Psalm 101 A Psalm of David.
1 I will sing of mercy and justice; to You, O Lord, I will sing praises. 2 I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. 3 I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. 4 A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness. 5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure. 6 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. 7 He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. 8 Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of Yahweh.
“’A psalm of David.’ It has in it the genuine spirit of the man after God's own heart it is a solemn vow which he made to God when he took upon him the charge of a family and of the kingdom.” (Matthew Henry) Here he sings of mercy and of judgment. “He wisely considered, that the example of the prince would have great influence on the morals of the people; and that he could not with any dignity and consistency punish the crimes of others, if he was guilty of the same.” (Dr. Chandler) m“’I will sing of mercy and judgment to You, O Lord,’ etc. — adverse and prosperous providences have been of the utmost use to my soul; therefore, I will thank God for both.” (Adam Clarke) These are “the main supports of a throne royal; howbeit there should be a pre-eminence to mercy, as one well observeth from Micah 6:8. Mercy must be loved, and not shown only; justice must be done, and no more. The sword of justice must be bathed in the oil of mercy; a well-tempered mixture of both preserveth the commonwealth, Romans 13:3-4.” (John Trapp) He prays “that his own rule would have a similarly strong base.” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable)
“‘I will behave wisely in a perfect way.’ In accordance with the perfect rules of right [that is, the moral code of the Ten Commandments.] I will make these my guide.” (Barnes) “To 'behave wisely' is the result of meditating upon the testimonies of the Lord (Ps 119:99), and stands in contrast to the sinful stupidity of the godless (Psalms 14:1-2).” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “‘Oh when wilt thou come unto me’—into my heart, and into my house, as thou comest into thy sanctuary. Pious vows and holy purposes all fail without the divine aid, and without a constant reliance on that aid.” (Joseph Sutcliffe) “I can neither walk in this way, nor grow wise unto salvation, unless thou come unto me by thy grace and Spirit… Emphatic ‘I will set myself to walk’ within my house with a perfect heart.— It is easier for most men to walk with a perfect heart in the Church, or even in the world, than in their own families. How many are as meek as lambs among others, when at home they are wasps or tigers! The man who, in the midst of family provocations, maintains a Christian character, being meek, gentle, and long-suffering to his wife, his children, and his servants, has got a perfect heart, and adorns the doctrine of God his Savior in all things.” (Adam Clarke)
“’I will set nothing wicked before my eyes;’ either the eyes of the body, which are the inlets of lust and are easily caught with objects that inflame the heart, and should be turned aside from beholding vanity; or the eyes of the mind; so the Targum, ‘I will not propose to my heart;' or, as Kimchi, ‘in my thought', that is, I will not set up an evil thing in my imagination, to dwell upon in my thoughts, and take delight and pleasure in meditating upon it; or set it before me, to imitate as a pattern, to work by, and copy after… ‘I hate the work of those who fall away;’ from God, and from his law; from the paths of religion, truth, and virtue; and from the Gospel, and a profession of it; such are not fit for the kingdom of God, and in these God and Christ have no pleasure, Hebrews 10:38.” (John Gill) “’It shall not cling to me;’ Such conduct shall not be mine.” (C. J. Ellicott)
”A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.’ The sum is, "that he will do his endeavor to keep himself from all wrong-doing, and that he will not even know what it is to do wrong to his neighbors.” (John Calvin) But nay the king committed adultery and murder, yet it was rectified according to God’s law. He was forgiven, as declared by Nathan.- "So David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against Yahweh.' And Nathan said to David, 'Yahweh also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lordto blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.' etc." (2 Samuel 12:13-15)
“’Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy.’ All flatterers and time-servers, and those who by insinuations and false accusations endeavor to supplant the upright, that they may obtain their offices for themselves or their dependants, will I consider as enemies to the state…. Every slanderer has his triple tongue, and by every slander inflicts those three deadly wounds. Such a person deserves to be cut off. On this subject St. Jerome speaks nearly in the same way: Ille qui detrahit, et se, et illum qui audit, demergit; ‘He who slanders ruins both himself and him who hears him;’ he might have added, and him who is slandered, for this is often the case; the innocent are ruined by detraction.” (Adam Clarke) “’The one who has a haughty look,’ as a proud man commonly carries his head high.— "and a proud heart, him will I not endure."
“‘My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;’ I will look to them to be employed in my house, and in my service.” (Albert Barnes)— “’He who walks in a perfect way’— he that is truly religious— ‘he shall serve me.’ No irreligious or wicked man, whatever his abilities may be, shall be countenanced or supported by me.” (Adam Clarke)
“”He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence, ‘Early I will destroy’— Hebrew, ‘In the mornings I will destroy’ all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of Yahweh.’ The morning was the customary time of trials and judgment.”(Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “He resolves to devote all his mornings to the administration of justice, and the punishment of incorrigible offenders. This is a season most proper in itself for the management of all business, and which was generally appropriated to the administration of public affairs by princes and great men; as we learn from 2 Samuel 15:2. Jeremiah 21:12.” (Coke) But this may be an allegorical vow to destroy the transgressors of God’s law at “the first opportunity” (Clarke)... that is, “‘as soon as I am seated in the throne,’ that so I may both prevent all that mischief which otherwise they might do, and hinder the infection of others by their evil example, and discourage and deter all my subjects from the like practices.” (Poole)
“I will use my utmost diligence to reform the whole nation; but especially the place of my peculiar residence, which ought to be an example to the rest of my kingdom: taking care that all offenders be severely punished in the courts of justice; and, if there be no other remedy, cutting off [in death] those evil members, who have got an incurable habit of acting wickedly.” (Bp. Patrick)— “’that I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of Yahweh.’- the holy city. "And the psalmist meant to be doubly careful in purging it from ungodly men. Judgment must begin at the house of God. Jesus reserves his scourge of small cords for sinners inside the temple. How pure ought the church to be, and how diligently should all those who hold office therein labour to keep out and chase out men of unclean lives. Honourable offices involve serious responsibilities.” (Spurgeon) Yea, this holy vow "must begin at our own hearts as his sanctuary, the temple of the Holy Ghost.” (Edersheim)
Set Christ in your 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. And if it seems to us that he tarries too long, we should think of that morning which will suddenly dawn, that all filthiness being purged away, true purity may shine forth.” (John Calvin)