Psalms 26

Psalms 26:1

Arnobius the Younger: Two things give faith to the Christian, that he has the mercy of God before his eyes and that he accepts the truth of the universal faith. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 26

Augustine of Hippo: “Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence” [Psalms 26:1]. Judge me, O Lord, for, after the mercy which You first showed me, I have some desert of my innocence, the way whereof I have kept. “And trusting in the Lord I shall not be moved.” And yet not even so trusting in myself, but in the Lord, I shall abide in Him. — Exposition on Psalms 26

Cassiodorus: The petition for judgment does indeed appear to be dangerous, but a separation from evil people is recognized to be an appropriate request from one who is well deserving. Therefore this request does not arise from the detestable pride in merits, but it is the just petition of a faithful servant, asking to be separated from the most vile in order not to have a portion with wicked people. A holy person asks for judgments to be made because of certainty in God’s mercy, as the Apostle says: “As to the rest, a crown of righteousness has been set aside for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will grant to me on that day.” The psalmist walks in innocence because he puts his hope in the Lord, as he says later; nor does he find confidence in his own powers, but in God’s generosity. A fitting proof of this matter follows, for he maintains that he has not been weakened in his trust in the Lord. This is the “innocence” which he spoke about earlier, namely, his confidence in God’s power that no weakness of sin is able to weigh him down. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 26:1

Theodore of Mopsuestia: It is not to be read, as some commentators claim, “Judge me, Lord,” for if it is read “Judge me,” it gives quite a different sense, as though to say, condemn me, as also in Psalms 5 he appealed in the words “Condemn them, Lord,” which is not appropriate for a suppliant to ask for in his own case. So it is to be read as “Give me a just verdict” … because I did not swerve from my innocent purpose, nor did I have any doubts about the hope I placed in you. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 26:1

Theodoret of Cyrus: I appeal to you, O Lord, to act as judge of the justice of my cause: I know you are God, I placed my hopes in your providence, and I am confident I shall not fall into the hands of my pursuers. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 26:2

Psalms 26:2

Augustine of Hippo: “Prove me, O Lord, and try me” [Psalms 26:2]. Lest, however, any of my secret sins should be hid from me, prove me, O Lord, and try me, making me known, not to You from whom nothing is hid, but to myself, and to men. “Burn my reins and my heart.” Apply a remedial purgation, as it were fire, to my pleasures and thoughts. — Exposition on Psalms 26

Cassiodorus: “Prove and test” is not spoken presumptuously, but is made as a request for improvement. For when God examines and tests us, he makes us conscious of our sin and brings us to the fruition of repentance. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 26:2

Gregory the Dialogist: It follows: “And thus shall you eat it. You shall gird your loins.” What is understood by the loins except the delight of the flesh? Hence the Psalmist also asks, saying: “Burn my loins.” For if he had not known that the pleasure of lust resides in the loins, he would by no means have asked that they be burned. Hence, because the power of the devil has prevailed over the human race especially through lust, it is said of him by the voice of the Lord: “His power is in his loins.” Therefore he who eats the Passover ought to have his loins girded, so that he who celebrates the solemnity of resurrection and incorruption may no longer be subject to corruption through any vices, may subdue pleasures, and may restrain the flesh from lust. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 22

Origen of Alexandria: If need be, we will not only partake of the blessings of life but bear its appointed sorrows as a trial to our souls. For in this way is divine Scripture accustomed to speak of human afflictions, by which, as gold is tried in the fire, so the human spirit is tried and is found to be worthy either of condemnation or of praise.… We are therefore prepared and are ready to say, “Try me, O Lord, and prove me; purge my reins and my heart.” — AGAINST CELSUS 8:56

Psalms 26:3

Augustine of Hippo: “For Your mercy is before my eyes” [Psalms 26:3]. For, that I be not consumed by that fire, not my merits, but Your mercy, whereby You have brought me on to such a life, is before my eyes. “And I have been pleasing in Your truth.” And since my own falsehood has been displeasing to me, but Your truth pleasing, I have myself been pleasing also with it and in it. — Exposition on Psalms 26

