
38:9, 44:20. Cf. a synonymous passage in Isaiah 66:1-2.
“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).” ~Delitzsch
AGWe
see this
verb in Nathan’s message to David
in 2 Sam. 12:9-10. He
had
“despised”
God,
but he
knew
that if he repented and asked God for mercy, God
would not despise him!
(Psalm
22:23-24, 102:17)
the
means of which is explained in the vicarious atonement described
in
Isaiah
53:3-5.
LXX, Vulgate, and Peshitta all render
this verb 3rd person, whereas the MT, Targums, and
English versions render it 2nd person. The referent is
the same in either case, namely God, so the meaning is not
subverted.
In the Hebrew poetry of this verse there’s a
root-play between “sacrifice” zbh and
“despise” bzh.
Calvin
guarded against taking this
doctrine too far: “‘If
the contrite heart,’ it may be said, ‘hold a higher place in the
estimation of God than all sacrifices, does it not follow that we
acquire pardon by our penitence, and that thus it ceases to be
gratuitous?’ In reply to this, I might observe, that David is not
speaking at this time of the meritorious condition by which pardon
is procured, but, on the contrary, asserting our absolute
destitution of merit by enjoining humiliation and contrition of
spirit, in opposition to everything like an attempt to render a
compensation to God.”
AHBauscher seems to have the right translation for this text, omitting “and contrite” and changing the verb from 2nd to 3rd person. Lamsa appears to have defaulted to the KJV here. The Targum supports the MT.
AIAquila and Symmachus followed the MT tradition by omitting the vocative “Lord” added in the LXX.
AJLXX
& Vulgate add “O Lord,” whereas the MT, Targum, and Peshitta
do not, but it is already obvious from the rest of the Psalm that
God is the addressee, so it makes no difference in meaning.
Spurgeon
advanced an interesting hypothesis concerning David’s mention of
“Zion”: “He felt he had hindered the project of honouring the
Lord there as he desired, but he prayed God still to let the place
of his ark be glorious, and to establish his worship and his
worshipping people.”
The
word for
“good-will/pleasure/eudokia,”
in
the Greek
translation of Psalm 51:18, is
a catchphrase throughout
the New
Testament for
God’s
plan to save
us and to use us in the salvation of others, from the angel’s
announcement of the birth of Jesus with “peace and goodwill
towards men” in Luke
2:14,
to Jesus’ explanation in Luke
10:21 that
the good results of his disciple’s ministries was a result of the
Father’s “good
pleasure,”
again affirmed by Paul in Philippians
2:13
that it is “God who works in us to accomplish His good
pleasure,”
and
in Ephesians
1:5-9,
God the Father, “...predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus
Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace...” (NKJV)
AKSyriac,
LXX, and Vulgate all add an “and” here (Targum doesn’t). Psalm
55 contains the only other mention of this sort of “wall” in the
Psalms, but the building of these walls in Jerusalem is mentioned in
1 Kings, the Chronicles, Isaiah, and Nehemiah, so the mere mention
of building the wall is not proof in itself of post-exilic
authorship. The phrases in the first half of this verse are not
found anywhere else in Scripture. Concerning “building,” some
key Psalms appear to be: 69:33-35
(while Israel was still
seeking to occupy Canaan),
102:16-17 (during the
monarchy), and
147:2-3 (after the exile).
“David’s son,
Solomon, supplied a protecting wall to the city (1 Kings 9:15,
33:1). However, banah
often means “rebuild, repair’ as well as ‘build,’ and that
appears to be its intention here.” ~ A. Cohen, Soncino
Books of the Bible: The Psalms
cf.
Delitzsch: “בָּנָה
signifies
not merely to build up what has been thrown down, but also to go on
and finish building what is in the act of being built (Ps.
89:3).”
This
blessing David prays over his people in Psalm 51:18, in the second
half of the verse, pictures God building a defensive wall
around the capitol city. We
know from archaeology
that David
made additions to the walled city of the Jebusites when he took it
over and made Jerusalem his capitol city, and from Biblical
history,
we know that Solomon
and other
Judean kings after him also did construction on the outer wall of
the city, but I think there is something more
going on here, because God wasn’t literally out there with a
trowel, working on the wall of Jerusalem. When we look at how the
same imagery is employed throughout the Psalms (e.g.
