3 I set not before mine eyes a worthless thing, The work of those turning aside I have hated, It adhereth not to me.
and it cometh to pass, at evening-time, that David riseth from off his couch, and walketh up and down on the roof of the king's house, and seeth from the roof a woman bathing, and the woman `is' of very good appearance, and David sendeth and inquireth about the woman, and saith, `Is not this Bath-Sheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite?'
Let no one say, being tempted -- `From God I am tempted,' for God is not tempted of evil, and Himself doth tempt no one, and each one is tempted, by his own desires being led away and enticed, afterward the desire having conceived, doth give birth to sin, and the sin having been perfected, doth bring forth death.
And Samuel saith unto the people, `Fear not; ye have done all this evil; only, turn not aside from after Jehovah -- and ye have served Jehovah with all your heart, and ye do not turn aside after the vain things which do not profit nor deliver, for they `are' vain,
and Ahab speaketh unto Naboth, saying, `Give to me thy vineyard, and it is to me for a garden of green herbs, for it `is' near by my house, and I give to thee in its stead a better vineyard than it; if good in thine eyes, I give to thee silver -- its price.' And Naboth saith unto Ahab, `Far be it from me, by Jehovah, my giving the inheritance of my fathers to thee;' and Ahab cometh in unto his house, sulky and wroth, because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite hath spoken unto him when he saith, `I do not give to thee the inheritance of my fathers,' and he lieth down on his bed, and turneth round his face, and hath not eaten bread. And Jezebel his wife cometh in unto him, and speaketh unto him, `What `is' this? -- thy spirit sulky, and thou art not eating bread!' And he saith unto her, `Because I speak unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and say to him, Give to me thy vineyard for money, or if thou desire, I give to thee a vineyard in its stead; and he saith, I do not give to thee my vineyard.' And Jezebel his wife saith unto him, `Thou now dost execute rule over Israel! rise, eat bread, and let thy heart be glad, -- I do give to thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.' And she writeth letters in the name of Ahab, and sealeth with his seal, and sendeth the letters unto the elders, and unto the freemen, who are in his city, those dwelling with Naboth, and she writeth in the letters, saying, `Proclaim a fast, and cause Naboth to sit at the head of the people, and cause two men -- sons of worthlessness -- to sit over-against him, and they testify of him, saying, Thou hast blessed God and Melech; and they have brought him out, and stoned him, and he dieth.' And the men of his city, the elders and the freemen who are dwelling in his city, do as Jezebel hath sent unto them, as written in the letters that she sent unto them, they have proclaimed a fast, and caused Naboth to sit at the head of the people, and two men -- sons of worthlessness -- come in, and sit over-against him, and the men of worthlessness testify of him, even Naboth, before the people, saying, `Naboth blessed God and Melech;' and they take him out to the outside of the city, and stone him with stones, and he dieth; and they send unto Jezebel, saying, `Naboth was stoned, and is dead.' And it cometh to pass, at Jezebel's hearing that Naboth hath been stoned, and is dead, that Jezebel saith unto Ahab, `Rise, possess the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, that he refused to give to thee for money, for Naboth is not alive but dead.' And it cometh to pass, at Ahab's hearing that Naboth is dead, that Ahab riseth to go down unto the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to possess it. And the word of Jehovah is unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying, `Rise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who `is' in Samaria, -- lo, in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he hath gone down to possess it, and thou hast spoken unto him, saying, Thus said Jehovah, Hast thou murdered, and also possessed? and thou hast spoken unto him, saying, Thus said Jehovah, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, do the dogs lick thy blood, even thine.' And Ahab saith unto Elijah, `Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?' and he saith, `I have found -- because of thy selling thyself to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah; lo, I am bringing in unto thee evil, and have taken away thy posterity, and cut off to Ahab those sitting on the wall, and restrained, and left, in Israel, and given up thy house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which thou hast provoked `Me', and dost cause Israel to sin. `And also of Jezebel hath Jehovah spoken, saying, The dogs do eat Jezebel in the bulwark of Jezreel; him who dieth of Ahab in a city do the dogs eat, and him who dieth in a field do fowl of the heavens eat; surely there hath none been like Ahab, who sold himself to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife hath moved, and he doth very abominably to go after the idols, according to all that the Amorite did whom Jehovah dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel.' And it cometh to pass, at Ahab's hearing these words, that he rendeth his garments, and putteth sackcloth on his flesh, and fasteth, and lieth in sackcloth, and goeth gently. And the word of Jehovah is unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying, `Hast thou seen that Ahab hath been humbled before Me? because that he hath been humbled before Me, I bring not in the evil in his days; in the days of his son I bring in the evil on his house.'