Cassiodorus: He was not able to forget his mercy, for he is constantly aware that he is the recipient of help; the kindness that has been delivered to him always stands before his eyes.… “In your truth” stands for “In your Christ,” for he is the one who says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” For he is not able to be pleasing to the Father, unless he has been strengthened by such faith. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 26:3

Evagrius Ponticus: If Christ our God is truth, as indeed he said, “I am the Truth” and if David in truth was pleasing to God, surely David was pleasing to God in God. — NOTES ON THE Psalms 25[26].3

Fulgentius of Ruspe: The grace of justification is given in the present time, but the grace of glorification is saved as a future grace. The one is of faith, the other of sight. Paul says that now “we walk by faith, not by sight.” What the saints believe now, then they will see.… The just person living by faith says with trusting faith, “I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.” This, therefore, is the order of divine redemption and reward in humankind so that, having been justified, he believes now what, having been glorified, he will receive then. — LETTER TO MONIMUS 1:11.5

Jerome: He seeks justice so that he may tell of mercy. — BRIEF COMMENTARY ON Psalms 25[26]

Psalms 26:4

Augustine of Hippo: “I have not sat with the council of vanity” [Psalms 26:4]. I have not chosen to give my heart to them who endeavour to provide, what is impossible, how they may be blessed in the enjoyment of things transitory. “And I will not enter in with them that work wickedly.” And since this is the very cause of all wickedness, therefore I will not have my conscience hid, with them that work wickedly. — Exposition on Psalms 26

Cassiodorus: Now he lists the things that he has accomplished through the Lord’s kindness; such kindness is the basis of his claim that he was pleasing to God. “I have not sat in the council of vanity”; he does not agree to the deliberations of the wicked by any participation in their plan. It can happen that a holy person through some chance may come to the council of the wicked where inappropriate or empty matters are put forward. But while he is aware of these things, he does not sit comfortably with them nor does he tarry over them with any delight, but either he tries to argue against the proposals or he abandons them. So while he previously denied that he sat with the wicked, now he claims that he did not enter in with the most wicked. Earlier he avoided their deliberation, later he also abandoned their actions. “Going into” pertains to a wicked action, when something begins to be done heedlessly. “Going into” indicates the beginning of the activity that the holy person professes is foreign to his conscience. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 26:4

Psalms 26:5

Augustine of Hippo: “I have hated the congregation of evil doers.” But to arrive at this council of vanity, congregations of evil doers are formed, which I have hated. “And I will not sit with the ungodly” [Psalms 26:5]. And, therefore, with such a council, with the ungodly, I will not sit, that is, I will not place my consent. “And I will not sit with the ungodly.” — Exposition on Psalms 26

Caesarius of Arles: Do not be malicious toward one another, for the Lord detests this vice, as he says: “I hate the assembly of evildoers.” Let us, then, amend vices of the flesh, dearly beloved, for the sake of beauty of soul, in which there is the image of Christ. I speak the truth, brothers, that if we want to observe all these things, we will also say to the one who is tempting us: Do not persuade me, devil, to defile the image of my God by listening to you. He suffered for me, he was covered with spittle for me, he was struck with blows on the cheek for me, he was scourged for me, he was hung on a cross for me. This the servant of God should say to his tempter: Truly you will not persuade me to do what you are urging. — SERMON 238:2

Cassiodorus: It would have been a lesser thing for a holy person to have avoided the wicked council if he had also hated the assembly of those who are deceptive in every way. Hatred indicates division, just as there is cooperation in love. Whereas he said earlier that he did not sit in the council of vanity, so now he professes that he does not sit with the wicked. Both of these groups should be forsaken completely. Some are vain and others are wicked. The vain are those who occupy themselves with ephemeral pursuits and spend their time in needless discussion. But the wicked are heretics who attempt to degrade the divine Scriptures by their treacherous questions, just as the apostle Peter says: “Distorting them to their own destruction and ruin.” So he properly warns us to avoid both groups, for the former love empty things and later plant the spears of their depravity. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 26:5

Psalms 26:6

Augustine of Hippo: “I will wash mine hands amid the innocent” [Psalms 26:6]. I will make clean my works among the innocent: among the innocent will I wash mine hands, with which I shall embrace Your glorious gifts. “And I will compass Your altar, O Lord.” — Exposition on Psalms 26

