David was repentant for his actions and did not pull any punches when describing them.
V. 2, 3 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.
Last time we gave a quick definition of them and we will explore them in more detail now. Iniquity relates to our inner nature. Sin is the outward manifestation of the nature. And transgression is identifying the offended party, God.
"Iniquity, sin, transgressions," are his descriptions. Verse 4 has him going deeper into the problem. A lot of times, defining the problem helps to solve it. He continues by reversing the order. He begins with the transgression. He has broken the boundary of what God demanded.
4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight,
He gives us a three-fold description of his actions, then evaluates them: "Iniquity, sin, transgressions." And in verse 5 he defines the root cause. That is because David is working from the inside out.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
Notice verse 5 says that he, and we also, were brought forth in iniquity. That does not mean that his mother was a prostitute and he was illegitimate. It means that he had a sin nature from his father. And his father got it from his father, and so on back to Adam. (Incidentally, the "creation understanding that says man arose from monkeys, even if God did "make the changes," has a hard time fitting Adam and his sin into the picture. Animals do not have sin natures, or consciences, even if we condition them to "look" like it or anthropomorphize their actions to mimic shame. Don't get to use the "a" word every day. But I digress.)
David recognized that he, and we, have a sin nature. It is called depravity. "Depravity" does not mean that we are as bad as we could be. It means that we are as bad OFF as we could be. Or as I like to say, we are hapless, helpless, and hopeless. (We don't know what to do. We could not do what we need to do, even if we knew. And we wouldn't do what we need to do if we knew what that was and could do it. We can summarize it as we do not have the knowledge, nor the power, nor the will to deliver ourselves.) (New acronym: KPW)
David recognizes that his sin nature is not just a proclivity to "fun stuff." It is a curse that drives all of us to rebel against what God desires. It leads to sins. We sin because we are sinners. But the key item here is against Whom we sin.
Verse 4 delineates it explicitly. "Against You, and You only...." He further evaluates his actions. They are evil. This is transgression. We have transgressed God's commandments. The list of the Ten that David broke includes just about all ten. "Transgress" means to pass or cross over. When we "transgress" the property line we are trespassers. We are in territory where we ought not to be.
Likewise, David was in forbidden territory when he committed adultery. He not only violated Uriah's "property rights," he was crossing the line that the Lord had drawn. (Incidentally, if man is just an elevated animal, why all the fuss about marriage? Animals do not commit adultery or even lust. That seems to be a uniquely human characteristic. Without trying to provide a rigorous definition, we can agree that all life has a body of some type. Animals have what would be called a primitive soul. They are conscious, and even somewhat sentient. They can carry out mental exercises. But only man has a spirit, which is from God. It is how we link to God. Our souls and spirits are related, but can be separated. Hebrews 4:12)
A second "trespass" would be in taking of life. David was way out of bounds in ordering the "murder by enemy combatant" of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. I am sure that it exposed him to "extortion," even though subtle or implied from his army commander, Joab.
David recognized and confessed that he was a sinner, driven by iniquity, and out of bounds. He even tells us that he had been acutely aware of his condition. "My sin is ever before me." (More later.) His conscience was not seared or deadened. Do you think that he woke up in the morning, and seeing Bathsheba, did not reflect back on what he had done? We do not know how long the baby lived before Nathan's visit, but how could he be anything but another reminder?
David needed to be washed, cleansed, redeemed. Washing just takes off the surface dirt. Cleansing is a deeper, even internal cleaning. It could even mean sterilizing. In verse 10 he goes the final step. He needs a new heart, to be born again.
And just to finish the thought, he recognized that the Lord was present and in control.
So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
In the following verses, David turned his focus to "You." The focus, beginning here, moves to the Lord. He is justified or accurate and without error when He judges. David recognized that even though the penalty was painful, God was not petty, mean, or careless in pronouncing it. (Careless in both meanings.)
Let's pray with David. "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak."
David is broken and broken hearted. It is not because he "got caught," but because he did something that was so terrible that he needed to be caught. There is no pleading innocence or ignorance. He does not try to plea bargain. He accepts and admits his guilt. God is right.
The good stuff is yet to come. Stay tuned....
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