Ps. 51.7 (hyssop and snow)

Remove / the guilt of my sin / with hyssop / so that I will be / clean indeed
wash me / so that I will be / whiter than snow. 

This verse marks an important transition in the psalm. The first section involved lengthy confessions of possession and knowledge of David’s sin. It concluding with a type of absolute confession: that even from the womb David has been in rebellion against God. Indeed, there could be no more of a totalizing form of confession than this. Which is why, now, and from this point on, that act of confession is gone. David will not focus completely on his petition to God for removal of his sin and for healing. That said, and although this verse is transitional, in many ways it is very similar to the opening verse 2. The act of ‘removal’ is, in literal terms, the act of ‘de-sinning’ or ‘un-sinning’, closely aligned with the act of “blotting out” in verse 1. Likewise, the ‘guilt of my sin’ is similar to the ‘guilt of my waywardness’ (vs. 2). The desire to be ‘cleansed’ parallels vs. 2 and “cleanse me from my sin”. The petition to ‘wash me’ also opened verse 2. What is unique is the desire to be “cleansed with hyssop” and to be so thoroughly washed that he will be “whiter than snow.” As to hyssop, it is bush that was used in order to sprinkle blood on the doorposts in the Passover as well as used in the cleansing rituals for lepers and if a person had come in contact with a dead person. What seems clear, regardless of whether David is speaking literally here, is the fact that he sees his sin as creating within him such an objective form of impurity that it is likened to the needing of ritual cleansing; as said above, David is asking to un(de)-sinned by the hyssop branch, clearly indicating that any forgiveness that will be granted will be by and through an act external to himself. The desire to be so thoroughly washed that he would be “whiter than snow” picks up on a theme we have already noticed and prepares for what follows in this second part. The first thing to note about this is that very little is actually whiter than snow. What David is asking for is a mercy that would transform him into a type of utter and complete purity. This request picks up on the idea of David turning himself into a total object of judgment so as to make himself into a complete object of mercy. This impulse will push forward into the next section that focuses on the re-creation of David, the sense that the type of cleansing effected by God is tantamount to a ‘new act’. To be ‘cleansed’ is not merely to be ‘made whole’ (as could be the impression if we only had the verses of the first section), but to be reintroduced into the sphere of God; it is, as we will see, to be reintroduced into the liturgical praise of God.