Psalms 26

This Psalm was certainly made by David, when he was in Distress, and particularly when he was falsly accused, and defamed by his Adversaries, as he frequently was by Saul, and his Courtiers: and therefore for his Vindication, he makes a solemn appeal to God, and a Protest... tion of his own Innocency, to which he was forced by their Clamours and Reproaches.

JUdge (i. e.) Plead my Cause, or give Sentence for me; as this Phrase is commonly used, as Psal. 10. 18 and 43. 1. and 72. 4. Isa. 1. 17. I can obtain no right from Men. The Supream and subordinate Magistrates, are mine implacable and resolved Enemies. Do thou therefore do me Justice against them. me, O LORD, for I have walked in mine integrity For though they accuse me of many Crimes, they can prove none of them, and thou and mine own Conscience, and theirs too are Witnesses for me, that my Carriage towards them has been innocent and unblameable.: I have trusted also in the LORD I have committed my Cause and Affairs to thee, as to a just Judge and merciful Father, and my Hope and Trust is fixed upon thee alone.: therefore I shall not slide Therefore thou wilst not deceive my Trust, but wilst uphold me against all mine Enemies. For thou hast Promised to save those that Trust in thee. Or, that I n... t slide or fall. So this declares the matter of his Trust..

Examine me, O LORD, and prove me Because it is possible, that I may deceive my self, and be partial my Cause, or at least mine Enemies will so judge of me, I appeal to thee, O thou Judge of Hearts, and beg that thou would search and try me, by such wa... s and means as thou seest fit, and make me known to my self, and to the World, and convince mine Enemies of mine Integrity.; try my reins and my heart.

For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes I dare appeal to thee with this Confidence, because thou knowest that I have a true and deep Sense of thy Loving kindness to me upon mine Heart, by which I have been obliged, and in a manner constrained to Love and Obey thee, and in all things to approve my Heart and ways to thee, and to abstain from all such evil Practices, as mine Enemies Charge me with, whereby I should have forfeited thy Loving kindness, which I prize more than Life, Psal. 63. 3. and exposed my self to thy just Displeasure. My Experience of and Trust in thy Goodness, does fully satisfie and support me, that I neither do no... need to use any indirect or irregular Courses for my Relief.: and I have walked in thy truth (i. e.) According to thy Word, which is oft called Truth, as Psal. 119. 142. 151. Ioh. 17. 17: 19. believing its Promises, and observing its Precepts and Directions; and not according to the Course of the World, as it follows..

I have not sate (i. e. Chosen or used to Converse with them: for sitting is a posture of Ease and of Continuance. I have been so far from an Approbation, or Imitation of the wicked Courses (where with mine Enemies reproach me) that I have avoided even their Company, and if accidentally I came into it, yet I would not abi... e in it. with vain persons (i. e.) With Lyars, or false and decei... ul Persons, as the next Clause explains it. And Vanity is very frequently put for Fal... hood or Lying., neither will I go in Into their Com... or with design to joyn in their Counsels or Courses, as the sa... e Word is used, Ios. 23. 7. And Conversation is oft expressed by going out and coming in. with dissemblers Heb. with such as hide, covering their Crafty and wicked Designs with fair Pre... nces. I abhor such Persons and Practises; though I am accused to be such an one..

I have hated the congregation of evil doers Either, 1. Their whole Ranck or Society. I have an Antipathy against all such Persons, without any Exception. Or, 2. To meet and joyn with them, in their Assemblies and Consultations, or sit with them, as it follows.: and will not sit with the wicked.

I will wash mine hands in innocency Or, with Integrity, Or with a pure Heart and Conscience. I will not do, as my Hypocritical Enemies do, who Content themselves with those outward washings of their Hands, Or Bodies prescribed in the Law, Exod. 29. 4. &c. Deut. 21. 6. Heb. 9. 10. whilst their Hearts and Lives are filthy and abominable. But I will wa... h or I have washed my Hands, and withal purged my Heart and Conscience from dead Works. Compare Isa. 1. 15, 16. 1 Tim. 2. 8.: so will I compass thine altar (i. e.) Approach to thine Altar with my Sacrifices: which I could not do with any Comfort or Confidence, if I were Conscious to my self of those Crimes, whereof mine Enemies accuse me. For the Phrase of Compassing the Altar, Either, 1. He alludes to some L... vitical Custom of going about the Altar, as the Priests did in the Oblation of their Sacrifices, and the People, especially those of them who were most devout and Zealous, who possibly moved from place to place, but still within their own Court, that they might better discern what was done on the several sides of the Altar, and so be the more affected with it. Or rather, 2. He implies that he would offer many Sacrifices together, which would employ the Priests round about the Altar, and so he is said to Compass it, because the Priests did it in his Name, and upon his Account, as Persons are very oft said in Scripture to Offer those Sacrifices, which the Priests offer for them., O LORD.

