Seder 124: Two Questions on Psalm 51:3-5

 Psalm 51, a prayer of repentance, was written by David when he was confronted by Nathan the prophet about his adultery with Bathsheba and his arranging the death of her husband Uriah (see 2 Sam 12).    

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on July 25, 2026, Kyle Kettering discussed two questions raised by Psalm 51:3-5, where David acknowledges the fact that he has sinned greatly and has no excuse.  

The first question is from verse 4, where David confesses, "Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight."  What does David mean here?  Surely David also sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah.  There are a number of scriptures that speak of someone sinning against another person, including:

• Genesis 42:22, which speaks of Joseph's brothers sinning against him;
• 1 Samuel 2:25, which contrasts sinning against a man and sinning against God;
• Luke 15:21, where the prodigal son acknowledges sinning against both God and his father.

Kyle explained that David is saying, "Since it was your standard that I violated, however you decide to punish me will be appropriate."  As the king of Israel, he was accountable to the God of Israel for his behavior.  He had violated God's standards, not someone else's.  

A second, harder question is raised by verse 5.  In the ESV, this verse says, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." This verse is often cited as a proof text for the Christian doctrine of original sin.  Kyle observed, however, that it is not necessarily a good idea to make a poetic text like a psalm carry a lot of weight in a theology debate.  (The key text on original sin is Romans 5, which is part of a theological discourse.)

Kyle went on to explain that there are other possible translations of verse 5.  One issue is the translation of chet, the Hebrew word for "sin" in this verse.  This is a word that usually means sin or impurity but can sometimes mean purity or cleanness.  A discussion of Jewish sages on this point is recorded in the Talmud in Niddah 31b, where a couple of examples are cited.  One is in Numbers 14:52, which is about the cleansing of a moldy house.  The other is Psalm 51:7 ("Purge me with hyssop ..."), just a couple of verses after the one in question.

With this information in mind, it follows that another possible translation of verse 5 could be, "Behold, I struggled with iniquity, but in purity my mother conceived me."  This translation has David taking full responsibility for what he has done---rather than saying original sin made him do it---which is consistent with the thrust of the psalm.

A lesson here, Kyle said, is that we should approach the biblical text with caution and humility to ensure, as much as possible, that we do not misrepresent it.  

Seder 29: Genesis 30, 1 Samuel 1-2---Rachel and Hannah

 After about seven years of infertility, Jacob's wife Rachel gave birth to a son, Joseph.  We are not told what use she might have made of the mandrakes she obtained from her sister.  The implication is that this detail is irrelevant.  Genesis emphasizes that it was God who "opened her womb" (Ge 30:22).  

Joseph is one of a series of special sons, miraculously given to couples struggling with infertility, who have important roles to play in salvation history.  Others include Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist.  

These sons were answers to prayer.  Genesis 30:22 notes that God "listened to" Rachel.  In the case of Samuel's mother Hannah, we are given some details about one of those prayers.  Hannah vowed to God that she would dedicate a son to his service "if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me..." (1 Sa 1:11).  Her language is very similar to that of Exodus 3;7, where God states, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people."  Hannah asked God to deliver her from infertility as he had always delivered his people.

When Hannah brought young Samuel to the tabernacle, she gave a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving (1 Sa 2:1-10).  Walter Kaiser, in his book on great prayers in the Hebrew Scriptures, divides the prayer into three parts:

• In verses 1-3, Hannah expresses her great joy and praises God's greatness and incomparability.  In verse 3, when she says, "Talk no more so very proudly..," we can imagine that she has her personal tormentor Peninnah in mind, but the word for "your" in this verse is in plural form. 
• In verses 4-8, Hannah describes how God watches out for those in need, stepping in to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.  "The barren has borne seven," she declares in verse 5, and she would go on to have at least six children in all (verse 21).  
• In verses 9-10, Hannah looks ahead to the culmination of God's plan, when God will judge the world and send his Messiah.  Samuel would later anoint the first two kings of Israel, contributing to the fulfillment of this prophecy.

Her prayer expressed the thanksgiving of all the barren women who had been granted children.  It also became a template for future songs of praise.  Mary's prayer in Luke 1:46-55 has similiar structure and content.  A psalm of David recorded in both 2 Samuel 2 and Psalm 18 has several parallels with Hannah's prayer:

• In verse 1, Hannah says that God exalts her "horn"---that is, lifts her up and gives her strength---as does David in Psalm 18:2.
• In verse 2, Hannah refers to God as her "rock," as does David in Psalm 18:2.
• In verse 10 Hannah pictures God "thundering," as David does in Psalm 18:13.  In Hannah's case God answers the taunts of Peninnah.  In 1:6, the verb for thundering is used to describe Peninnah "irritating" Hannah.  
• Hannah ends her prayer with an assertion of God's faithfulness to his anointed king, as does David in Psalm 18:50.  

Feast of Trumpets 2020: The Birth of Samuel

 The Bible chronicles a number of miraculous births, beginning with that of Isaac in the book of Genesis and continuing on to those of John the Baptist and Jesus in Luke 1-2.  

In between  falls the birth of Samuel, which has connections with both Genesis and Luke.  

The parallel family situations of  Abraham/Sarah and Elkanah/Hannah constitute one connection between Genesis and Samuel.  Abraham and Sarah are unable to have children, but Abraham has a son with a second wife, Hagar.  Similarly, Elkanah and Hannah are unable to have children, but Elkanah has children with a second wife, Peninnah (1 Sam 1).  

After the miraculous birth of his son Isaac, Abraham shows willingness to give up Isaac at God's command (Gen 22).  Similarly, Elkanah and Hannah willingly give up Samuel to God's service (1 Sam 1:21-28).  

After Samuel's birth Hannah's prayer concludes with a prophecy of a coming Messiah:  "The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed" (1 Sam 2:10).  Her prayer has much in common with Mary's prayer of thanksgiving in Luke 1:46-55.  Both prayers praise God for exalting the humble and humbling the proud. 

There are also a number of parallels between Samuel and Jesus and their families.  Like Mary and Joseph, Hannah and Elkanah made regular pilgrimages to worship God (1 Sam 1:3; Luke 2:41).  Samuel as a young boy served under Eli the priest (1 Sam 2:11), while Jesus discussed aspects of the Torah with teachers at the Temple in Jerusalem when he was 12 years old (Luke 2:46-47).  Luke seems to emphasize the connection between Samuel and Jesus when he writes in Luke 2:52 that "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men," an apparent reference to 1 Sam 2:26.  

According to David Daube (The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism, pp 13-14), there is also a rabbinic legend that the boy Samuel once corrected Eli on a technical point involving sacrificial regulations.  If this story was extant in the first century, it could further explain why Luke saw Samuel's boyhood as typical of Jesus' boyhood.