New Testament Christians in Cork

"Behold, behold..." (sin and forgiveness)

Since Augustine in the fifth century there has been misdirected fascination with the concept of Original Sin, a concept influenced by Augustine’s time as a follower of Manichaeism and afterward neo-Platonism (i.e., Greek philosophies and not Bible teachings). This misdirection finds its full voice in John Calvin in the sixteenth century and in the doctrine of Hereditary Total Depravity. Today, the overwhelming majority of people who consider themselves Christians are influenced by either or both of these ‘novel’ teachings. On the other hand, the Psalm is a Jewish poem, written by a Jewish hand in Hebrew, the Jewish tongue. And it was written a millennium or more before Augustine taught.  There is no understanding of either Original Sin or Total Depravity in the mind of the Psalmist. Both were alien and unheard of at that time.

Our task then, in the twenty-first century, is to try to read the Psalm in the context of a Jewish person who feels the depth of his alienation from God for his wrongdoing and who is asking God for mercy and forgiveness. It is not our task to introduce other, later concepts into the text or to answer questions not raised by the text.  

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; And in the hidden part thou wilt make me to know wisdom.

In Psalm 51:5-6 the Psalmist repeats a small word at the beginning of each verse. The Hebrew word is h¢n and is used about 100 times in the Old Testament altogether. It is normally translated as “behold” or “lo.” Usually, it is used to emphasise the information which follows it: “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:22). Most English translations of Psalm 51:5-6 use “behold.”

Occasionally, the word is used in pairing statements which give a “here and there” emphasis. It seems to me that these couplets that begin with “behold” present a stress on difference; sometimes a gentle distinction, but sometimes a stronger contrast. The presentation of thought each time seems to give us the sense in English of “on the one hand... but on the other hand...”  

This pairing formula is used eleven times in the Hebrew Old Testament. In the ten passages listed below the idea of contrast is present. To provide word-for-word clarity I am using the American Standard Version, I have also highlighted the word in bold to make it easier to find in each passage. Having looked at the ten passages we will then discuss Psalm 51:5-6 and the Psalmist’s reasoning for using “behold” at the beginning of each verse.  

Job 8:19-20 - 19 Behold, this is the joy of his way; And out of the earth shall others spring. 20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, Neither will he uphold the evil-doers.

Sinful man deserves to die but God will not punish the righteous that way. Job is being told that his children died because of their transgression (Job 8:4). God is right to punish them this way. On the other hand, if they were ‘perfect’ God would not have cast them away in that manner.  

Job 9:11-12 - 11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: He passeth on also, but I perceive him not. 12 Behold, he seizeth the prey, who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou?

Job cannot see God at work, but God sees all that Job does. Job answers the accusation made in chapter 8 that his children did wrong and deserve their punishment. He objects, asking who is righteous before God. God acts in wisdom that is beyond Job’s understanding. Job is oblivious to God and how God works, but on the other hand, God is like the hunter who lays hidden but sees everything.  

Job 12:14-15 - 14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. 15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

When God actively destroys nothing can prevent it, no one can stop Him. Conversely, when God does not allow the rains to fall, who can start them? Job has been overwhelmed with misfortunes and has now become a laughingstock for trusting God all his life. But this does not mean that he understands what God is doing to him, or that he has acted wrongly in trusting God all his life. Whether God tears up or withholds, humanity is powerless. We cannot understand God’s reasons, we grope in the dark for answers.

2 Chron. 7:13 - If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

God talks to Solomon about the methods He will use to bring the people to repentance. On the one hand if God prevents the rains from heavens falling and thereby bringing growth and food, or on the other hand if God allows only locusts from heaven to fall and thereby bringing famine, either way Israel is to know they need to repent. When they repent, God will send His blessings from heaven upon them (v.14).

Isa.40:15 - Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance: Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

Who is there to compare to God in power? The nations are as insignificant as a drop spilled from a bucket. The islands are like fine dust to Him. The nations are sometimes depicted as seas moving about (Isa.17:12-13; 57:20), but here they are droplets. In contrast to the rolling seas, there are also immovable land masses. But they too are nothing more than dust to be wiped away.  

Isa. 50:9 - Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.

It is because the Lord God helps me, that there is none to contend with me and declare me guilty. On the contrary those adversaries will wear out like an old garment.  

Isa.54:15-16 -15 Behold, they may gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall because of thee. 16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the fire of coals, and bringeth forth a weapon for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

God will protect the remnant of Israel. Opponents may form alliances and schemes in order to attack Israel, but it is not by God’s doing. On the contrary, everything that affects Israel’s welfare is under God’s control. Even those who would destroy can accomplish only what God permits.  

Isa. 55:4-5 - 4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.  5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not; and a nation that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

I have given my servant (the Messiah) to be a witness and a leader to other nations. Instead, people who were strangers and you did not know will come because that is what God wants.  

Isa.58:3-4 - 3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and exact all your labors.  4 Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.

Here the contrast is in their reason for fasting. Fasting is supposed to be about foregoing food and pleasure for a period. But they are fulfilling their own desires and pleasures – by not fasting while others are. They goaded those workers under their control to hard labour when they had not eaten all day. The day of the fast was meant to be a day of contemplation, repentance and reconciliation. But when they fast there is only quarrelling and contention. For these hypocrites, their external fasting is not to aid their prayers to God, there is not regard for God at all.  

Ezra 7:26 - And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him with all diligence, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.

This is probably the easiest verse for us to see the contrasts involved. There are three h¢n particles in the statement, none of which are usually translated with “behold” or “lo.” The punishment will take different forms presumably depending on the severity of non-compliance. On the one hand death, on the other hand banishment and on the third hand confiscation and imprisonment.  

So, returning to Psalm 51, what is the Psalmist saying in verses 5 and 6 when he uses this “behold” couplet?

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; And in the hidden part thou wilt make me to know wisdom.

On the one hand I was conceived in, and born into, a world of sin. But on the other hand that was never your intention for me even from the very beginning. My sin is that I have acted contrary to my God-ordained nature. You desire and created me with truth and wisdom, but I have done wrong.  

This understanding of the couplet is an expansion and explanation of what David confessed in the preceding verses. His sin is always before him, he cannot forget it (v.3). He has done wrong against God and God is right to condemn him (v.4). This sense of David’s wrong and God’s right is reinforced when David seeks forgiveness. He cannot find it in the world he was born into because that world is equally guilty before God. For David there is no comfort in knowing that everyone sins. There is no help for him in a world that was sinful without him. For David, to go to other sinners seeking a solution is only compounding his sin.  

But on the other hand, unlike mankind which is weak and unable to provide David with any comfort, going to God brings even more than forgiveness. With God there is renewal and restoration. God’s forgiveness can bring about a situation in David’s life that is as if he had never sinned. His relationship with God can be reborn and he can be brought forth again to a newness of life. If God will forgive him, then there will be complete forgiveness.  

When we try to understand the thinking of David – confronted with his sin and his need for forgiveness – we do not have to invent a solution which is outside the text. We do not have to put something into the text that the Psalmist had no conception of. We do not have to bring out something that it is not there.  For us the wisdom of the text is seen when we desire to know what God is saying to David. God’s truth should be enough for us.  And we too can have the same joy of salvation when we too submit to God and His word and seek restoration and renewal from God as He has spoken to us today in the New Testament.