The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"mercy and judgment," Hebrew chesed umishpat (חֶסֶד וּמִשְׁפָּט). David binds the two together, the kindness and the justice of God, and purposes to hold both in his own life and rule. Mercy without justice turns soft and lets evil run; justice without mercy turns hard and crushes; the man after God's heart keeps them wedded.

"behave myself wisely," askilah (אַשְׂכִּילָה). The resolve is not merely to feel rightly but to act with understanding. It heads a string of vows, "I will behave wisely... I will walk with a perfect heart," which David immediately confesses he cannot keep alone.

"a perfect way," bederekh tamim (בְּדֶרֶךְ תָּמִים), a blameless way. The word does not mean sinless flawlessness but wholeness of conduct, a road walked without crookedness. It is the standard David sets for the whole course of his life.

"a perfect heart," betom-levavi (בְּתָם־לְבָבִי). Notice where he intends to walk this way: "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." Integrity starts in private, at home, where no public is watching. A man is what he is when only God can see.

"no wicked thing," davar beliyya'al (דְּבַר־בְּלִיָּעַל), a worthless, base thing. The thing David refuses is not merely illegal but worthless, good for nothing. He will not give room to what has no value in it.

"before mine eyes," leneged einai (לְנֶגֶד עֵינָי). He guards what he looks at, knowing the eye is the gateway to the heart, and that what we allow ourselves to gaze on will shape what we become. David resolves to be clean where it is hardest.

Explanation

Three things in this opening deserve attention. First, what David resolves to sing of: "mercy and judgment." He binds the two together, the kindness and the justice of God, and purposes to hold both in his own life and rule. Mercy without justice turns soft and lets evil run; justice without mercy turns hard and crushes; the man after God's heart keeps them wedded. Second, and easy to miss, is the sudden cry in the middle of verse 2: "O when wilt thou come unto me?" Right in the midst of all these bold resolutions, "I will behave wisely... I will walk with a perfect heart", David breaks off to plead for God's presence. It is a flash of honesty and dependence: he knows he cannot keep a single one of these vows unless God comes to him and helps him. The resolves are not the boasts of a self-confident man but the aims of one who is leaning hard on God to make them real. Third, notice where he begins his pursuit of integrity, at the eyes and at home. "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes", he guards what he looks at, knowing the eye is the gateway to the heart, and that what we allow ourselves to gaze on will shape what we become. And "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart", integrity starts in private, at home, where no public is watching. A man is what he is when only God can see. David resolves to be clean where it is hardest, in his eyes and in his own house.

Gospel Focus

"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes", this resolve to guard the eye is echoed by the Lord Jesus, who taught, "The light of the body is the eye" (Matthew 6:22), and, "if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out" (Matthew 5:29), so seriously does He take what we allow ourselves to look upon. Yet David's vow, however sincere, was never perfectly kept by David; only One has walked in a truly "perfect way," the Lord Jesus, who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26), and whose eyes never once rested on evil with delight. In Him the resolve is fulfilled, and by His Spirit it is worked in us, for He gives His people new hearts that hate the base thing David hated. And David's dependent cry, "O when wilt thou come unto me?", is answered in the gospel beyond all his hope, for God came to us in Christ, Immanuel, God with us, and Christ promises the one who loves Him, "we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). We cannot keep a clean heart and a clean house alone; but the God who has come to us in Jesus dwells within us to make it possible.

Word Study

"a froward heart," Hebrew levav iqqesh (לֵבָב עִקֵּשׁ), a crooked, perverse heart. Crooked, twisted, going its own perverse way, such a heart "shall depart from me." David begins with the inward twist, not the outward crime.

"privily slandereth," melashni basseter (מְלָשְׁנִי בַסֵּתֶר), slanders in secret. This is the whisperer who destroys reputations behind closed doors while keeping his own hands clean. A ruler who tolerates the whisperer poisons his whole court.

"him will I cut off," otu atzmit (אוֹתוֹ אַצְמִית). David's answer to the secret slanderer is not a warning but removal. He will not have such a man near him at any price.

"an high look," gevah-einayim (גְּבַהּ־עֵינַיִם), lofty eyes. Pride shows first in the eyes, lifted high above others. It is set at the very top of the list of what God Himself hates, and David makes God's hatred his own.

"a proud heart," urchav levav (וּרְחַב לֵבָב). The lofty eyes go with a swollen heart, pride grown wide within. These sins, the quiet slander and the inward pride, are the two least likely to be caught and punished, and so the very ones that corrupt from within while wearing a respectable face.

"will not I suffer," lo ukhal (לֹא אוּכָל), I cannot endure. The Hebrew says literally, "I cannot endure" such a person. This is not cool policy but a settled incapacity to put up with what God hates.

