I particularly enjoyed this in-depth look at Psalm 50.
The only psalm that is prescribed to be recited in its entirety at every Divine Liturgy is (in the Orthodox Old Testament) Psalm 50 (Psalm 51 in the Hebrew text). During the Cherubic Hymn, just before the Great Entrance when the gifts of bread and wine are brought to the altar as the Church prepares for the Holy Oblation, the priest censes the altar, the sanctuary and the people, and quietly recites the psalm (and is expected to know it by heart): “Have mercy on me, O God, in accordance with your great mercy...” The priest recites the psalm up until verse 17: “A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a humbled heart God will not despise”, and concludes the psalm after the solemn procession with the holy gifts when he places the bread and wine upon the altar: “Do good to Sion, Lord, in your good pleasure; and let the walls of Jerusalem be rebuilt. Then you will be well pleased with a sacrifice of righteousness, oblation and whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer calves upon your altar”.
It is within this liturgical context that I should like to examine this remarkable prayer of repentance.
Psalm 50 was written by the Prophet King David after he acknowledged and confessed his sin before the Prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12). David’s sin was a terrible two-fold sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Bathsheba became pregnant and David sent for Uriah, who was with the Israelite army at the siege of Rabbah, so that he may lie with his wife and conceal the identity of the child's father. Uriah refused to do so while his companions were in the field of battle and David sent him back to Joab, the commander, with a message instructing him to abandon Uriah on the battlefield, "that he may be struck down, and die."
It is therefore the prayer of a murderer and adulterer that the celebrant of the Liturgy recites (and makes his own in prayer) as he prepares for the Holy Oblation. For sin lies not only in our actions, but also in the corruption and evil desires of the heart. Indeed, if the priest has actually committed murder or adultery, he is, according to canon law, to be defrocked and can not celebrate the Liturgy at all. And yet the priest is here expected to identify himself with a murderer and adulterer – murder and adultery being two of the most grievous sins against God and man. In His sermon on the mount, our Lord states: ‘You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit adultery”. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ (Matt. 5:27-28). In the case of murder, St Basil the Great and St John Chrysostom put it very strongly to the rich in regard to helping the poor, claiming that those who refuse to share with others in time of urgent need, when starvation and disease pose an immanent threat to human life, may be accounted guilty of murder. As St Basil writes in the homily, In Time of Famine and Drought, “Whoever has the ability to remedy the suffering of others, but chooses rather to withhold aid out of selfish motives, may properly be judged the equivalent of a murderer.” And St John Chrysostom, in his Homily on 1 Thessalonians, states that he who denies alms to the starving is as much his brother’s murderer as was Cain...
It is within this liturgical context that I should like to examine this remarkable prayer of repentance.
Psalm 50 was written by the Prophet King David after he acknowledged and confessed his sin before the Prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12). David’s sin was a terrible two-fold sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Bathsheba became pregnant and David sent for Uriah, who was with the Israelite army at the siege of Rabbah, so that he may lie with his wife and conceal the identity of the child's father. Uriah refused to do so while his companions were in the field of battle and David sent him back to Joab, the commander, with a message instructing him to abandon Uriah on the battlefield, "that he may be struck down, and die."
It is therefore the prayer of a murderer and adulterer that the celebrant of the Liturgy recites (and makes his own in prayer) as he prepares for the Holy Oblation. For sin lies not only in our actions, but also in the corruption and evil desires of the heart. Indeed, if the priest has actually committed murder or adultery, he is, according to canon law, to be defrocked and can not celebrate the Liturgy at all. And yet the priest is here expected to identify himself with a murderer and adulterer – murder and adultery being two of the most grievous sins against God and man. In His sermon on the mount, our Lord states: ‘You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit adultery”. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ (Matt. 5:27-28). In the case of murder, St Basil the Great and St John Chrysostom put it very strongly to the rich in regard to helping the poor, claiming that those who refuse to share with others in time of urgent need, when starvation and disease pose an immanent threat to human life, may be accounted guilty of murder. As St Basil writes in the homily, In Time of Famine and Drought, “Whoever has the ability to remedy the suffering of others, but chooses rather to withhold aid out of selfish motives, may properly be judged the equivalent of a murderer.” And St John Chrysostom, in his Homily on 1 Thessalonians, states that he who denies alms to the starving is as much his brother’s murderer as was Cain...
Complete article here.
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