11. Wash me, O Lord

A Meditation of Psalm 51

Psalm 51 is a poem of repentance, in which the poet's heart is fully open to God. The introduction to the poem says that it was written by King David when he was rebuked by Nathan, the prophet, after he had killed Uriah, and married his wife. Killing a faithful soldier to cover up his own shame was actually the most heinous crime King David could do. He misused his power and freedom to satisfy his carnal pleasures. It also tells us that even the most saintly person can slip and fall down. The worst thing is that even after committing such a dreadful crime, King David didn't realize that what he had done was wrong. He had gone blind. It took a prophet to help him open his eyes to see his own wickedness.

The encounter between Prophet Nathan and David is one of the most dramatic scenes in the world literature. The prophet comes to David's palace to help him open his eyes and see his own wickedness. Nathan takes the risk to save the nation. If the king goes blind, the entire nation is in peril. Nathan comes ready with a strategy. He doesn't disclose the purpose of his visit right away. He says he is there to complain against a rich man who deprived a poor man of all he had had-- a little lamb. King David immediately realizes that what the rich man did was wrong, and he even passes judgment on him. He could see the speck of sawdust in another person's eye, but not the plank in his own eye. That was the moment the prophet was waiting for. He said, "You are that man!" David probably took a while to realize that the story he heard did not really happen literally, but that Nathan made it up just for David to see his own crime objectively and clearly.

Once his eyes were opened, he didn't wait for a second; he repented. He admitted he was wrong, and was willing to take any punishment. This is the greatness of David. He had the option of justifying himself, which he didn't do. Contrast this with what happened in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve justified themselves instead of saying sorry for what they did. Each of them was eager to put the blame on someone else.

David wrote this psalm to express his feelings of repentance. Evil is related to dirt, and David prays to God to clean him of all that dirt. When David prays, "Purify me with hyssop", he presents himself to the arms of God just as a child does to his/her own mother. What made David give himself fully to God's arms? David's understanding about God was the reason. He believed that God is kind and compassionate, that God knows that it is human to err, and that if we give ourselves to God with a broken spirit, God accepts us and cleans us.

David believed in God's righteousness. This is the opposite of self-righteousness. One who believes that God alone is ultimately right looks through God’s eyes, and uses God’s perspective as a measuring rod. However, a self-righteous person uses his/her own perspective to measure the actions of others, including God’s. Therefore a self-righteous person cannot repent.

Back to Contents