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-
"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'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.
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-
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.
Psa 101:5
I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbour. I won’t
tolerate one who is haughty and conceited-
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-
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.
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.
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