Psalms 101:1-8

Psalms 101

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE

A King's Resolve to have a pure House and Court and Royal City.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I., Psalms 101:1-2 a, The Theme of Song Announced and Applied to the Conduct becoming, and based upon Jehovah's Presence. Stanza II., Psalms 101:2 b - Psalms 101:4, Personal Blamelessness Outlined. Stanzas III. and IV., Psalms 101:5-8, The Blamelessness Demanded of Others to secure a City Worthy of Jehovah.

(Lm.) By DavidPsalm.

1

Of kindness and justice fain would I sing

to thee O Jehovah would I sweep the strings.[358]

[358] Or: harp, or play.

2

I would act circumspectly in a blameless way

When comest thou unto me?

I will behave in the blamelessness[359] of my heart

[359] Or: singleness, devotion, (ml.) wholeness.

in the midst of my house:

3

I will not set before mine eyes

a thing that is vile:[360]

[360] Ml.: an affair of Belial (The abandoned one).

The doing of swerving deeds I hate
it shall not cleave to me;

4

A crooked heart shall depart from me

wrong will I not approve.

5

He that slandereth in secret his friend

him will I exterminate:

The lofty of eyes and arrogant of heart
him will I not suffer.

6

Mine eyes are on the faithful of the land

to dwell[361] with me,

[361] Or: to sit (as assessors in judging).

He that walketh in a blameless way
he shall minister unto me.

7

There shall not dwell[362] in the midst of my house

[362] Or: sit down (as a guest).

a doer of deceit:

A speaker of falsehoods shall not be established
before mine eyes,

8

Morning by morning will I exterminate

all the lawless of the land,
To cut off out of the city of Jehovah
all the workers of iniquity.[363]

[363] Or: mischief (naughtinessDr.).

(Nm.)

PARAPHRASE

Psalms 101

I will sing about Your lovingkindness and Your justice, Lord. I will sing Your praises!
2 I will try to walk a blameless path, but how I need Your help; especially in my own home, where I long to act as I should.
3 Help me to refuse the low and vulgar things; help me to abhor all crooked deals of every kind, to have no part in them.
4 I will reject all selfishness and stay away from every evil.
5 I will not tolerate any slander of my neighbors; I will not permit conceit and pride.
6 I will make the godly of the land my heroes, and invite them to my home. Those who are truly good shall be my examples.
7 But I will not allow those who deceive and lie to stay in my house.
8 My daily task will be to ferret out criminals and free the city of God from their grip.

EXPOSITION

This psalm, it will be noticed, is attributed To David; and there seems to be no good reason why this assignment should not be trusted. The lofty moral tone which breathes through it, is in every way worthy of the Son of Jesse in his young and noble days, when he came to the throne of Israel, and particularly when he brought the Sacred Ark up to Jerusalem. The kindness and justice of Jehovah's own character, when reflected by a King and his Court, would call forth just such resolute purity and nobleness of conduct as are sketched through the psalm. We can almost feel the hand of Jehovah upon his servant David; and can easily believe that by this time the trembling fear caused by the visitation upon Uzza is being mellowed by patience into a longing desire that Jehovah would without further delay come and dwell in the city of his choice. He thinks of the scrupulous conduct which would become himself in welcoming so Holy a Guest; and then suddenly prays for that supporting Presence which could alone enable him to reach his ideal: When comest thou unto me? The language vibrates between fear and hope. Hope becoming the stronger feeling, the psalmist arises to the occasion and promises the personal conduct which he knows will alone please: I will behave in the blamelessness of my heart. And first in his househis home! in himself. His ideals should be lofty; his deeds unswerving; his mind straight; his approbation reserved for that only which was right. From himself he passes to those he must have about him. He had suffered enough from slanderers in the court of Saul to think of trusting them now, even though they might fawn upon him. The conceited, the assumingthese he knew he could not endure. He would keep his eyes open and draw to himself the right men from among the faithful of the land. Whether as assessors on the seats of justice or as guests in his home he would call to himself the men who would create the desirable atmosphere, guard him from his weaknesses, gladly help on his plans: especially the men who would tell him the truth. Probably with the early morning tribunals in mind, and in the full consciousness of his autocratic power, he almost alarms us by declaring that morning by morning he will exterminate all the lawless of the land. We may sufficiently reassure ourselves, not to draw hasty inferences in favour of indiscriminate autocracy, by noting well that the sphere of this King's action is the city of Jehovah: Jehovah's own representative, acting in Jehovah's presence in Jehovah's city. These are not conditions that can be reproduced anywhere, any day, by any one. In point of fact: If we have here speaking, either David personally, or any of David's Sons, then we have speaking a type of the Messiah: who shall one day autocratically govern in that Final Theocracy of which we have been recently reading. At the same time we do well to remind ourselves that Government, when most Divine, is least arbitrary; and that this whole psalm, forcible as it truly is against evil-doers, is dominated by the word with which it begins; and that the Theocracy which Divine justice regulates Divine Kindness founds.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.

We are again considering that man after God's own heart. What period in David's life does this cover?

2.

This little outline will help:

I.

The King Psalms 101:1-4

1.

His personal desire Psalms 101:1-2;

2.

His relative determination Psalms 101:3-4

II.

The Kingdom Psalms 101:5-8

1.

The citizens must be worthy Psalms 101:5-6

2.

The center must be clean Psalms 101:7-8 (Scroggie) Relate this to David and then to yourself.

3.

When God is God in our own home we will be able to make Him God in every other place. Read Psalms 101:3-4 and relate to your own home as David did to his home.