That I may publish Or, Proclaim, to wit, thy wondrous works, as it here follows. with the voyce of thanksgiving Accompanying my Sacrifices, with my own solemn Thanksgivings and Songs of Praise., and tell of all thy wondrous works.

LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house (i. e.) This Sanctuary and Worship: which is an Evidence of my Piety to thee, as I have given many Proofs of my Justice and Integrity towards men. Nothing is more grievous to me then to be hindred, from seeing and serving thee there., and the place where thine honour Or, thy Glory, Either, 1. The Ark so called, 1 Sam. 4. 22. Psal. 78. 61. Or 2. Thy glorious and gracious Presence, Or the manifestation of thy Glory, or of thy glorious Power, and Faithfulness, and Goodness. dwelleth.

Gather not my soul (i. e.) My Life, as it is explained in the next Clause. Do not bind me up in the same Bundle, nor put me into the same accursed, and miserable Condition with them. Seeing I have had so great an Antipathy against them, in the whole Course of my Life, v. 4. 5. let me not dye their Death, as Balaam on the contrary desired to dye the Death of the Righteous, Numb. 23. 10. And seeing I have loved thy House and Worship, and indeavoured to serve thee acceptably, not only with Ceremonial cleanness, but with moral purity of Heart and Life, v. 6, 7, 8. do not deal with me as thou wilst with those that are filled with ungodlyness and unrighteousness, do not destroy me with them, the Righteous with the wicked, Gen 18. 23. but save me in the common Calamity, as thou hast promised and used to do in like Cases. The Hebrew word, Asaph, rendred gathering, is oft put for taking away, as Gen. 30. 23. Isa. 4. 1. Ier. 8. 13. and 16. 5. and that by Destruction or Death, as 1 Sam. 15. 6. I... a. 57. 1. Ier. 8. 13. Ezek. 34. 29. H... ea 4. 3. The ground of which Phrase may be either, because by death mens Souls or Spirits are gathered and returned to God, Eccles. 12. 7. who had dispersed them all the World over: or because the several sorts of Men, good and bad, which live here together Promiscuously, are there severed, and all of one sort of them gathered together, unto their Fathers or People, as i... is expressed, Gen. 15. 15. Numb. 20. 24. 2 Kings 22. 20. Comp. Heb. 12. 23. with sinners Profligate and O... stinate sinners, as the following Words describe them, such being oft called sinners by way of Eminency, as 1 Sa.... 15. 18. Psal. 1. 1. and 104. 35. Isa. 1. 28. and 33. 14., nor my life with bloody men.

In whose hands is mischief Who not only imagine Mischief in their Hearts, but persist in it, and execu... e it with their Hands.: and their right hand Which should be stretched out to execute Justice, and punish Offenders. is full of bribes.

But as for me, I will walk in mine Integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.

My foot standeth in an even place Heb. in R... ctitude, or in a Right or Streight, or Plain, or ev... n Place. Which may be understood, Either, 1. Civilly, or in regard of his outward Condition. So this is opposed to the slippery places, in which wicked men are said to be, Psal. 35. 6. and 73. 18. Ier. 23. 12. and the Sense is, I stand upon a sure and solid Foundation, where I fear no fall, nor to be overthrown by the assaults of mine Enemies, being under the Protection of God's promise, and his Almighty and watchful Providence. Or, 2. Morally, or in regard of his Conversation. So the Sense is, I do and will persist or continue (which is oft signified by standing, as Psal. 1. 1.) in my plain, and righteous, and streight Course of Life, not using those Frauds and wicked Arts, and perverse and crooked Paths, which mine Enemies choose and walk in, or whereof they do falsly accuse me. And so this is the same thing for Substance, with his walking in his Integrity, expressed in the foregoing Verse, as also v. 1. I will not only privately acknowledge, but publickly, and in the Assemblies of thy People celebrate thy Praises, both for thy Grace, inabling and inclining to choose and Love, and persevere in the ways of Holiness and Righteousness, and for thy Protection hitherto afforded to me, in the midst of all my Dangers and Troubles, and for that well-grounded assurance which thou hast given me, of thy Favour, and of my future Deliverance.: in the congregations will I bless the LORD