Repentance
Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2 NASB
Guilt/ sin – “This time I will praise the Lord.” So said Leah (Genesis 29:35) on the birth of Judah. But “praise” isn’t the only derivative of this Hebrew word, yādâ. It can also mean “confess, give thanks.” It is the “confession” aspect that emerges in Judah’s life story.
“The root lehodot, has two main meanings. It means ‘to thank’ . . . But is also means, ‘to admit, acknowledge.’ The biblical term vidui, ‘confession,’—then and now part of the process of teshuva, and according to Maimonides, its key element—comes fro the same root. Judah means ‘he who acknowledged his sin.’”[1]
Sacks points out that Judah is the first person in the Torah to take responsibility for sin. He goes through the three essential steps, although it takes a lifetime to accomplish this. The first is confession and acknowledgement of the wrong done. The second is abandoning the wrong action, removing it from thoughts and resolving never to do it again. The third is the behavioral litmus test. When the opportunity arises for the sinful act to reoccur, the person refrains to repeating it. That is true repentance. Asking forgiveness without completing all three is useless and insufficient. Action must follow words.
David’s song, written after the adulterous act with Bathsheba, accomplishes the first two steps. Nathan confronts the king and the king acknowledges his action and guilt. He turns from such behavior, vowing that it will never occur again. But it takes the rest of his life to fulfill that commitment. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons he can say that he has sinned against God only. Only God can be the judge of such a commitment for only God will know if David actually fulfills his vow.
Guilt, ʿāwōn, contains within it both iniquity and punishment. In Western juris prudence, guilt and punishment are separate conditions. That’s why following a guilty verdict there is another step, sentencing. Not so in Hebrew. The guilty party has already been bent, is already twisted, has already deviated from the way. Guilt entails disruption in character. Sentencing is only the outward, civil manifestation of something that has already occurred within the sinner. So David asks to be “thoroughly cleansed” from this stain on his character. He asks to be straightened out again. It may be that he suffers no judicial consequence, but he knows that the damage has already been done. He needs purification (ṭāhēr—“cleanse me”) from ḥaṭṭāʾt, “sin,” which interestingly also means “sin offering.” Guilt contains punishment; sin contains the offering needed to remove it. Both require actions.
Topical Index: guilt, sin, ḥaṭṭāʾt, ʿāwōn, punishment, confession, teshuva, Psalm 51:2
[1] Jonathan Sacks Covenant & Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible: Genesis: The Book of Beginnings (Maggid Books & The Orthodox Union, 2009), p. 314.
