NOTES for Psa 101

¹I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.

²I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

³I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

⁴A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

⁵Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.

⁶Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

⁷He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

⁸I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

David wants not only to sing of mercy and judgment; he is full of strength and intends actively to eradicate evil. Such a desire is entirely natural for anyone who has only recently begun to walk the paths shown by the Lord and is filled with a fresh desire to establish justice everywhere. He intends to eradicate evil by destroying its bearers, who in his eyes merge with evil itself. We, who understand the need to distinguish sin from the sinner, should not look down on such an understanding, for everyone who does evil truly becomes permeated by it.

But time passes, and it becomes clear that evil cannot be eradicated in this way. It penetrates every human heart, and inevitably the fighter for justice himself becomes one of its bearers. Along his long path through life, David too stumbled, as we know both from the biblical narrative and from his own penitential lines.

Does this mean that the psalm is canceled and its content struck out? No. It not only bears witness to the psalmist’s personal faith, but also contains the truth that evil must be actively resisted—and therefore resisted within ourselves as well.

Other notes

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