Davids Harp Strung and Tuned, Book 1 · Psalm 26
PSAL. XXVI. Davids Appeal to God to vindicate his Innocence.
THE parts of the Pſalm are,
1. An Appeal of David to God, to be his Judge, ver. 1, 2.
2. The cauſes that induced him to it, his integrity especially.
3. A Petition, ver. 9, 11.
4. His Gratitude, ver. 12.
He begins with his Appeal to God, David appeals to God to be his Judge.whom he knew to be a juſt Judge, and therefore deſires to be dealt withal, in forma juris; Judge me O Lord, examine me, O Lord, and prove me, try out my reins, and my heart. Ver. 1
2. Then he aſſigns two cauſes of it; his integrity and his faith. Ver. 2
1. His faith and confidence was ſuch in God, Upon his, 1. Faith.that he knew that the Judge of all the World would do him right: I have truſted in the Lord, Ver. 1 therefore I ſhall not ſlide; I change not my Religion, to which I am tempted.2Integrity.
2. His integrity; for I have walked in my integrity; Ver. 1 of which he aſſigns the cauſe; for thy loving-kindneſs is before mine eyes, Ver. 3 and I have walked in thy Truth; I follow thy Word, and the Truth therein.The ſecond part. This he demonſtrates,
Next he ſets down his integrity, by an injunction of parts, which were two, How he carried himſelf to men: 2. How to God.
1. He abſtained from all ſociety, confederacy, counſels, 1By his carriage to man.and intimacy with wicked men; nay, he did abominate and hate their wayes.
I have not ſate; viz. in counſel with vain perſons, Ver. 4 neither will I go in with diſsemblers; I have hated the Congregation of wicked doers, Ver. 5 and will not ſit with the wicked.
2. The other degree of his integrity, was, his piety, which he here profeſſeth; 2To God.I will waſh my hands in innocency, and ſo will compaſs thine Altar, O Lord; Ver. 6 i. e. 1To his worſhip.I will worſhip thee; for that end in the next verſe, he would keep his hands from blood, oppreſſion, innocent, pure; it was, Ut, Ver. 7 That I may publiſh with the voyce of Thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. Non eſt ſpecioſa laus in ore precatoris; therefore he would be innocent.
And then he profeſſeth a ſecond act of his piety, his love to Cods houſe, Ver. 8 and the Service done in it: O Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy Houſe, 2To his houſe. The third part. Therefore he prayes.and the place where thine honour dwelleth.
Upon which conſcientiouſneſs of his integrity, he falls to prayer, That God would not ſuffer him to be polluted with the converſation of wicked men, Ver. 9 nor involved in their puniſhments: Gather not my ſoul with ſinners, Ver. 10 nor my life with the blood-thirsty; in whoſe hands is miſchief, And deſcribes wicked men with whom he would not converſe.and their right hand is full of bribes.
But by the way, obſerve the many Titles he gives here to wicked men.
1. They are vain perſons, void and empty of the fear of God, irreligious.
2. Deep men; occulti, abſconditi, verſuti, diſſemblers, aliud ore, aliud corde.
3. Caetus Malignorum, Malignants, doing all for their own ends.
4. Impious, Turbones, foreign.
5. Peccatores, ſinners, foreign, Workers of iniquity.
6. Blood-thirſty men, cruel and revengeful.
7. Miſchievous, ready to execute with their hands what they plotted in heart.
8. foreign, That will do any thing for a bribe.
Now from ſome ſuch kind David bleſſeth himſelf, he will have nothing to do with them: As for me, I will walk in my integrity; Redeem me Lord from ſuch people, and be merciful to me.
Laſtly, The fourth part. His gratitude.He ſhewes his gratitude: My foot ſtandeth right; hitherto I am ſure I am in a good way; I will therefore praiſe the Lord in the Congregations; not only privately, but publickly.
The Prayer collected out of the twenty ſixth Pſalm.
