Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity
Which supposes defilement by sin, and that very great, and such
as none can remove but the Lord himself; who, when he takes it in
hand, does it effectually and thoroughly; see ( Ezekiel
36:25 ) . David's sin had long lain upon him, the faith of it
had as it were eaten into him, and spread itself over him, and
therefore he needed much washing: "wash me much", all over, and
thoroughly:
and cleanse me from my sin:
which only the blood of Christ can do, ( 1 John 1:7 ) . The
psalmist makes use of three words to express his sin by, in this
verse ( Psalms
51:1 ) ; (evp) , which
signifies "rebellion", as all sin has in it rebellion against God
the lawgiver, and a contempt of his commandments; (Nwe) , "perverseness", "crookedness",
sin being a going out of the plain way of God's righteous law;
and (tajx) , "a missing
the mark"; going besides it or not coming up to it: and these he
makes rise of to set forth the malignity of sin, and the deep
sense he had of the exceeding sinfulness of it; and these are the
three words used by the Lord in ( Exodus 34:7 ) ; when he
declares himself to be a sin forgiving God; so that David's sin
came within the reach of pardoning mercy.