The Heart Has Its Reasons
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 NIV
Pure – Scrubbed! But not just on the outside (although that is also included). At least that’s the way we usually think about a “pure” heart. We are reminded of Yeshua’s insight about the exterior and interior of the pot. The Hebrew verb is ṭāhēr.
The verb occurs ninety-four times in the Qal, Piel, Pual, and Hithpael stems. It is used almost exclusively of ritual or moral purity. . . The LXX generally translates ṭāhēr and its derivatives by katharizō, katharos, katharismos, etc. “to purify,” “pure,” “purity.”[1]
Ritual purity was intended to teach God’s holiness and moral purity. Lev 16:30 (RSV) declares, “For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord.” Hauck says: “Because the religion of Israel emphasises [sic] so strongly the holiness of God, it develops the concept of purity with corresponding energy. The law works out a whole series of regulations. Some purifications are preparatory. They set man in a necessary state of holiness for encounter with God (Ex 19:10; Num 8:15). Some are expiatory. They restore forfeited purity by lustrations (Lev 16:1ff., 19:23ff.; Ezk 39:12; II Chr 29:15; 34:3, 8 (TDNT, III:416).[2]
That such cleansing was not just intended for the people of God in the future but for individuals is demonstrated by that most personal of Psalms (Ps 51), in which the writer, identified in the superscription with David after his sin with Bathsheba, cries out: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity” (vs. 2 [H 4]); “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean” (vs. 7 [H 9]); “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (vs. 10 [H 12]).[3]
But notice something unusual here. David doesn’t really ask to be scrubbed inside and out. He asks for something else. “Create in me.” In other words, “I need more than renewal. I need more than a thorough washing. I need something that I can’t accomplish!” David knows full well that he is not able to bring this about on his own. His life is filled with the destructive consequences of his choices. His outlook is skewed. His attitudes jaded. When he looks at himself, he sees failure, regret, disappointment, hopelessness. No amount of therapy, no ritual restitution, no personal sacrifice is going to clean this pollution. Unless YHVH creates, David is done.
That’s why David does not use the standard verb, yāṣar (to do, to fashion, to make). David uses the Creator verb, bārāʾ. yāṣar is about shaping something from existing material. bārāʾ is about initiating, bringing into being something that was not there before. David does not need remodeling. He needs a brand new house. bārāʾ is used in the Hebrew Qal tense only with God as the object. Therefore, in this form it is a highly charged theological term limited to actions that only God can perform. David does not need a new house built by priests, rituals or restitution. He needs a new house that only God can provide. And unless God provides, David will be homeless in the world for the rest of his life.
David’s experience and plea are just like ours. Remodeling will not do. There is no sense in trying our best to reform our ways. We are too far gone to recover by boot-strap psychology. Our hearts, the centers of our personalities, are riddled with excuses, deferrals, desires and self-acquittals. We can try—and try again—but without a new house the old guests will remain. We don’t need a make over. We need a new birth.
From the perspective of his impurity (not just his sin), David cries out for God to create a clean (ṭāhēr) heart. It is translated in Greek as katharizo, katharos or katharismos. Do you see “catharsis” in this Greek? Behind the words is the idea of purging, getting rid of things that do not belong, restoring purity. You can think of pure water, pure gold, pure robes and the purification periods following childbirth or healing. Ritual purity insured that the person could once more enter into community, either with God or others. David is asking for a lot more than forgiveness. He is asking to be made ritually pure and morally pure so that he may rejoin fellowship with YHVH.
The opposite of ṭāhēr is “profane,” something that cannot come into the Temple. David, the man who wishes only to be able to sit in the entrance of the Temple, knows that his present state will not even allow this, so he asks for a ritually pure heart, a heart that does not defile him in order that he may once again come into the presence of the Lord. We often read this verse as if it were about the forgiveness of sin, that is, as if it were about atonement. But that isn’t what David is asking. He is asking for acceptance within the priestly arena where only the pure may enter.
How is this possible? The answer is this: “Only God can bring about the ritual purity that you seek.” That’s why David uses the verb bārāʾ rather than yāṣar (to make, to fashion, to form). Only God is the subject of this verb, bārāʾ. This is not something any man can do. If YHVH does not accede to David’s request, no ritually clean heart will ever be produced.
David entreats God’s creative action in order to thoroughly cleanse his inner constitution. Surface improvement is not enough. That means God must render something new in place of the old, smudged personality. This is beyond human ability no matter how righteous. Pray harder.
Topical Index: yāṣar, bārāʾ, ṭāhēr, clean heart, create, Psalm 51:10
