WASH ME THROUGHLY!

WASH ME THROUGHLY!

Ps 51:2

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Ps 51:7

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

           When the prophet Nathan confronted King David about his sin with Bath-sheba, the result was that David felt dirty and in need of washing. Twice in his song of repentance David asked to be washed. In verse two we read that curious King James word “throughly” which we moderns think is simply a misspelling of the word “thoroughly” but throughly actually means to “wash me again and again” or to “wash me through and through.”

           David’s guilt was not upon him but within him and he needed to be washed through and through. He might have said: “My stain is deep; ordinary cleansing will not be sufficient.” The cleansing agent must reach the core of my being. In verse 7 David refers to the sin offering and Adam Clarke, in his commentary, gives wonderful insight into this rite.

The priest took two clean birds, cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop; one of the birds was killed; and the living bird with the scarlet, cedar, and hyssop, dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed, and then sprinkled over the person who had been infected. But it is worthy of remark that this ceremony was not performed till the plague of the leprosy had been healed in the leper; (Lev 14:3;) and the ceremony above mentioned was for the purpose of declaring to the people that the man was healed, that he might be restored to his place in society, having been healed of a disease that the finger of God alone could remove. This David seems to have full in view; hence, he requests the Lord to make the sin-offering for him, and to show to the people that he had accepted him, and cleansed him from his sin. (from Adam Clarke's Commentary.)

           When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet Peter protested prompting Jesus to explain: “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” (John 13:10) We now know that one of the meanings was that all were clean except for Judas. We also apply the idea that saved people need to be cleansed daily from the filth of the world as they walk through it. The church, you and I, are the bride of Christ and he wants a clean bride. The Word of God, daily applied, provides that cleansing.

Eph 5:25-27

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Dear Lord, I pray along with King David that I might be washed and be whiter than snow. My sin is deep. Wash me throughly. AMEN