Psalm 101

Psalms 101:1

Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord. Let sinners hear of mercy, those who despair of their salvation, those who are doing penance; let those who scorn hear of judgment, who say: "The Lord is merciful, let us sin, he pardons us."

Psalms 101:1

“I will sing of mercy and judgment. He would extol both the love and the severity, the sweets and the bitters, which the Lord had mingled in Iris experience; he would admire the justice and the goodness of the Lord. Such a song would fitly lead up to godly resolutions as to his own conduct, for that which we admire in our superiors we naturally endeavour to imitate. Mercy and judgment would temper the administration of David, because he had adoringly perceived them in the dispensations of his God.”

Psalms 101:1

“Note, (1.) God's providences concerning his people are commonly mixed-- mercy and judgment; God has set the one over-against the other, and appointed them April-days, showers and sunshine. It was so with David and his family; when there was mercy in the return of the ark there was judgment in the death of Uzza.”

Psalms 101:2

“I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. To be holy is to be wise; a perfect way is a wise way. David's resolve was excellent, but his practice did not fully tally with it. Alas! he was not always wise or perfect, but it was well that it was in his heart. A king had need be both sage and pure, and, if he be not so in intent, when he comes to the throne, his after conduct will be a sad example to his people.”

Psalms 101:2

“I will - I will manage all my affairs with wisdom and integrity. When - God is often said in scripture to come to men, when he fulfills a promise to them.”

Psalms 101:2

“Note, We must all resolve to walk by the rules of Christian prudence in the ways of Christian piety. We must never turn aside out of the perfect way, under pretence of behaving ourselves wisely; but, while we keep to the good way, we must be wise as serpents. A good prayer: O when wilt thou come unto me?”

Psalms 101:3

“I set no unjust thing before my eyes. I put nothing before the Lord, nor did I consent to iniquity; but I was wholly turned to God. I have hated those who commit transgressions. Whether it was my father, or my mother, or brother, or sister, or friend: nevertheless, if he had turned aside from the fear of the Lord, I held him in hatred, and I did not approach him at all. I did not set kinship or friendship before devotion to God.”

Psalms 101:3

“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I will neither delight in it, aim at it or endure it. If I have wickedness brought before me by others I will turn away from it, I will not gaze upon it with pleasure.”

Psalms 101:4

“A depraved heart did not cling to me. There was in me nothing difficult or anything perverse, but fairness and justice. As the malignant one turned aside from me, I did not know him: that is, if he was a friend to me or a neighbor, whether a bishop or a presbyter, or one established in any rank whatever: nevertheless, if he perverted his ways, I so fled from him that I made no mention of him at all.”

Psalms 101:4

“A froward heart shall depart from me. He refers both to himself and to those round about him; he would neither be crooked in heart himself, nor employ persons of evil character in his house; if he found such in his court he would chase them away. He who begins with his own heart begins at the fountain head, and is not likely to tolerate evil compamons. We cannot turn out of our family all whose hearts are evil, but we can keep them out of our confidence, and let them see that we do not approve of their ways.”

Psalms 101:5-6

“And Jezebel was able to injure the most religious Naboth by her false accusations; but then it was the wicked and apostate Ahab who listened to her. But the most holy David, whose example you ought to follow, as all pray that you may, does not favor such people but was apt to turn away from them and avoid them, as raging dogs. He says, "Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him will I destroy." For he kept the commandment that says, "You shall not receive a false report." And false are the reports of these people in your sight.”

Psalms 101:5

“Whose privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off. He had known so bitterly the miseries caused by slanderers that he intended to deal severely with such vipers when he came into power, not to revenge his own ills, but to prevent others from suffering as he had done.”

Psalms 101:6

“My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, that they might sit with me. He did not say the rich, or emperors, or bishops, or presbyters, or deacons, but the faithful: with these I sat. A bishop, a holy man, can also say this: that I did not ordain as presbyter the man who was obsequious to me, or my kinsman, but the one whom I knew to be faithful. And again the same man can say: that I held all my clerics and laity to be faithful.”

Psalms 101:6

“Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He would seek them out, engage their services, take care of them, and promote them to honour: this is a noble occupation for a king, and one which will repay him infinitely better than listening to the soft nothings of flatterers. It would be greatly for the profit of us all if we chose our servants rather by their piety than by their cleverness; he who gets a faithful servant gets a treasure, and he ought to do anything sooner than part with him.”

Psalms 101:6

“He that walks in a perfect way, that makes conscience of what he says and does, shall serve me. The kingdom must be searched for honest men to make courtiers of; and, if any man is better than another, he must be preferred. This was a good resolution of David's; but either he did not keep to it or else his judgment was imposed upon when he made Ahithophel his right hand.”

Psalms 101:7

“He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house,.... Flatterers, sycophants, tricking and fraudulent persons, who seek to supplant others, and get into their places; these should lose the favour they had, when detected. So hypocritical persons, that have only a form of godliness, a mask of religion, and false teachers that lie in wait to deceive; and antichrist, whose coming was with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; who has seduced men by his miracles, doctrines, and sorceries; these shall have no place, neither in Christ's house below nor above.”

Psalms 101:7

“He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He had power to choose his courtiers, and he meant to exercise it. Deceit among most orientals is reckoned to be a virtue, and is only censured when it is not sufficiently cunning, and therefore comes to be found out; it was therefore all the more remarkable that David should have so determinedly set his face against it.”

Psalms 101:7

“Herein David was a man after God's own heart, for a proud look and a lying tongue are things which God hates; and he was also a type of Christ, who will, in the great day, banish from his presence all that love and make a lie, Rev. xxii.”

Psalms 101:8

“I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, Of the land of Israel, signifying that he would make a general reformation throughout the kingdom; that as soon as wicked men were discovered in any part of the land, he would cut them off, would take the first opportunity of punishing them as the law directs: or he would do it "in morning" (s), as in the Hebrew text; that is, every morning, constantly and continually; (s) לבקרים "in matutinis", Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; so Ainsworth.”

Psalms 101:8

“That I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. As the kingdom of David was only a faint image of the kingdom of Christ, we ought to set Christ before our view; who, although he may bear with many hypocrites, yet as he will be the judge of the world, will at length call them all to on account, and separate the sheep from the goats.”

Psalms 101:8

“Early. From some incidental notices of Scripture (2Sa 15:2 Ps 101:8 Je 21:12), it has been inferred that judges ordinarily held their sessions in the morning. In a climate like that of Palestine, such a custom would be natural and convenient. It is doubtful, however, whether this passage expresses anything more than the promptness and zeal which a righteous judge exercises in the discharge of his duty.— E. P. Barrows, in "Biblical Geography and Antiquities".”

Psalms 101:8

“That which he aimed at was not only the securing of his own government and the peace of the country, but the honour of God in the purity of his church, That I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. Not Jerusalem only, but the whole land, was the city of the Lord; so is the gospel-church.”