Psalms 51:18

INTERCESSION FOR JERUSALEM

"Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion:

Built thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Then wilt thou delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,

In burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering:

Then will they offer bullocks upon thine altar."

For no good reason whatever, some scholars have denied the Davidic authorship of this psalm, declaring it to have been written in the days of Nehemiah, during the period of the "rebuilding" of the walls of Jerusalem. But this psalm says absolutely nothing about rebuilding Jerusalem's walls. What God is petitioned here to do is to build, not rebuild the walls; and the reference is to the actual building of the walls of Jerusalem, then under way, which task was accomplished by David. Josephus has this:

"Now David made buildings around the lower city (of Jerusalem), then joined the citadel to it, and made it one body; and when he had encompassed all with walls, he appointed Joab to take care of them."[13]

"The words of David's prayer here do not ask God to build up what had been thrown down, but to go on and finish building what David was then in the act of building. The wall finished by Solomon around Jerusalem (1 Kings 3:1) can be regarded as an answer to David's prayer."[14]

David's prayer is unselfish in this that he did not cease until he had interceded upon behalf of Jerusalem and God's Israel, praying that the Lord would do them good, and that he would complete the building of the wall then under way.