Explanation

Notice which sins David singles out for his fiercest resolve. They are not chiefly the loud, obvious crimes, but the hidden, respectable ones, the sins that thrive in palaces and communities precisely because they are hard to catch. First, "whoso privily slandereth his neighbour", the one who slanders in secret, the whisperer who destroys reputations behind closed doors while keeping his own hands clean. David says of him, "him will I cut off." A ruler who tolerates the whisperer poisons his whole court; David will not have it. Second, "him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer." Pride, the lofty eyes and the swollen heart, is set at the very top of the list of what God Himself hates, and David makes God's hatred his own; the Hebrew says literally, "I cannot endure" such a person. It is striking that the sins David guards against most sharply are the two that are least likely to be caught and punished, the quiet slander and the inward pride, because these are the very sins that corrupt from within while wearing a respectable face. A "froward heart", crooked, twisted, going its own perverse way, "shall depart from me." David is determined that his life and his household will be free not only of open wickedness but of these subtle, spreading rots that most men learn to live with.

Gospel Focus

"Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer", David's hatred of pride mirrors the heart of God, who "resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6). The Lord Jesus, the true King, came lowly, and in His kingdom the proud are put down and the humble lifted up, for God "hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree" (Luke 1:52). And David's refusal to harbour the secret slanderer points to the great truth that the accuser has no place in Christ's kingdom; Satan himself is called "the accuser of our brethren" (Revelation 12:10), and he is cast down. Where David could only bar such people from his earthly court, Christ cleanses the heart itself, rooting out the pride and the slandering tongue that David could only banish from his household. So let the froward heart depart from you, hate the whispering of slander and the swelling of pride, and take the lowly mind of Christ, who humbled Himself, and whom God has exalted above all.

Word Study

"the faithful of the land," Hebrew ne'emnei-eretz (נֶאֶמְנֵי־אֶרֶץ). Having said whom he will not tolerate, David now names whom he will gather. His eyes go looking for the trustworthy, seeking them out deliberately rather than taking whoever comes.

"that they may dwell with me," lashevet immadi (לָשֶׁבֶת עִמָּדִי). A leader is shaped by the company he keeps; the people we choose to have near us, in our home, our counsel, our friendship, form us over time. Who you keep close, you become.

"a perfect way," derekh tamim (דֶּרֶךְ תָּמִים). The same blameless walk David vowed for himself in verse 2 is now the qualification for his servants: "he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me." He asks of others only what he has bound on himself.

"worketh deceit," oseh remiyyah (עֹשֵׂה רְמִיָּה). The deceitful are shut out by name: "he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." The household is to be as clean as the king's own heart.

"I will early destroy," labbeqarim atzmit (לַבְּקָרִים אַצְמִית), morning by morning I will cut off. The word is "morning by morning." This is not a single grand purge but a daily, unrelenting vigilance against evil, taken up fresh each dawn. Integrity is not kept by one heroic decision but by constant, everyday watchfulness.

"the city of the LORD," ir YHWH (עִיר יְהוָה). Mark the goal of it all, for it lifts the psalm above mere self-improvement. David's aim is not his own comfort or reputation, but a holy city, God's city, cleansed of evil; his personal integrity serves the honour of the LORD and the purity of His people.

Explanation

Having said whom he will not tolerate, David now names whom he will gather, and the contrast is the point. His eyes will seek out "the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me," and "he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me." A leader is shaped by the company he keeps; the people we choose to have near us, in our home, our counsel, our friendship, form us over time. So David deliberately surrounds himself with the faithful and blameless, and shuts out the deceitful: "he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." Who you keep close, you become. And notice the diligence of his resolve in verse 8: "I will early destroy all the wicked of the land." The word is "morning by morning", this is not a single grand purge but a daily, unrelenting vigilance against evil, taken up fresh each dawn. Integrity is not kept by one heroic decision but by constant, everyday watchfulness. And mark the goal of it all, for it lifts the psalm above mere self-improvement: "that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD." David's aim is not his own comfort or reputation, but a holy city, God's city, cleansed of evil. His personal integrity serves a larger end, the honour of the LORD and the purity of His people.

Gospel Focus

"That I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD", David's resolve to purge God's city of evil points forward to the perfect King, Jesus Christ, and the city He is building. David could only banish evildoers from his earthly court, and imperfectly at that; but into the true city of the LORD, the New Jerusalem, "there shall in no wise enter... any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie" (Revelation 21:27). And Christ will do "early", at His coming, what David could only attempt in shadow, for "the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity" (Matthew 13:41). The "faithful of the land" whom David longed to have dwell with him are the redeemed who shall dwell with Christ for ever, for He promised, "that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3). So David's charter of integrity is at last the portrait of Christ's kingdom, holy, cleansed, filled with the faithful, and it calls us now to walk in a perfect way, keep faithful company, and long, as David did, for the city of the LORD.