Psalm 69:33-35, 102:16-17, and 147:2-3),
we see that it is a metaphor
for God’s deliverance from enemies and blessings on the
communities of His people. In
the New Testament, Jesus’ work of
saving sinners and blessing them with spiritual blessings
is also portrayed
with the imagery of building
construction (e.g. Matthew
16:18b, 21:42, John 2:19-21, and
1
Peter 2:4-5)
ALSome
modern scholars have suggested that these last two verses belong to
a time period much later than David’s, perhaps an additional
prayer scribbled in by a Jew during the Babylonian exile (Venema,
Green, Street, French, Skinner, Morison, G. Wilson), or perhaps the
whole Psalm is post-exilic and just written in imitation of David
(Hoersley, Calmet, Mudge, Dahood, Oesterly, Datta), or perhaps it
really was written by David but lapses here into a prophecy about
the future of Jerusalem (Ibn Ezra). But Theodoret, Augustine,
Calvin, Anderson, Henry, Spurgeon, Fausset, Delitzsch, Barker, and I
saw no need to distance this Psalm from David’s pen. Delitzsch
argued forcefully, “[S]ince the Isaianic echoes of [Psalm 51]
extend equally from the first verse to the last, it existed in the
same complete form even in [Isaiah’s] day as in ours...
consequently the close, just like the whole Psalm, so beautifully
and touchingly expressed, is not the mere addition of a later
age.”
Application was split between those who saw this as
Davidic (e.g. Frank Barker: “Walking With the Lord… a plea for
God to bless Zion – His true people, or Church… David would seek
to influence the nation through God’s power… [in] true
worship…”) and those who saw this as exilic (e.g. Gerald Wilson,
who saw it as Jews in the Babylonian exile finding points of
identification with David – their grief over the broken walls of
Jerusalem matching David’s broken heart, their longing to be able
to start temple worship back up matching David’s desire to be
admitted to worship at the tabernacle after his sin, and, above all,
the exilic community’s realization that, just like David, it was
the sin in their own hearts which had brought God’s judgment and
for which they needed God’s mercy.) - although all agree that it
was certainly a propos for the exilic believers to use in
their context, just as it is for us.
AMCuriously, Symmachus rendered this verb prosdexh (“he will receive”), diverging slightly from the LXX & MT (“you will be pleased”).
ANSymmachus used the same words as the LXX to translate the two offerings, but Aquila rendered them with the synonyms olokautwma and oloteleV.
AO“Sacrifices
of righteousness/a righteous man” occurs elsewhere only in Psalm
4:5 and Deut. 33:19. Since “righteousness” is singular and
“sacrifices” is plural, “righteousness” cannot be an
adjective describing “sacrifices,” rather it should be
translated as a genitive phrase (“of righteousness”). Psalm
4:3-5 “...Yahweh caused to separate a godly man for Himself.
Yahweh will heed when I call to Him. Y'all should shudder and stop
sinning! ...sacrifice sacrifices of righteousness and trust to
Yahweh.” (NAW)
Delitzsch explained: “זִבְחֵי־צֶדֶק
are here, as in Psa. 4:6; Deu. 33:19, those sacrifices
which not merely as regards their outward character, but also in
respect of the inward character of him who causes them to be offered
on his behalf, are exactly such as God the Lawgiver will have them
to be.” But, in light of the fact that no sinner has that
completely lawful inward character, this must point to one who has
been made righteous through the sacrifice of the Lamb of
God.
Augustine, however, interpreted “sacrifice of
righteousness” as “praise alone,” i.e. the NT practice in Heb.
13:15.
APOSHB
cantillation places the major punctuation here, by which it may be
inferred that the ‘olah and the kuliyl are
epexegetical, explaining the nature of the “sacrifices of
righteousness” (cf. Delitzsch, who called them an “explicative
addition”). The Kuliyl sacrifice is a rare word in the
sacrificial vocabulary of the Bible, with a root meaning of
“whole/entire.” It shows up only three other times describing
sacrifices – all three offered by priests, and all three given
over to God entirely without any portion reserved for the priests:
Leviticus 6:23, Deuteronomy 33:10,
and 1
Sam. 7:8-10
The complete absence of this word in the
late-monarchic, exilic, and post-exilic cultic vocabulary of the Old
Testament is be a point in favor of Davidic authorship of this Psalm
(as opposed to a later author).
Calvin
commented, “Although some consider calil,
and olah,
to be both of one signification, others maintain with more
correctness, that the first is to be understood as meaning the
priest’s sacrifice…”
Delitzsch,
I think unnecessarily,
limited it to the priest’s grain-offering in Lev. 6.
AQThe sacrifices in the Pentateuch which required these bullocks were the [sin and?] peace offering used to consecrate the people before the covenant at Sinai (Ex. 24), the offering to consecrate priests for service at the tabernacle (Ex. 29/Lev. 8/Num. 8), the offering when a priest sins or when the whole people sin unintentionally (Lev. 4, 16/Num. 15), and the daily burnt offering on holidays (Num. 28, 29). Augustine interpreted these bullocks analogically as “necks freed from the yoke of the law,” but Calvin disparaged such figurative applications as “unnatural and too refined.” Henry (followed by Spurgeon) applied it in terms of bullocks being the “costliest sacrifices,” but I think the consecration idea is more likely.