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In the word `transgression' there is an element of revolt.
"I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled (pasha) against
Me" (Isa. 1: 2).
It is moreover a `trespass' (Gen. 50: 17). David realized that his sin was a rebellion
against the commandment of the Lord, and a trespass against the rights of his fellow men.
`Iniquity' is the translation of avon, which comes from the root word avah and indicates
the `perversity' of sin. Avah means crookedness (Lam. 3: 9) and David realized the
perversity of his crime when he used this word twice of his own act, and once of the
nature of man represented by the fact that man is `born in sin and shapen in iniquity'.
"Sin" is either chet, chataah or chattah (we give the various forms for the sake of the
reader who uses the English concordance). In all its forms, the underlying meaning of
this word is `failure'. The word is found in Judges 20: 16 where we read of:
"Seven hundred chosen men left handed; every one of whom could sling stones at an
hair's breadth, and not miss."
The Apostle had this Hebrew word in mind when he wrote:
"All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3: 23).
David acknowledged that he had utterly failed to come up to the Divine standard. He
had indeed `come short'. When he surveyed the havoc wrought by his sin, he used the
word `evil' ra. The primary meaning of this word is `to destroy'. Adversity, calamity,
distress, harm, hurt, misery, trouble, wretchedness, are some of the words used in the
English Version to give some idea of the underlying meaning of ra. The primitive idea
of `ruin' is never absent. David had rebelled, transgressed and trespassed. His act had
been one of perversity and added to that he came from a stock that had already become
distorted. He, like all mankind, had `missed the mark', and with bloodguiltiness staining
his royal hands and besmirching his throne and crown, he stood an abject ruin. If he used
these words with intent and with purpose, what else could he plead but the words put into
the mouth of the publican in after days:
"God be merciful to me a sinner!"
David's plea for mercy (verse 1).
pp. 227, 228
The opening plea of the royal penitent is for mercy: