Psalms 101

Psalms 101AFTER propounding as his theme the mercy and justice of the Lord, Psalms 101:1, the Psalmist announces his determination to be blameless in his own walk, Psalms 101:2-4, and so to exercise his power over others as to favour the godly and drive out the wicked, Psalms 101:5-8.

1. By David. A Psalm. Mercy and judgment will I sing; to thee, Jehovah, will I play (or make music). As such a declaration of a present purpose in the Psalms is always followed by its execution, the older interpreters suppose mercy and judgment to be those which David meant to practise, as he states more fully in the remainder of the psalm. But besides that, he says nothing in what follows of his mercy, there is no usage of the Psalms more settled than that mercy and justice are combined to denote divine not human attributes, and that to sing and make music to Jehovah never means to praise something else in an address to him, but always to sing praises to himself.

See above, Psalms 9:11; Psalms 13:5; Psalms 18:49; Psalms 30:4; Psalms 30:12; Psalms 33:2; Psalms 68:4; Psalms 71:22-23, in all which cases the form of expression seems to be derived from Judges 5:3. But the psalm before us contains no such celebration of God’s mercy and justice beyond this first verse. The best solution of this fact appears to be the one proposed by Hengstenberg, according to which the execution of the purpose here avowed is contained in Psalms 103., which then, together with the one before us, and of course the intervening one, compose a trilogy or series of three psalms, all by David, each complete in itself, and yet designed to be connected with the others and interpreted by them. Supposing this to be the case, we must regard them all as psalms of David, whose name is prefixed to the third and the one before us, in which he lays down a rule, as it were, for his own government, and that of his successors in the regal office. The impression made by these inspired instructions on the first of those successors may account for the remarkable coincidences of expression between this psalm and the Book of Proverbs.

2. (Psalms 101:2) I will act wisely in a perfect way. When wilt thou come to me? I will walk in the integrity of my heart within my house. As to the first verb, see above, on Psalms 2:10; Psalms 14:2. Its form here is one expressing fixed determination. A perfect way, as in Psalms 18:30; Psalms 18:32.

This and other figurative expressions of the same kind, Psalms 18:23; Psalms 18:25; Psalms 15:2, are founded upon Genesis 17:1. When wilt thou come to me, and bless me, in fulfilment of thy promise?– Exodus 20:21. This interrogative ejaculation implies a sense of his dependence on divine aid for the execution of his purpose. Integrity (integritas, completeness) of my heart is an expression borrowed from. Genesis 20:5-6. See above, on Psalms 78:72, and compare 1 Kings 3:14, Proverbs 20:7.

Way and walk are familiar figures for habitual conduct. Within, literally in the midst (or inside) of my house, i.e. at home, in private life, as distinguished from the house of God and his official conduct there, to which he afterwards adverts.

3. (Psalms 101:3) I will not set before my eyes a word of Belial; the doing of apostasies I hate, it shall not cleave to me. The positive terms of the preceding verse are now exchanged for negatives. Having said what he will do, he now says what he will not do. See a similar transition, but in the inverse order, Psalms 1:1-2. Set before my eyes, as a model to be copied, or as an object of approving contemplation. A word of Belial, as in Psalms 41:8, except that word, which there most probably relates to slander or false accusation, may here denote a proposition, and the whole phrase a worthless (i.e. wicked) plan or purpose.

Apostasies, departures, deviations from the right course. See the verbal root as used in Ps. x40:4), and a cognate verb in Numbers 5:12; Numbers 5:19. Some make the word here used a participle or verbal noun, as in the English Bible, the work of them that turn aside. But its form and the analogy of Hos 5:2, entitle the other construction to the preference. It shall not cleave to me, I will not be concerned or implicated in it; or more emphatically still, it shall not cleave to me as a reproach or stigma. In favour of the former sense is the analogy of Deu 13:17, from which the expression seems to have been borrowed.

4. (Psalms 101:4) A crooked heart shall depart from me; evil I will not know. Crooked, froward, or perverse, as in Psalms 18:26. Compare Proverbs 11:20; Proverbs 17:20. The whole phrase might be understood to mean a person having such a heart, and the whole clause that the Psalmist would have no intercourse with such. The parallel term evil would then mean a wicked person, as translated in the English Bible. On the ground, however, that the person of the sinner seems to be reserved for the latter part of the psalm, the best interpreters take evil in the abstract sense of moral evil, wickedness, as in Psalms 34:17; Psalms 52:3. The first clause will then naturally mean, my own heart shall not be perverse or froward.

5. (Psalms 101:5) (One) slandering in secret his fellow— him I will destroy; (one)-; lofty of eyes and wide of heart— him I will not bear. … Having declared what his own course of life should be, he now describes the conduct which he should require in his confidential servants. Here again the statement is both negative and positive, but in this case beginning with the former. See above, on Psalms 101:3. It is not an improbable conjecture that in specifying slander, David had reference to his sufferings from that cause in the days of Saul. See above, on Psalms 18:1; Psalms 52:2-5, and compare Psalms 15:3.

The verb translared slandering occurs, in any of its forms, only here and Proverbs 30:10. Wide of heart means neither magnanimous nor greedy, but proud, self-confident, as appears from Proverbs 28:25. Both figurative phrases here used are combined again in Proverbs 21:4. The last verb in the sentence usually means to be able, but is here used absolutely, as in Isaiah 1:13.

6. (Psalms 101:6) My eyes (are) on the faithful of the land, to dwell with me. (One) walking in a perfect way— he shall serve me. On the faithful, literally in or with them. See above, on Psalms 34:15-16, and compare Psalms 32:7. My eyes are on them is equivalent to saying, I will seek them out to dwell with me and serve me. The word translated faithful is properly a passive participle meaning trusted, relied upon, confided in. Another passive participle from the same root is commonly supposed to be used in the same sense, Psalms 12:1; Psalms 31:23.

In the first words of the last clause there is manifest allusion to the, form of expression in Psalms 101:2 above. This clause is to be understood exclusively, such a person and no other. Shall serve me, be employed by me, clothed with responsible and honourable offices.

7. (Psalms 101:7) Not in the inside of my house shat dwell (one) practising fraud, telling lies; not settled shall he be before my eyes. Here again the form of expression corresponds to that in the first part of the psalm. Compare in the midst of my house with Psalms 101:2, and before my eyes with Psalms 101:3. Shall not dwell, or still more strongly, shall not (even) sit, which is the primary meaning of the Hebrew verb. The corresponding verb in the last clause means to be established, permanently settled, as opposed to a mere temporary, transient presence. As if he had said, though they should even gain admission to my house, they shall not take up their abode there.

8. (Psalms 101:8) In the morning will I destroy all he wicked of the land, (so as) to cut off from the city of Jehovah all workers of iniquity. The first phrase literally means at the mornings, and may be int nded to suggest the twofold idea of early and constantly, in the morning and every morning. See above, on Psalms 73:14, and compare Jeremiah 21:12. The last clause serves to skew, or to remind the reader, that this rigou was not simply prudential or political, but religious. It had reference not merely to Jerusalem as a city, but as the city of Jehovah, his earthly residence, the centre of the theocracy, the temporary seat of the true religion. See above, on Psalms 46:4; Psalms 48:1; Psalms 87:3. Under the peculiar institutions of the old economy, the safety of the theocratic state required peculiar vigilance and rigour, in exer cising even those powers which are common to all governments.