Psalms 101:3

3 I setted not forth before mine eyes an unjust thing; I hated them that made trespassings. (I shall not set any impure thing before my eyes; I hate those who trespass, but I know, that that shall not cleave to me.)

Psalms 101:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 101:3

I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes,
Either the eyes of the body, which are the inlets of lust and are easily caught with objects that inflame the heart, and should be turned aside from beholding vanity; or the eyes of the mind; so the Targum,

``I will not propose to my heart;''

or, as Kimchi,

``in my thought'',

that is, I will not set up an evil thing in my imagination, to dwell upon in my thoughts, and take delight and pleasure in meditating upon it; or set it before me, to imitate as a pattern, to work by, and copy after: Christ did not so; he set the Lord always before him, ( Psalms 16:8 ) , not anything of Belial F11 or Satan, as the phrase here may be rendered; no, he always bid Satan, or anything of his, be gone, and get behind him, ( Matthew 4:10 ) ( 16:23 ) .

I hate the work of them that turn aside;
from God, and from his law; from the paths of religion, truth, and virtue; and from the Gospel, and a profession of it; such are not fit for the kingdom of God, and in these God and Christ have no pleasure, ( Hebrews 10:38 ) ,

it shall not cleave to me;
neither the wicked thing, or thing of Belial, nor the work of apostasy; that is, he would have no familiarity nor fellowship with it; not come near it, nor connive at it, but hate and abhor it: the Jews said, an evil disease, or a thing of Belial, "cleaveth fast unto him", ( Psalms 41:8 ) , but they were mistaken.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (leylb rbd) "verbum Belijahal", Montanus; so Cocceius, Gejerus, Ainsworth.

Psalms 101:3 In-Context

1 The psalm of David. Lord, I shall sing to thee; mercy and doom. I shall sing, (The song of David. Lord, I shall sing of love and justice/I shall sing of mercy and judgement. I shall sing unto thee,)
2 and I shall understand in a way without wem; when thou shalt come to me. I went perfectly in the innocence of mine heart; in the middle of mine house. (and I shall go on the way without blemish, or without fault; but when shalt thou come to me? I shall go about with purity in the midst of my house; yea, in the innocence of my heart.)
3 I setted not forth before mine eyes an unjust thing; I hated them that made trespassings. (I shall not set any impure thing before my eyes; I hate those who trespass, but I know, that that shall not cleave to me.)
4 A shrewd heart cleaved not to me; I knew not a wicked man bowing away from me. (I shall turn away from anyone with a depraved heart; and I shall not have any dealings with the wicked.)
5 I pursued him that backbited privily his neighbour. With the proud eye and an heart unable to be filled; I ate not with this. (I shall silence anyone who privately, or secretly, backbiteth his neighbour. And I shall not eat with anyone who hath a proud eye, and a heart unable to be filled, or ever satisfied.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.