Jehovah doth recompense me According to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands, He doth return to me. For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, And have not done wickedly against my God. For all His judgments `are' before me, And His statutes I turn not from me. And I am perfect with him, And I keep myself from mine iniquity.
And those bowing themselves On the roofs to the host of the heavens, And those bowing themselves, Swearing to Jehovah, and swearing by Malcham, And those removing from after Jehovah, And who have not sought Jehovah, nor besought Him.
See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright. Its latter end -- as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth. Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things. And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast. `They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake -- I seek it yet again!'
For they have drawn near, As an oven `is' their heart, In their lying in wait all the night sleep doth their baker, Morning! he is burning as a flaming fire. All of them are warm as an oven, And they have devoured their judges, All their kings have fallen, There is none calling unto Me among them.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 101
Commentary on Psalms 101 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
This is the “prince's Psalm,”
(Note: Eyring, in his Vita of Ernest the Pious Duke of Saxe-Gotha, v. 1601, d. 1675, relates that he sent an unfaithful minister a copy of the 101st Psalm, and that it became a proverb in the country, when an official had done anything wrong: He will certainty soon receive the prince's Psalm to read.)
or as it is inscribed in Luther's version, “David's mirror of a monarch.” Can there be any more appropriate motto for it than what is said of Jahve's government in Psalms 99:4? In respect of this passage of Psalms 99:1-9, to which Psalms 100:1-5 is the finale, Psalms 101:1-8 seems to be appended as an echo out of the heart of David. The appropriateness of the words לדוד מזמור (the position of the words is as in Psalms 24:1-10; 40; 109:1-110:7; 139) is corroborated by the form and contents. Probably the great historical work from which the chronicler has taken excerpts furnished the post-exilic collector with a further gleaning of Davidic songs, or at least songs that were ascribed to David. The Psalm before us belongs to the time during which the Ark was in the house of Obed-Edom, where David had left it behind through terror at the misfortune of Uzzah. David said at that time: “ How shall the Ark of Jahve come to me (the unholy one)?” 2 Samuel 6:8. He did not venture to bring the Ark of the Fearful and Holy One within the range of his own house. In our Psalm, however, he gives utterance to his determination as king to give earnest heed to the sanctity of his walk, of his rule, and of his house; and this resolve he brings before Jahve as a vow, to whom, in regard to the rich blessing which the Ark of God diffuses around it (2 Samuel 6:11.), he longingly sighs: “When wilt Thou come to me?!” This contemporaneous reference has been recognised by Hammond and Venema. From the fact that Jahve comes to David, Jerusalem becomes “the city of Jahve,” Psalms 101:8; and to defend the holiness of this the city of His habitation in all faithfulness, and with all his might, is the thing to which David here pledges himself.
