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Whiter Than Snow
Psalm 51, like Psalm 32, is a penitential psalm, written after David confesses his sin. Just as Psalm 32 alludes to garments in order to illuminate the concept of God’s covering for sin, Psalm 51 also alludes to the imagery of garments as a sin covering. But here the emphasis is on the washing and whitening agents used to clean garments and on their spiritual significance. In other words, in this psalm, David metaphorically does his “dirty laundry.”
In Psalm51:2, David asks God to wash him thoroughly. What does this washing involve? How do the images of “purge me with hyssop” and “whiter than snow” (vs. 7) help us understand the nature of this cleansing?
The word that David uses here for washing is used elsewhere in Scripture to refer to the washing of a garment (see Gen. 49:11, Exod. 19:10). Purge suggests the idea of making atonement for sin. Hyssop, a gray-green marjoram plant, was used as a spice and had medicinal properties, thus it was both a nutritive and a healing agent. Hyssop, as David knew well, had a long history in Israel. It was used in the original Passover ritual (Exod. 12:22), in the day of cleansing a leper or a house (Lev. 14:6, 49), and in the offering of the red heifer for the purification of men and items unclean through contact with the dead. Moses used hyssop at the ratification of the covenant (Heb. 9:19, 20). See “Hyssop” in The SDA Bible Dictionary, p. 497.
All these uses signify that hyssop was a powerful cleansing agent. David’s use of hyssop shows he understood that only the remedy with the greatest purifying power could cleanse him from sin’s defilement. And that remedy is the atoning blood of our Savior.
In Psalm 51:10, David prays for God to create in him a clean heart. What does having a “clean heart” mean?
God does not merely cleanse the heart from iniquity; He creates in His forgiven child a new heart. A new heart is a new mind. Paul exhorts us: “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2) “through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ” (Titus 3:5, 6, NKJV). Prayer for forgiveness always should be united with prayer for heart renewal and holy living. David desires to be clothed in an entirely new mental and moral nature. He prays to be steadfast in obedience and not to be deprived of the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
| WEDNESDAY | May 11 |
Psalm 51, like Psalm 32, is a penitential psalm, written after David confesses his sin. Just as Psalm 32 alludes to garments in order to illuminate the concept of God’s covering for sin, Psalm 51 also alludes to the imagery of garments as a sin covering. But here the emphasis is on the washing and whitening agents used to clean garments and on their spiritual significance. In other words, in this psalm, David metaphorically does his “dirty laundry.”
In Psalm51:2, David asks God to wash him thoroughly. What does this washing involve? How do the images of “purge me with hyssop” and “whiter than snow” (vs. 7) help us understand the nature of this cleansing?
The word that David uses here for washing is used elsewhere in Scripture to refer to the washing of a garment (see Gen. 49:11, Exod. 19:10). Purge suggests the idea of making atonement for sin. Hyssop, a gray-green marjoram plant, was used as a spice and had medicinal properties, thus it was both a nutritive and a healing agent. Hyssop, as David knew well, had a long history in Israel. It was used in the original Passover ritual (Exod. 12:22), in the day of cleansing a leper or a house (Lev. 14:6, 49), and in the offering of the red heifer for the purification of men and items unclean through contact with the dead. Moses used hyssop at the ratification of the covenant (Heb. 9:19, 20). See “Hyssop” in The SDA Bible Dictionary, p. 497.
All these uses signify that hyssop was a powerful cleansing agent. David’s use of hyssop shows he understood that only the remedy with the greatest purifying power could cleanse him from sin’s defilement. And that remedy is the atoning blood of our Savior.
In Psalm 51:10, David prays for God to create in him a clean heart. What does having a “clean heart” mean?
God does not merely cleanse the heart from iniquity; He creates in His forgiven child a new heart. A new heart is a new mind. Paul exhorts us: “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2) “through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ” (Titus 3:5, 6, NKJV). Prayer for forgiveness always should be united with prayer for heart renewal and holy living. David desires to be clothed in an entirely new mental and moral nature. He prays to be steadfast in obedience and not to be deprived of the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
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