Psa 26:4-8 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 4 I have not sat with vain persons - מתי שוא methey shav, men of lies, dissemblers, backbiters, etc. Neither will I go in with dissemblers - נעלמים naalamim, the hidden ones, the dark designers, the secret plotters and conspirators in the state.

Psalms 26:4-8

Verse 4

I have not sat with vain persons - מתי שוא methey shav, men of lies, dissemblers, backbiters, etc.

Neither will I go in with dissemblers - נעלמים naalamim, the hidden ones, the dark designers, the secret plotters and conspirators in the state. Verse 5

I have hated the congregation of evil doers - I have never made one in the crowds of discontented persons; persons who, under pretense of rectifying what was wrong in the state, strove to subvert it, to breed general confusion, to overturn the laws, seize on private property, and enrich themselves by the spoils of the country. Verse 6

I will wash mine hands in innocency - Washing the hands was frequent among the Jews, and was sometimes an action by which a man declared his innocence of any base or wicked transaction. This Pilate did, to protest his innocence of the mal-treatment and death of Christ. I will maintain that innocence of life in which I have hitherto walked; and take care that nothing shall be found in my heart or life that would prevent me from using the most holy ordinance, or worshipping thee in spirit and truth.

So wilt I compass thine altar - It is a mark of respect among the Hindoos to walk several times round a superior, and round a temple. Verse 7

That I may publish - I have endeavoured to act so as always to keep a conscience void of offense towards thee and towards man. I have made a profession of faith in thee, and salvation from thee, and my practice gives no lie to my profession. Verse 8

Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house - I have carefully used thine ordinances, that I might obtain more grace to help me to persevere. And I have not been attentive to those duties, merely because they were incumbent on me; but I have loved the place where thine honor dwelleth; and my delight in thy ordinances has made my attendance as pleasant as it was profitable. This verse would be better translated, Jehovah, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place of the tabernacle of thy glory. The habitation must mean the holy of holies, where the Divine Presence was manifest; and the place of the tabernacle must refer to the mercy-seat, or the place where the glory of the Lord appeared between the cherubim, upon the lid or cover of the ark of the covenant. From his dwelling there, משכן mishcan, the place and the appearance were called שכינה shechinah; the dwelling of Jehovah, or that glorious appearance which was the symbol of the Divine Presence.