OF DAVID.
1Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have led a blameless life;
I have trusted in the LORD
without wavering.
2Test me, O LORD, and try me,
examine my heart and my mind;
3for your love is ever before me,
and I walk continually in your truth.
4I do not sit with deceitful men,
nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5I abhor the assembly of evildoers
and refuse to sit with the wicked.
6I wash my hands in innocence,
and go about your altar, O LORD,
7proclaiming aloud your praise
and telling of all your wonderful deeds.
8I love the house where you live, O LORD,
the place where your glory dwells.
9Do not take away my soul along with sinners,
my life with bloodthirsty men,
10in whose hands are wicked schemes,
whose right hands are full of bribes.
11But I lead a blameless life;
redeem me and be merciful to me.
12My feet stand on level ground;
in the great assembly I will praise the LORD.
Original Meaning
THIS PSALM IS a prayer for redemption founded on an extended protestation of personal innocence, which the psalmist invites the penetrating gaze of divine scrutiny to confirm and honor. Psalm 26 shares with Psalm 25 a concern with vindication (cf. 25:21 and 26:1–3) and is linked with the sequence of Psalms 23–30 through a common focus on the “house” or “dwelling” of Yahweh.1 Psalm 25 assures those who trust wholly in Yahweh and allow his instruction to guide them in the way of righteousness that they can be confident of divine deliverance. Psalm 26 responds to that assurance by laying out the psalmist’s case for having led such a humble (26:2),2 innocent (26:1a, 3b, 6a, 11a), and trusting life (26:1b) as Psalm 25 describes.
The voice of the individual dominates Psalm 26 (cf. first-person language throughout). God is consistently addressed in the second person. The body of the psalm is bracketed (26:1, 11) by a plea for vindication/redemption grounded in the psalmist’s claim of a “blameless life.” The motif of worshiping in the sanctuary is key to the understanding of the psalm, especially in the central vow to offer praise around the altar and the expression of love for the temple.3
More than many psalms, Psalm 26 demonstrates the tension that can exist between a psalm’s original intent and its subsequent reuse in the more literary context of the Psalter. Its original context appears to be that of an individual seeking asylum in the temple. Its structure can be understood in this light: plea for vindication (26:1; cf. 26:11), submission to divine examination (26:2–7), prayer for continued dwelling in God’s presence (26:8–11), and statement of confidence and praise (26:12).
Placed within the literary context of an extended group of psalms (Pss. 23–30) concerned with approaching and dwelling in the house of Yahweh, however, Psalm 26 takes on a slightly altered function and significance. It continues to speak to the postexilic community, expressing the love and awe of the successful pilgrim who, having entered the temple in the throng of worshipers, is overwhelmed and convicted of the necessity of a blameless life separated from association with the wicked. The “bloodthirsty” sinners (26:9) offer an apt parallel to the pagan communities in which most of the exilic Diaspora found themselves. In this way an essentially Palestinian psalm has been renewed to continue to speak with power to generations whose experience is far removed from the original setting.
NO NEW TERMS are introduced in the heading to Psalm 26, which is the second of four consecutive psalms (Pss. 25–28) to be attributed simply to David.4
Plea for Vindication (26:1)
THE NIV’S “VINDICATE ME” is an interpretive rendering of the Hebrew špt, which more literally means “judge me.” While the ultimate result of the examination is the declaration of the psalmist’s “blamelessness,” the invitation to judge prepares the way for the following verbs of examination and scrutiny in 25:2 (bḥn [“test”]; nsh [“examine”]).5 The psalmist is calling for examination, confident that his life meets the standards of righteousness required for vindication.
I have led a blameless life. The psalmist’s claim to have led a blameless life is not an assertion of sinless perfection.6 It is rather a claim to possess the appropriate attitude of “fear of God”—the awareness of one’s sinfulness and absolute dependence on divine mercy—that constitutes the essential relationship with God that defines human righteousness in Israel’s understanding. “Fear of the LORD” is not fear or terror, but it does have fearful overtones. Fearing God is having a clear understanding who God is and how my own sinful nature places me in deadly conflict with his nature, and it is knowing that my only hope is divine grace and mercy. Thus, when the psalmist goes on to describe the basis of his claim of “blamelessness,” it is this attitude of dependence that we must keep in mind.
I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. The psalmist’s expression of firm trust in Yahweh must be understood against the background of the fear of Yahweh just outlined. Verse 1 defines the kind of “blameless life” that will survive Yahweh’s scrutiny not in terms of sinless perfection but as “unwavering trust” in God. Literally, the psalmist declares, “I have trusted in Yahweh; I will not wobble.” This is not just a past act of firm trust but a lifestyle that will continue unshaken into the future.
