The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 51:7

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. "Hyssop" alone could by the Levitical Law cleanse from contact with a corpse (Numbers 19:18) or from the defilement of leprosy (Le Psalms 14:4). David recognizes that his impurity is of the extremest kind, and needs the remedy which has the greatest purifying power.

Legally, this was the hyssop, with its "blood of sprinkling" (Le Psalms 14:6, Psalms 14:7); spiritually, it was the blood of Christ, which was thus symbolized. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Again the word is used which corresponds to the Greek πλῦνον. "Wash me as garments are washed by the fuller" (see the comment on Psalms 51:2).

More for Psalms 51:7

Continue with other commentaries and DiscipleDeck content connected to this verse, chapter, or topic.

Other commentaries

commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 51:1-19This might be called The minister's psalm. We may imagine the servant of the Lord engaged in devout meditation. He looks before and after. He communes with himself as to his life and work. The deepest thoughts of his he…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 51:1-8Repentance and forgiveness. Some deny the Davidic origin of this psalm; but most refer it to the time when Nathan charged David with the sins of adultery and murder. In these verses we have set forth the nature of forgi…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 51:1-19EXPOSITION THIS is the first of a series of fifteen psalms assigned by their titles to David, and mostly attached to special circumstances in his life, which are said to have furnished the occasions for their compositio…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 51:5-12The prayer now makes a stride in advance. It has been hitherto for the first step in justification—the wiping out of past transgressions. It is now for restoration, for a renewal of spiritual life, for a return to God's…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 51:5-7Secrets of the heart. "Behold!" This is a word of power. It takes hold. It demands attention. It marks the solemnity and seriousness of the things to be brought before us. The veil is so far lifted. In the light of God,…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryMatthew Henry on Psalms 51:7-15Purge me with hyssop, with the blood of Christ applied to my soul by a lively faith, as the water of purification was sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop. The blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling, Heb 12:24. I…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 51:7Whiter than snow. Snow is remarkable for whiteness. As it glistens on the mountains, or lies in virgin purity on the fields, what can compare with it? And yet David speaks of something whiter. Where? Not in nature, but…Joseph S. Exell and contributors devotionThe Honest MirrorYou cannot truly value the cross until you honestly face what made it necessary. Ryle said a shallow view of sin produces a shallow Christianity. How seriously do you take your own?J.C. Ryle / DiscipleDeck