The contents of the first verse refer not merely to the Psalm that follows as an announcement of its theme, but to David's whole life: graciousness and right, the self-manifestations united ideally and, for the king who governs His people, typically in Jahve, shall be the subject of his song. Jahve, the primal source of graciousness and of right, it shall be, to whom he consecrates his poetic talent, as also his playing upon the harp. חסד is condescension which flows from the principle of free love, and משׁפּט legality which binds itself impartially and uncapriciously to the rule (norm) of that which is right and good. They are two modes of conduct, mutually tempering each other, which God requires of every man (Micah 6:8, cf. Matthew 23:23 : τὴν κρίσιν καὶ τὸν ἔλεον ), and more especially of a king. Further, he has resolved to give heed, thoughtfully and with an endeavour to pursue it ( השׂכּיל בּ as in Daniel 9:13), unto the way of that which is perfect, i.e., blameless. What is further said might now be rendered as a relative clause: when Thou comest to me. But not until then?! Hitzig renders it differently: I will take up the lot of the just when it comes to me, i.e., as often as it is brought to my knowledge. But if this had been the meaning, בּדבר would have been said instead of בּדרך (Exodus 18:16, Exodus 18:19; 2 Samuel 19:12 [11]); for, according to both its parts, the expression דוך תמים is an ethical notion, and is therefore not used in a different sense from that in Psalms 101:6. Moreover, the relative use of the interrogative מתי in Hebrew cannot be supported, with the exception, perhaps, of Proverbs 23:35. Athanasius correctly interprets: ποθῶ σου τὴν παρουσίαν, ὦ δέσποτα, ἱμείρομαί σου τῆς ἐπιφανείας, ἀλλὰ δὸς τὸ ποθούμενον . It is a question of strong yearning: when wilt Thou come to me? is the time near at hand when Thou wilt erect Thy throne near to me? If his longing should be fulfilled, David is resolved to, and will then, behave himself as he further sets forth in the vows he makes. He pledges himself to walk within his house, i.e., his palace, in the innocence or simplicity of his heart (Psalms 78:72; Proverbs 20:7), without allowing himself to be led away from this frame of mind which has become his through grace. He will not set before his eyes, viz., as a proposition or purpose (Deuteronomy 15:9; Exodus 10:10; 1 Samuel 29:10, lxx), any morally worthless or vile matter whatsoever (Psalms 41:8, cf. concerning בליּעל , Psalms 18:5). The commission of excesses he hates: עשׂה is infin. constr. instead of עשׂות as in Genesis 31:28; Genesis 50:20; Proverbs 21:3, cf. ראה Genesis 48:11, שׁתו Proverbs 31:4. סטים (like שׂטים in Hosea 5:2), as the object of עשׂה , has not a personal (Kimchi, Ewald) signification (cf. on the other hand Psalms 40:5), but material signification: ( facta ) declinantia (like זדים , Psalms 19:13, insolentia ; הבלים , Zechariah 11:7, vincientia ); all temptations and incitements of this sort he shakes off from himself, so that nothing of the kind cleaves to him. The confessions in Psalms 101:4 refer to his own inward nature: לב עקּשׁ (not עקּשׁ־לב , Proverbs 17:20), a false heart that is not faithful in its intentions either to God or to men, shall remain far from him; wickedness ( רע as in Psalms 36:5) he does not wish to know, i.e., does not wish to foster and nurture within him. Whoso secretly slanders his neighbour, him will he destroy; it will therefore be so little possible for any to curry favour with him by uncharitable perfidious tale-bearing, of the wiliness of which David himself had had abundant experience in his relation to Saul, that it will rather call forth his anger upon him (Proverbs 30:10). Instead of the regularly pointed מלושׁני the Kerî reads מלשׁני , melŏshnı̂ , a Poel ( לשׁן linguâ petere , like עין oculo petere , elsewhere הלשׁין , Proverbs 30:10) with ŏ instead of ō (vid., on Psalms 109:10; Psalms 62:4) and with Chirek compaginis (vid., on Psalms 113:1-9). The “lofty of eyes,” i.e., supercilious, haughty, and the “broad of heart,” i.e., boastful, puffed up, self-conceited (Proverbs 28:25, cf. Psalms 21:4), him he cannot endure ( אוּכל , properly fut. Hoph. , I am incapable of, viz., לשׂאת , which is to be supplied as in Isaiah 1:13, after Proverbs 30:21; Jeremiah 44:22).
(Note: In both instances the Masora writes אותו ( plene ), but the Talmud, B. Erachin 15 b , had אתו before it when it says: “Of the slanderer God says: I and he cannot dwell together in the world, I cannot bear it any longer with him ( אתּו ).”)
On the other hand, his eyes rest upon the faithful of the land, with the view, viz., of drawing them into his vicinity. Whoso walks in the way of uprightness, he shall serve him ( שׁרת , θεραπεύειν , akin to עבד , δουλεύειν ). He who practises deceit shall not stay within his house; he who speaks lies shall have no continuance ( יכּון is more than equivalent to נכון ) before (under) his eyes. Every morning ( לבּקרים as in Psalms 73:14; Isaiah 33:2; Lamentations 3:23, and לבקרים , Job 7:18), when Jahve shall have taken up His abode in Jerusalem, will he destroy all evil-doers ( רשׁעי as in Psalms 119:119), i.e., incorrigibly wicked ones, wherever he may meet them upon the earth, in order that all workers of evil may be rooted out of the royal city, which is now become the city of Jahve.