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Psalm 51:1-10
Psalm 51 is classified as an individual lament in which a single voice cries out to God for deliverance from a life-threatening situation.
In the case of Psalm 51, the life-threatening situation is King David’s guilt over the taking of Bathsheba. The psalm’s superscription reads, “To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.”
The historical background for Psalm 51 thus is 2 Samuel 11-12. David, in residence in Jerusalem while his armies are battling the Ammonites, observes Bathsheba, the wife of one of his military generals, bathing on her rooftop. He sends for her, has intercourse with her, and then conspires to have her husband, Uriah, killed in battle. When Nathan confronts David with the implications of what he has done, David’s only words are, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Sam 12:13). Might we read Psalm 51 as the rest of David’s words: David’s confession of sin and his plea for forgiveness? They are indeed appropriate.
