Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Having confessed his guilt and begged for mercy, David now names the stain he has not yet named — blood. Here a man guilty of a death calls God his Saviour, and promises to sing of God's righteousness rather than His kindness.
David's sin with Bathsheba involved two evils. Only one of them surfaces in this prayer.
It was not until God sent Nathan to David to expose his guilt that David finally broke down and confessed. His confession involved both his guilt in adultery and his guilt in bloodshed, since he knew he was responsible for the death of Bathsheba's husband. But he mentions only bloodshed in this chapter (v. 14). It stands for Israel's guilt in the murder of the Lord Jesus, and that is by far the most serious sin of their history.
His plea goes straight to God, not to the altar. That was not carelessness. The law had no sacrifice that covered his case.
About himself he could say nothing. He could only admit his guilt and the corruption he inherited from Adam (2-5). But he could throw himself on God's mercy, the unfailing resource for all who honestly turn to it. He could offer nothing to meet his case. The law provided no sacrifice for someone who had sinned deliberately, as he had. Death was its only sentence (Num. 15:30-31). In that situation the only sacrifice God could accept from David was a broken spirit.
The name David gives God answers his own problem.
David appeals directly to God, because, as he states in this section, he can find no relief in sacrifices (v. 14). Only God can deliver him from the guilt of bloodshed — the God of his salvation.
We might expect a guilty man to sing of God's kindness. Instead David names the attribute that should condemn him.
"Your righteousness!" How wonderfully that comes in here! Not "Your grace," but "Your righteousness." Grace, true grace, reigns through righteousness. Through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, God can be, and is, righteous in forgiving. He is righteous in justifying and receiving all who come to Him through that blessed One. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." He loves to restore the soul, but He restores it on this one ground alone. He is faithful and just to Jesus, and therefore faithful and just to us.
Some say this language is too advanced for a man living under the law. Another writer answers that objection.
This sounds too much like the gospel, if we take it in Paul's sense of God's righteousness revealed in the gospel... But it would be folly to measure the depth of an inspired statement by the intelligence (real or supposed) of the writer. Such folly leaves God out of His Word... At the beginning of the psalm he pleaded for mercy according to God's known compassion. That is, he asked God to act in keeping with His own character. That is already the "righteousness" he will sing about once delivered... The cross is the full explanation of this.
One writer sees more here than David's own guilt. He sees a confession a whole nation will one day make.
This is Israel's future confession of their sin, and above all of the bloodguiltiness that rests on that nation... David had bloodguiltiness on him. And when the Jews handed the Holy One over to the Gentiles they cried, "His blood be on us and on our children." They will confess this bloodguiltiness when the Lord comes. They will look on Him whom they pierced and mourn for Him (Zech. 12:10)... They will sing aloud of His righteousness, when the Lord has taken away their sins.
The verse ends with a promise. It sets the pattern for everyone God forgives.
Out of the fullness of his heart his mouth will speak. His theme will be, not himself, but the God of his salvation. He will sing, and show forth, and teach. He will not fear God's righteousness, but will make it the subject of his song. The man who at first hoped only for His mercy will exult in His righteousness!... Shall we be less ready to speak than David was? Shall our lips be silent?
- Guilt named. David names the worst thing he did — bloodshed — and asks God to deal with that.
- Guilt uncovered. The law had no sacrifice for a sin like his. Death was its only sentence, so he had nothing to offer but a broken spirit.
- Guilt taken by God alone. He calls on "the God of my salvation," because God alone can deliver him.
- Guilt answered by righteousness. God forgives on righteous ground. So the pardoned man sings of the very thing that once condemned him.
- Guilt turned to song. The prayer ends in a promise. Lips once shut by shame become a voice that teaches others and praises God — David's, and one day a whole nation's.
Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Psalm 51 is the prayer of a man caught in his sin. By this line he is asking God for something he cannot do himself: the use of his own mouth. Sin had silenced him, and praise, like pardon, has to come as a gift.
Sin shuts a mouth before God opens it. One writer pictures David after his sin, unable to join Israel's songs while others sang freely:
Moses and the people of Israel may sing, "the Lord has triumphed gloriously." Deborah and Barak in their turn may sing, "so let all your enemies perish, O Lord." Songs belong to a glad heart, to those whose own conscience speaks for them. But there could be no music in David's heart now. That heart was no house of praise now. How could David enter the gates at that time and praise the Lord? Those gates open only to the righteous nation that keeps the truth. God had appointed salvation for walls and defences, and praise for gates; but David must be silent there, because he had sinned against the Lord.
David asks God, not a ritual, to reopen his mouth:
David appeals straight to God, for as he says in this section, he can find no relief in sacrifices (v. 14). Only God can deliver him from the guilt of bloodshed — the God of his salvation. That deliverance will set David singing aloud of God's righteousness, in contrast to his guilt. The Lord could open his lips to declare His praise (v. 15).
The psalm moves from cleansing, to deliverance, to song. One writer names what that song is about:
Having sought cleansing from his own sins, the psalmist seeks deliverance from the blood-guiltiness of the nation, guilty of the blood of their own Messiah (Matt. 27:25). Then indeed he would sing of the "righteousness" of God, expressed as we know in the death of Christ. The declaration of the righteousness of God will lead to the praise of the Lord.
Commentators differ over how much David himself grasped. Another writer traces the word back to David's opening plea for mercy:
From the beginning of the psalm he has been pleading for mercy according to the known compassion of God, that is, in keeping with His own character. This is already the "righteousness" he will sing about once he is delivered. The cross is the full explanation of this.
Notice what fills the mouth God opens. Not the sin, and not the sinner:
His mouth will speak out of a full heart. His theme will not be himself, but the God of his salvation. He will sing, and tell it out, and teach. He will not fear God's righteousness. He will make it the subject of his song. At the start he hoped only for God's mercy; now he will rejoice in His righteousness! … Shall our lips be silent? … Are sinners converted to God when we open our lips to speak? They will not be if we grieve and quench the Spirit within us, or if we have lost the joy of our salvation.
The psalm also looks past David. One writer sees a whole nation here, silent until God opens their lips:
He then speaks again of the witness that restored Israel will give to His praise, when their silent lips are opened.
That confession waits for one event — the day they look on the One they pierced:
This is Israel's future confession of their sin, and above all of the blood-guilt that rests on that nation. … When the Jews handed the Holy One over to the Gentiles they cried, "His blood be upon us and upon our children." They will confess this blood-guilt when the Lord comes, when they look on Him whom they pierced and mourn for Him (Zech. 12:10). … Then they will become the teachers of the Gentiles.
Praise here is not a mood. It is something said:
Sometimes people think praise is the feeling in our own hearts. But that feeling is the result of praise, not praise itself. Praise is "the fruit of our lips confessing His name." God values your joy, the happiness that fills your hearts and overflows. But there is one thing He values infinitely more than all our feelings: Christ Himself confessed to God.
- Silence — Sin shuts the mouth. David could not sing with Israel, because his own conscience did not speak for him. The gates of praise stayed shut.
- Prayer — No sacrifice met his case. So he asks God for the one thing he cannot do himself: opened lips.
- Ground — The song that follows is about God's righteousness. Commentators tie that righteousness to the death of Christ, not just to escape from trouble.
- Content — The opened mouth speaks of the God of his salvation, not of itself. Praise is Christ confessed to God, not a warm feeling.
- Reach — The prayer reaches past David to a whole nation. Their silent lips will open when they look on the One they pierced, and then they will teach others.