My Own Reflection on David's Statement in Psalm 51:4
One of the many passages that puzzle me is when David said in Psalm 51:4 saying, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." At first, it sounds really illogical. It's maybe because modern English today uses the word sin more often. There's no difference between a sin and a fault. James 5:10 in some modern translations say to confess our sins one to another (but this doesn't justify confessing to a priest) while the King James says to confess our faults to one another.
So what's my understanding of David saying that He only sinned against God? This is a very confusing statement. I decided to consult Charles H. Spurgeon's Treasury of David to help me understand a difficult to understand passage:
Verse 4. Against thee, thee only have I sinned. The virus of sin lies in its opposition to God: the psalmist's sense of sin towards others rather tended to increase the force of this feeling of sin against God. All his wrong doing centred, culminated, and came to a climax, at the foot of the divine throne. To injure our fellow men is sin, mainly because in so doing we violate the law of God. The penitent's heart was so filled with a sense of the wrong done to the Lord himself, that all other confession was swallowed up in a broken hearted acknowledgment of offence against him. And done this evil in thy sight. To commit treason in the very court of the king and before his eye is impudence indeed: David felt that his sin was committed in all its filthiness while Jehovah himself looked on. None but a child of God cares for the eye of God, but where there is grace in the soul it reflects a fearful guilt upon every evil act, when we remember that the God whom we offend was present when the trespass was committed. That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. He could not present any argument against divine justice, if it proceeded at once to condemn him and punish him for his crime. His own confession, and the judge's own witness of the whole transaction, places the transgression beyond all question or debate; the iniquity was indisputably committed, and was unquestionably a foul wrong, and therefore the course of justice was clear and beyond all controversy.
The truth of the matter is every sin is ultimately answerable to God Himself. David wasn't denying that he sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba as well as the people of Israel. He was probably looking at a vertical level that it should be more frightening that every act of sin is ultimately against God. He was most likely looking at it that by sinning against Uriah, Bathsheba and the people of Israel - this is ultimately a travesty against God. He acknowledged that He has offended God the most.
From the Christian Courier, here's an understanding of why David said he's only sinned against God:
The solution to this problem is to be found in the sense in which Israel’s great king is using the language.
There is no question that, in reality, David’s transgression was encompassing in its damage. He had sinned against the woman with whom he committed this act of vileness. He had sinned against Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. He had sinned against his family. He had sinned against his own body (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:18). David had sinned against his men, who had a right to expect fidelity from their leader; similarly, in an even broader sense, he has betrayed the nation he led. These are facts beyond dispute.
However, the king’s confession must be taken in the larger context of his disposition on this occasion. It is a psalm of penitence that is saturated with agony. This broken-hearted man, who once had served the Lord so devoutly as the brave shepherd lad, had horribly violated the law of the God he loved so dearly. It was a crushing moment in his life.
A careful examination of the psalm reveals that it abounds in hyperbole. This is the explanation, for example, of his affirmation that he had been in sin since the time of his conception (v. 5)—a confession that was not true literally. It is, therefore, in this light that the expression “only thee” is to be viewed.
David’s remorse over having disappointed his Creator was so great that the offense, with reference to all others, paled into insignificance. One must ever remember that the psalms are poetry, and considerable literary license is employed therein. Viewed from this vantage point, then, there is no problem with the inspired writer’s language.
It can be seen that David himself was looking at the relationship between God and him. He was seeing sin at a vertical level. Nobody can deny when you do something wrong against someone it's a sin against someone. But why is it a sin? It's because sinning against someone is a violation of God's Law. David's murder of Uriah and adultery with Bathsheba transgressed the Law. The very fact only God has the right to be my final judge is even scarier than sinful men acting as my temporary judge.
The truth is every act of sin is ultimately against God. It's not wrong because somebody got hurt but it's wrong because it was against God's command. By trying to understand this hard passage I have realized that being ultimately answerable to God is a truly frightening thing.
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