Cassiodorus: Whoever purifies his deeds through his zeal for noble behavior washes his hands “among the innocent.” He did well to add “among the innocent,” for the guilty are also able to wash their hands, as Pontius Pilate did … when he polluted his soul by his foul betrayal of the Lord.… But whoever cleanses his deeds with the tears that render satisfaction washes his hands in the spiritual sense. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 26:6

Cyril of Jerusalem: You have seen the deacon who gives to the priest water to wash, and to the presbyters who stand around God’s altar. He gave it not at all because of bodily defilement; it is not that, for we did not enter the church at first with defiled bodies. But the washing of hands is a symbol that you ought to be pure from all sinful and unlawful deeds; for since the hands are a symbol of action, by washing them, it is evident, we represent the purity and blamelessness of our conduct. Did you not hear the blessed David opening this very mystery and saying, “I will wash my hands in innocence, and so will I compass your altar, O Lord”? The washing therefore of hands is a symbol of immunity from sin. — MYSTAGOGICAL LECTURES 5:2

Evagrius Ponticus: Our mind is the rational altar on which we burn all irrational thoughts with the fire sent from the Father.… When the soul reflects on itself, it encompasses the altar of God, nor does it seek a corner of corruption.… Contemplation is the altar of corporeal and incorporeal things by which my mind is cleansed. One who embraces it, that is, learning, declares all the marvels of God. — NOTES ON THE Psalms 25[26].6

Psalms 26:7

Augustine of Hippo: “That I may hear the voice of Your praise.” That I may learn how to praise You. “And that I may declare all Your wondrous works” [Psalms 26:7]. And after I have learned, I may set forth all Your wondrous works. — Exposition on Psalms 26

Psalms 26:8

Augustine of Hippo: “O Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house:” of Your Church. “And the place of the habitation of Your glory” [Psalms 26:8]: where You dwell, and art glorified. — Exposition on Psalms 26

Cassiodorus: What he calls “the glory of your house” is not the beauty of walls or the most expensive table settings, but the most blessed quality of those actions in which the entire church rejoices: namely, the joyful singing of psalms, the holiness of prayers, the most humble devotion of Christian people. Earlier he spoke about the entire church, but now he comes to speak about the saints among whom the glory of God is known to dwell. The Apostle has this to say about them: “For the temple of God is holy—you are that temple.” For by speaking of “dwelling place,” he means the hidden place of the human heart. To this he makes the amazing addition “of your glory,” for wherever God dwells, his glory is there, since he makes glorious whatever place he deems fit to inhabit, and the greatness of the guest house increases due to the merits of the guest. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 26:8

Psalms 26:9

Augustine of Hippo: “Destroy not my soul with the ungodly” [Psalms 26:9]. Destroy not then, together with them that hate You, my soul, which has loved the beauty of Your house. “And my life with the men of blood.” And with them that hate their neighbour. For Your house is beautified with the two commandments. — Exposition on Psalms 26

Psalms 26:10

Augustine of Hippo: “In whose hands is wickedness.” Destroy me not then with the ungodly and the men of blood, whose works are wicked. “Their right hand is full of gifts” [Psalms 26:10]. And that which was given them to obtain eternal salvation, they have converted into the receiving this world’s gifts, “supposing that godliness is a trade.” [1 Timothy 6:5] — Exposition on Psalms 26

Psalms 26:11

Augustine of Hippo: “But I have walked in mine innocence: deliver me, and have mercy on me” [Psalms 26:11]. Let so great a price of my Lord’s Blood avail for my complete deliverance: and in the dangers of this life let not Your mercy leave me. — Exposition on Psalms 26

Cassiodorus: “Redeem me,” means, make me free through the precious blood of your first advent by which the world was delivered when it was being held subject to sins. “And have mercy on me,” that is to say, in his world, where you pardon those who pray to you faithfully. — Explanation of the Psalms 26:11

Psalms 26:12

Augustine of Hippo: “My foot has stood in uprightness.” My Love has not withdrawn from Your righteousness. “In the Churches I will bless You, O Lord” [Psalms 26:12]. I will not hide Your blessing, O Lord, from those whom You have called; for next to the love of You I join the love of my neighbour. — Exposition on Psalms 26