Psalms 51:18,19 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Do good in thy good pleasure, &c.— It has been observed, that this and the next verse seem plainly to shew this Psalm to have been written during the captivity, and therefore the title to be wrong; and that when the Psalm was penned, God could not accept any offering, because the temple and altar were destroyed; but there seems little weight in these observations. The inscriptions to the Psalms are very ancient, and all the versions agree in referring this Psalm to David and the affair of Uriah; nor could any thing be more suitable to his circumstances than this composition throughout. As to the objection brought from the words, build thou the walls of Jerusalem, there is no strength in it: when David made it the place of his residence, he greatly enlarged and fortified it, that it might be safe against the attacks of the neighbouring nations: these works must require a considerable time to carry them on; and as, probably, they were not yet finished, he prays that, though he was unworthy of being prospered by God in this great undertaking, of rendering Mount Sion and Jerusalem secure by the fortifications with which he intended to encompass it, yet that God would prosper, according to his good pleasure, Sion, and enable him to build up the walls of Jerusalem, till he had fully completed them. Or if these walls were actually completed, David might pray with great propriety that God would build them, that is, defend and protect them; uphold and preserve them in safety: for in this sense the word בנה banah, to build, is frequently used. See Proverbs 14:1.; Psalms 2:4. What is further added, that God could not accept any offering, because the temple and altar were destroyed, is without any foundation; because there is not one word mentioned about the temple, nor the destruction of the altar; and the reason why God would accept no sacrifice, was, not because there was no altar, but because God had appointed no sacrifice for adultery and murder; which could be expiated no otherwise than by the death of the offender. But as God had by his peculiar mercy remitted the sentence of death, the Psalmist adds, that if God would graciously favour Sion, enable him to finish the walls of Jerusalem, and establish the safety of the city by his protection; Then shalt thou be pleased with sacrifices of righteousness; i.e. such sacrifices as God had appointed by the law; offered on such occasions, and for such ends, as God himself had prescribed, in opposition to those which he had just before declared God would not accept. Had David offered sacrifices of propitiation for his adultery and murder, they would have been illegal, unwarrantable, impious sacrifices, and not sacrifices of righteousness. The whole burnt offerings frequently consisted of bullocks, Leviticus 1:5. These, the Psalmist adds, should ascend to his altar, as some render the word; or, as our version, They shall offer bullocks upon thine altar. The words are capable of both versions, and the sense in each is nearly the same. He seems to refer principally to the peace or thank-offerings, which, when made by pious men, according to God's prescription, could not fail of being acceptable to him. Chandler. Though the notes on this very important and useful Psalm have extended to a greater length than we commonly allow, I cannot withhold the following observations, in conclusion, from Dr. Delaney; who remarks, that as this Psalm was directed to the chief musician, it was, without doubt, publicly sung in the tabernacle in the presence of all the people; the king himself attending and prostrate before the throne of mercy. "It is surely matter," says he, "of uncommon curiosity to contemplate David in this condition. Behold the greatest monarch of the earth thus humbled for his sins before God! confessing his shame with contrition and confusion of face! calling out for mercy, and imploring pardon, in the presence of his meanest subjects! There is something in such an image of penitence, more fitted to strike the soul with a dread and abhorrence of guilt, than it is possible to express: something more edifying, more adapted to the human infirmities, and more powerful to reform them, than the most perfect example of unsinning obedience; especially, if the supplications and petitions he pours out to God be thoroughly suited to the solemnity of the occasion, and condition of the penitent; as they undoubtedly are in this Psalm. Here the penitent humbly and earnestly begs for mercy;—he acknowledges his sin, and his innate depravity, the source of it; he begs to be renewed in the grace of God, and in that health, which the horror of his wickedness had impaired. Above all, he earnestly beseeches God, not to cast him off, nor deliver him up to a reprobate sense. Cast me not away from thy presence:—Take not thy holy spirit from me:—O give me the comfort of thy help again:—Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation! In one word, the soul of shame, of sorrow, of remorse, of sincere repentance, and bitter anguish under the agonies of guilt, breathes strong and fervent through every line of this hallowed composition. And it is, I doubt not, David's greatest consolation at this moment, when he blesses God for the providential effects of his fall, that those crimes which wrought his shame, and sorrow, and infamy, have, in the humility, the piety, the contrition of confessing them, in this and several other Psalms, composed upon the same occasion, rescued and reformed millions."