MANY, O Lord, very many are thoſe temptations to allurements, which the World, the Divel and Mon have laid before me, to withdraw me from the profeſſion of thy Truth, and a religious courſe of life; but becauſe I have continued conſtant in my integrity, they load me with ſlanders, and purſue me with violence, ſéeking to take away my life, as they have already taken my inheritance: But Lord, I commit my cauſe to thée, by whoſe power I have hitherto perſiſted in my uprightneſs.
Judge, Ver. 1 and diſcern my Cauſe, O Lord: They impute folly, errour, and ſtubborneſs to me; but my heart tells me, That I have walked innocently: They lay to my charge things that I knew not; but thou art the ſearcher of all hearts; Ver. 2 Examine me therefore, and prove me, try out therefore, as gold in thy fire, the ſecrets of my reins, and the inmoſt cogitations of my heart, explore what they are, and whether they be worthy of that deſpite and ill uſage which I have received from theſe men of blood.
Thou knoweſt, Lord, that I have gone on in that right way of piety, which thou haſt propoſed and preſcribed in thy Word; nor profit hath allured me, nor threats have affrighted me, nor flattery won upon me to turn to the right hand, or unto the leſt: But I have put my truſt in thee, thy loving kindneſs hath been before my eyes, and I have been pleaſed in the way of Truth: Be merciful therefore to me, Ver. 1 O Lord, that I may go on, as I have begun; and ſuffer not my féet to ſlip in this way, nor to fall out of the way.
By the way ſide, there be too too many tempters and temptations; the moſt are deſtitute of thy fear, having one thing in their heart, another upon their tongue; in whoſe hands is miſchief, and their right hand is full of bribes: But thou knoweſt, O Lord, That I have not ſate in counſel with theſe vain perſons, neither will I go in and converſe with theſe diſſemblers; for I have hated, with a perfect hatred, the Congregation, the Aſſembly, the Society of theſe Malignants; and with my whole heart have deteſted their Covenants and Engagements: I have not, I will not ſit with theſe wicked and evil doers, leſt I ſhould be infected by them, or countenance and confirm them in miſchief, and draw on others by my example.
They, Lord, have demoliſhed and polluted thy dwelling place, but I love the habitation of thy houſe; by their irreverence in that place, they diſhonour thée; but I will come and fall low before thy Foot-ſtool, well knowing that there thine honour dwelleth: And when thou ſhalt again open thoſe doors unto me, if I contracted any ſoil, I will waſh it off with a flood of tears; and being an innocent among thy innocent people, and about thy Altar I will adore, and with the Quire of thoſe that ſing to thy Name, I will praiſe and exalt thy Mercy and Majeſty: There will I publiſh with Thankſgiving, and tell abroad all thy wondrous works: There with Hymns and Pſalms compoſed to that end, I will declare to all men that are there preſent, how wonderfully and mercifully thou haſt wrought for me, and for thy people, in delivering us from the hands of our blood-thirſty enemies.
Since then, O Lord, I have alwayes deteſted and declined the counſels and confederacies of evil-doers; ſince I have béen ever ſtudious of Religion, and loved the communion of Saints, Take not away my ſoul with ſinners, and involve not my life in that perdition, which here and hereafter, is due to theſe men of blood, and oppreſſors of the innocent: As for me, I have walked innocently, wronging none, nor deſirous to wrong any; though I have ſéen the wicked proſper in their wickedneſs, and ſome have judged them happy men, yet I am not moved with their multitudes, ſucceſs, or example; I will yet walk in my integrity; therefore, good God, deſtroy me not with theſe evil doers, be merciful unto me, and redéem my ſoul from the evils with which I am encompaſſed, and from thoſe evils that hang over their heads.
My foot hath hitherto béen kept right by thy grace and mercy; therefore when thou ſhalt bring me back again to thy Temple, I will not be unthankful, but I will ſing praiſes to thy Name in and with the great Congregation. Amen.