Deeper Commentary
Psa 101:1
A Psalm by David-
This Psalm appears to be David's expression of faith that he would
one day be king. And he promises to reign in a Godly manner. It could also
have been his Psalm for his ascendancy to the throne; or perhaps it was
first written after Samuel anointed him.
I will sing of grace and justice. To You, Yahweh, I will sing praises-
We note that "grace" is parallel with justice, truth,
rightness, integrity. Grace is not "cheap". It is not somehow a turning of
a blind eye to human sin, or some kind of favoritism. Just as salvation
and righteousness, or rightness, are often paralleled. Grace and justice
feature much in Paul's argument throughout Romans. God is just and is the
justifier of all who truly believe in grace: "for the showing of His
righteousness at this present time; that He might Himself be just, and the
justifier of him that has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26).
"Mercy and truth" ("grace and justice") were to be the basis of
David's throne because that is what upheld God's throne. And David was to
reign on God's behalf, his throne was to be as God's throne (Is. 16:5; Ps.
89:14; 101:1). Solomon liked to imagine that his throne was likewise
upheld by God as His throne, also on the basis of "mercy and truth"
("grace and justice"). But he assumed that would happen automatically,
whereas David's response to this is given in Ps. 101- he vows that he will
personally reign in "grace and justice", whereas Solomon assumes that God
will provide the "grace and justice" ("mercy and truth") as it were
automatically (Prov. 20:28).
Psa 101:2
I will be careful to live a blameless life. When will You come to
me? I will walk within my house with a blameless heart-
David "walked on the roof of the king’s house", lusted after Bathsheba, commtited adultery and then murder (2 Sam. 11:2). Indeed it could be argued that this Psalm is a vow of a man about to be made king, promising to reign justly. CEV offers "Please help me learn to do the right thing, and I will be honest and fair in my own kingdom". There are specific undertakings as to how the king will rule his own "house", reflecting the New Testament principle that if a man cannot rule his own house, he cannot rule in God's house (1 Tim. 3:5 "For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?"). David in later life failed in this spectacularly. God's judgment of his sin with Bathsheba was that he would have such bad things in his own "house" (2 Sam. 12:10). In line with this opening vow of David, this was tantamount to God telling him that he was no longer able to be the true king of Israel. David should have abdicated; for he himself had taught that he who rules over men must be just, of integrity. And he had failed in that. He didn't abdicate, and so much needless suffering happened as a result. The origin of Ps. 101 may have been when "All the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David king over Israel" (2 Sam. 5:3; there were similar covenants in 2 Kings 11:17; 23:3). What was that covenant undertaking on David's part? Perhaps it was what we have in Ps. 101. David taught Solomon that it was by "wisdom", a life lived according to God's wisdom, that kings rule and govern the land (Prov. 8:15,16; also Prov. 31:4 "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine"). His sins related to Bathsheba broke this covenant- but still he kept the throne. There is no record of him apologizing to his people for breaking this covenant, nor any attempt to get a mandate from them to continue as king. Which all underlines my common obervation that David's repentance wasn't very deep, and he didn't do what he should've done- to abdicate the throne and live quietly with his God going forward for the rest of his days. All this failure by David points forward to the Lord Jesus, the perfect Davidic king.
We could translate: "When You will come to me, I will walk within my house with a blameless heart". God's 'coming' to David would then refer to his establishment as king. However, God 'coming' to him is a strange way to express this. Possibly David feels that he can only be "perfect" and have a totally blameless heart if God comes to him, and he asks for this. Possibly the Lord picks up this idea in John 14-16, where He speaks of His going away and coming again to the disciples. He had three levels of meaning in saying this. Going away to the cross, and coming again in resurrection; going away to Heaven and coming again at His second coming; His going away to the cross and coming again to His people in the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. It is this 'coming' to man which alone can give us a blameless heart.
David's heart was not consistently of integrity, as we see in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah; it was only by grace that David was counted like this (s.w. 1 Kings 9:4). It was indeed whilst walking within his own house that he revealed the lustful state of his heart. We query whether David was right to promise to "live a blameless life", especially since he recognizes that "a blameless life" reflects "a blameless heart". How we think in our hearts is how we live. He is clearly over confident of his own self control and righteousness. The question "When will You come to me?" is likely his request that the promise of his kingship be fulfilled soon.
David at this stage had a far too simplistic view of spirituality, dividing men into the sinners and the perfect. He speaks of "those whose ways are blameless... he who walks blamelessly" (Ps. 119:1; 15:2). He considered that he was "blameless": "I was also blameless before Him... I will be careful to live a blameless life... he who walks in a perfect way will serve me" (Ps. 18:23; 101:2,6), whereas in his more honest moments in Ps. 119 he recognizes he had gone astray from God even in his younger life. Yet he confidently asks God to judge him according to his [supposed] integrity (Ps. 7:8; 26:1,11). Paul shows a far greater realism and maturity in Romans 7.
Psa 101:3
I will set no vile thing before my eyes; I hate the deeds of
faithless men. They will not cling to me-
David here vows to have nothing evil (GNB) before his eyes.
