A Perspective on Psalm 51:5
by William P. Murray, Jr.
Are men born sinners? A commonly abused 'proof' text is Psalm 51:5. Although
I cannot claim the following as a result of my own scholarship or research,
the information is a culmination from many sources over the years, and, I
feel, the best explanation of this particular text that I have come
across.
Psalm 51:5 - "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me." KJV
This is a Hebrew poetic parallelism, with the second line of the verse
saying the same thing as the first line in a slightly different way. The
first verb, of which David is the subject, is in the Pulal tense
(as is "made" in # Job 15:7 ), which is an idiom used to refer
to creation or origins, and is the 'passive' form of Polel ("formed":
# Ps 90:2 Pro 26:10 ). TWOT, #623, 1:270.
The subject of this verse is NOT the state or constitution of David's
nature as a sinner at, or before, his birth. The subject is,
as the verse clearly states, the 'circumstances' of his conception- the
sexual union which produced him was an act of sin, and addresses the unrighteousness
of his mother's act, not anything (such as a sin nature) inherent within
himself. (The NIV's version of this verse is an INTERPRETATION, not
a translation: "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time
my mother conceived me.")
David had two half-sisters (Zeruiah, Abigail).....:
1CHR 2:13-16 13 “And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab
the second, and Shimma the third, 14 Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai
the fifth, 15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh: 16 Whose sisters
were Zeruiah, and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah; Abishai, and Joab,
and Asahel, three. 17 And Abigail bare Amasa: and the father of Amasa
was Jether the Ishmeelite.”
....and the father of David's half-sisters was not Jesse, but Nahash:
2Sam 17:25 “And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of
Joab: which Amasa was a man's son, whose name was Ithra an Israelite,
that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab's
mother.”
Nahash, the father of Zeruiah and Abigal, David's half-sisters, was
an Ammonite king:
1Sam 11:1 “Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against
Jabeshgilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with
us, and we will serve thee.”
1Sam 12:12 “And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children
of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign
over us: when the LORD your God was your king.”
David's father was Jesse, not Nahash. Zeruiah and Abigal were David's
half-sisters through his mother's previous marriage to Nahash. This
would also help explain why Nahash showed kindness to David, perhaps out
of respect for David's mother, Nahash’s former wife and the mother
of two of Nahash's children.
2Sam 10:2 “Then said David, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son
of Nahash, as his father shewed kindness unto me. And David sent to comfort
him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came
into the land of the children of Ammon.”
David's mother was most likely the second wife of Jesse, the first wife
being the mother of David's half-brothers. Jesse’s first wife's
standing before the 'righteousness of the law', (her not having been married
to, or the concubine of, a heathen king, as was David’s mother),
would have been superior to that of David's mother, and explains why David's
half-brothers, Jesse's other sons, would have felt they were superior
to David, and why he would be accused of being prideful, for thinking
he was as good as them....
1Sam 17:28-30 28 “And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he
spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he
said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those
few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of
thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.
29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not
a cause? 30 And he turned from him toward another, and spake after
the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.”
...and why David was not considered, by his father Jesse, as 'true'
a son as his half-brothers. Samuel had called Jesse and his sons, and
thus expected 'all' his sons, to the sacrifice (1Sam 16:5,11). Jesse,
having been told to bring 'his sons' by a prophet of the Lord everyone
feared (1Sam 16:4), was confident he had obeyed the prophet, even knowing
he did not bring David....
1Sam 16:11 “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children?
And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth
the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will
not sit down till he come hither.”
....which would be consistent with God's sometimes choosing that
which men esteemed as worthless (the 'least') to be the greatest: (Gideon-
Jud 6:15; King Saul- 1Sam 9:21; Jesus- Mt 2:6, Lk 9:48)
David's mother was apparently a Jewish woman, because 'no Ammonite shall
enter the congregation of the Lord to the 10th generation’ (Deu 23:3),
and yet in PS 86:16 and PS 116:16, David refers to himself as "the
son of thy handmaid", which would seem to testify to his mother's
relationship with the Lord. David's mother was, in the eyes of Jewish
law, considered 'defiled' by her previous relationship to an Ammonite.
Nu 25:1,2; De 7:3,4; 1ki 11:2-4, Ezr 9:2; Ne 13:23,25; 2Co 6:14-17
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