Psalms 26

Prayer for Vindication

1

Davidic.

1 Vindicate me, Lord, because I have lived with integrity and have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 Test me, Lord, and try me; examine my heart and mind.
3 For Your faithful love is before my eyes, and I live by Your truth.
4 I do not sit with the worthless or associate with hypocrites.
5 I hate a crowd of evildoers, and I do not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands[a] in innocence and go around Your altar, Lord,
7 raising my voice in thanksgiving and telling about Your wonderful works.
8 Lord, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.
9 Do not destroy me along with sinners, or my life along with men of bloodshed
10 in whose hands are evil schemes, and whose right hands are filled with bribes.
11 But I live with integrity; redeem me and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground; I will praise the Lord in the assemblies.

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.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. A ritual or ceremonial washing to express innocence

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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