But we note the contrast with what actually happened in God's eyes: "Why
have you despised the word of Yahweh, to do that which is evil in His
sight?" (2 Sam. 12:9).
The "vile thing" in view was likely idolatry; "faithless men", AV "them that turn aside", were those who left Yahweh for idolatry. He probably has in view Saul and his men. But David walked within his house later and looked lustfully with his eyes at Bathsheba (:2). This was his idolatry. "Not cling to me" is a quote from the law's prohibition of idolatry (Dt. 13:17).
Psa 101:4
A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do
with evil-
We could understand this as AV, referring to men of perverse heart
and evil doers, who David says he will put far away from his court and
kingdom. He correctly understands that evil action reflects wrong thinking
in the heart. But again we pause to consider that David appears over
confident in his ability to judge the hearts of men, just as he was over
confident in pledging that he would have a "blameless heart" himself (:2).
He was to learn that he, a man after God's own heart, could still commit
lust and adultery in his heart and be led thereby into the actual sin.
Things were far from as black and white as he imagined in his youth.
LXX "I have not known an evil man, forasmuch as he turns away from me". The wicked will indeed turn away from us if they sense our commitment to spirituality.
Psa 101:5
I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbour. I won’t
tolerate one who is haughty and conceited-
Uriah was described as David's "neighbour" in Nathan's
parable. And David did secretly "speak against" Uriah. And he definitely
tolerated his own son Absalom, who without doubt was "proud in look and
insatiable" (LXX).
David took a strong view against slander- having suffered so much of it
himself. He vowed to put to death, i.e. to set up the death sentence, for
anyone caught privately slandering or backbiting against a neighbour (Ps.
101:5 Heb.). That’s how bad are backbiting and slander, however quietly
(“privily”, the AV quaintly says) they’re done. And of course the Lord
shared this understanding, by teaching that hatred of our brother is in
fact the kind of murder which carried the death penalty in Old Testament
times.
Psa 101:6
My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell
with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he will serve me-
GNB "I will approve of those who are faithful to God and will
let them live in my palace". Every one of these undertakings of David were
impossible for him to fulfil. Just as all leaders of men in the end
disappoint. For no man is perfect, all have feet of clay. The repeated
failures of David to live up to these vows only point up the fact that it
is vain to look to man for true leadership. The constant failure of every
human leader points us towards the Lord Jesus as the only true king.
We wonder at David's possible arrogance in assuming that he (:2) or any man can walk blamelessly; and that he could judge men that well, that he would only allow the "perfect" into his court and cabinet. Only the Lord Jesus fits this. And yet this is the phrase used in God's command to Abraham and his seed (Gen. 17:1), and it is maybe to this which David alludes. It was only possible for Abraham to do so by his faith in imputed righteousness, by grace through faith. But it's questionable as to whether David at this point realized that; he had to learn it through reflection upon the wonder of how God had counted him righteous after the sin with Bathsheba.
Psa 101:7
He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house. He who
speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes-
"Speaks falsehood" reflects again David's deep sense of injustice (see
on Ps. 35:7). He uses the word for "false witness", as if they were
breaking one of the ten commandments; and he uses it often, heaping
condemnation upon any who dare lie / bear false witness about him (Ps.
38:19; 52:3; 63:11; 101:7; 119:29,69,86,118; 120:2; 144:8,11).
And yet David lied and deceived in order to get Uriah killed so that he could take his wife for himself. Surely reflection upon that sin made him realize that his zeal to condemn dishonesty was at best misplaced; to lament it is one thing, but David was to be taught that he had himself done the very thing he so condemned. David plotted the destruction of Uriah by his false words; and when he repented of this in Ps. 32:2, he says that lack of deceit / guile (s.w.) is only possible through imputed righteousness. David's intolerance of "deceitful" persons (Ps. 52:2; 101:7; 120:3) must be compared with the fact that he himself was only counted as not deceitful by grace; for he was very deceitful regarding Uriah. CEV "No one who cheats or lies will have a position in my royal court". GNB "No liar will live in my palace; no hypocrite will remain in my presence". But David was revealed to all as the ultimate cheat and liar. The word for "deceit" recurs in Ps. 32:2: "Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit". This was written by David after his sin with Bathsheba, in recognition of the fact that righteousness and lack of any deceit has to be imputed to sinful man, through faith in God's grace. But in his immaturity, David supposed that some men had that lack of deceit by their own efforts. He considered himself to be one of them, and vows to reject anyone else. Perception of sinfulness, both in ourselves and others, is all part of our spiritual growth path. As we mature, we progressively downgrade our view of people.
Psa 101:8
Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land; to
cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city-
This sounds like David promising a total purge of "the wicked" from the
and royal city. There is no evidence David actually did this; he surely
realized it was too hard in practice to judge who was "wicked", perceiving
that bad men do what good men dream of, and all human motivation is so
mixed. And we recall that Absalom's rebellion was fuelled by a
general feeling in Israel that David was not judging rightly after his sin
with Bathsheba. A more mature David was to admit: "I have sinned and I
have done wickedly" (2 Sam. 24:17).
Previous Chapte
