Psalms 26

1 Judge me favorably, O LORD, because I have walked with integrity and I have trusted you without wavering.
2 Examine me, O LORD, and test me. Look closely into my heart and mind.
3 I see your mercy in front of me. I walk in the light of your truth.
4 I did not sit with liars, and I will not be found among hypocrites.
5 I have hated the mob of evildoers and will not sit with wicked people.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence. I will walk around your altar, O LORD,
7 so that I may loudly sing a hymn of thanksgiving and tell about all your miracles.
8 O LORD, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells.
9 Do not sweep away my soul along with hardened sinners or my life along with bloodthirsty people.
10 Evil schemes are in their hands. Their right hands are full of bribes.
11 But I walk with integrity. Rescue me, and have pity on me.
12 My feet stand on level ground. I will praise the LORD with the choirs in worship.

Psalms 26 Commentary

Chapter 26

David, in this psalm, appeals to God touching his integrity.

- David here, by the Spirit of prophecy, speaks of himself as a type of Christ, of whom what he here says of his spotless innocence was fully and eminently true, and of Christ only, and to Him we may apply it. We are complete in him. The man that walks in his integrity, yet trusting wholly in the grace of God, is in a state of acceptance, according to the covenant of which Jesus was the Mediator, in virtue of his spotless obedience even unto death. This man desires to have his inmost soul searched and proved by the Lord. He is aware of the deceitfulness of his own heart; he desires to detect and mortify every sin; and he longs to be satisfied of his being a true believer, and to practise the holy commands of God. Great care to avoid bad company, is both a good evidence of our integrity, and a good means to keep us in it. Hypocrites and dissemblers may be found attending on God's ordinances; but it is a good sign of sincerity, if we attend upon them, as the psalmist here tells us he did, in the exercise of repentance and conscientious obedience. He feels his ground firm under him; and, as he delights in blessing the Lord with his congregations on earth, he trusts that shortly he shall join the great assembly in heaven, in singing praises to God and to the Lamb for evermore.

Chapter Summary

Psalm of David. The occasion of this psalm seems to be the quarrel between Saul and David, the former listening to calumnies and reproaches cast upon the latter, and persecuting him in a violent manner. The argument of it is the same, in a great measure, with the seventh psalm, and is an appeal made to God, the Judge of the whole earth, by the psalmist, for his innocence and integrity; Theodoret thinks it was written by David when he fled from Saul.

Psalms 26 Commentaries

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