Submission to Divine Examination (26:2–7)
TEST ME . . . try me . . . examine. . . . The repeated synonyms for testing drive home the psalmist’s willing submission to God’s examination.7 The closest parallel to this threefold repetition of testing occurs in 17:3, where two of the three verbs are the same as used here (cf. bḥn [“probe”] . . . pqd [“examine”] . . . ṣrp [“test”] . . . in 17:3 with bḥn [“test”] . . . nsh [“try”] . . . ṣrp [“examine”] in 26:2).8 The context in Psalm 17 is similar, for there too the psalmist invites divine scrutiny and affirms innocent behavior (cf. 17:3–5).9 Yahweh looks on the interior motivation of humans insofar as he examines the psalmist’s “heart” (lit., “my kidneys”)10 and “mind” (lit., “my heart,” which in Hebrew is the center of reflection and decision making). By offering these parts of life to the divine gaze the psalmist is demonstrating complete openness.
Your love is ever before me. Once again Psalm 26 links back to Psalm 25 by the use in the two halves of this verse of God’s ḥesed (NIV “love”) and his ʾemet (NIV “truth). In 25:10, these terms define the “way” of Yahweh in which the psalmist sought to walk: “All the ways of the LORD are ḥesed and ʾemet for those who keep the demands of his covenant.” Here the psalmist claims to be walking continually11 in the presence of Yahweh’s ḥesed and ʾemet.12
As discussed in Psalm 25, these two terms mean something more than the NIV translation immediately suggests. Ḥesed describes the fierce loyalty and commitment that marks Yahweh’s loyalty to his covenant relationship with his people (and ought to mark his people’s relationship to him). Similarly, ʾemet is not merely “truth” but an “enduring faithfulness,” as the NIV renders it in 25:10. Clearly the foundation of the psalmist’s hope and security is not personal integrity and sinlessness but Yahweh’s fierce loyalty and enduring faithfulness, which provide a way for essentially sinful humans—who acknowledge their complete dependence on Yahweh’s mercy and grace—to continue to walk in his presence.
I do not sit with deceitful men. In a passage reminiscent of 1:1, the psalmist introduces a “negative confession” or “protestation of innocence” similar to that found in Psalm 15 in preparation for entering the temple precincts. By offering specific examples of innocent behavior, he is expanding on the preceding claim, “I walk continually in your truth” (26:3b). Like 1:1 the protestation is a series of statements disassociating the psalmist from certain categories of persons: “deceitful men”,13 “hypocrites,”14 “the assembly of evildoers,”15 and “the wicked.” Unlike Psalm 1, there is no attempt here to describe progressive enmeshment with evil (cf. 1:1, “walk . . . stand . . . sit”). Rather, by a repeated alternation between perfect and imperfect verb forms, the poet stresses past, present, and continuing avoidance of evil associations—(lit.) “I have not sat . . . I will not consort . . . I have hated . . . I will not sit.”16
I wash my hands in innocence. Even today at the approaches to the Western Wall17 in Jerusalem, provision is made for worshipers to wash their hands before entering the holy space demarcated by barriers. We also know that the southern steps leading up to the Temple Mount contained numerous “ritual baths,” where worshipers could cleanse themselves before entering to worship. The claim to have washed one’s hands adds support to the interpretation of Psalm 26 as being related to pilgrimage and temple worship.
While not identical, the word “innocence” (niqqayon) is from the same root as the term translated “innocent” (neqi) in 24:4. Innocence is associated with the “hands/palms” (24:4, neqi kappayim; 26:6, ʾerḥaṣ beniqqayon kappay). The identical phrase found in 26:6 occurs also in 73:13, where (as in 24:4) “innocent hands” are associated with a “pure heart.”18 The linkages between these three passages add weight to the idea of a pilgrimage/temple context and provide additional support for thematic linkage of Psalms 23–30.
I go about your altar. Now prepared to enter the temple precincts by the ritual cleansing of the hands, the pilgrim psalmist walks about the altar while “proclaiming aloud” the praise of Yahweh and telling his “wonderful deeds”19 (26:7). Like the even more cryptic passage in 118:27 (“with boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar”), this verse may open a vague window on the practice of worship in the temple. The psalmist’s participation in the ritual act of circling the altar and proclaiming praise (26:7) leads directly to the central profession of love for Yahweh’s house that stands at the heart of this psalm (26:8).20
Standing in the Presence of Yahweh (26:8–11)
I LOVE THE house where you live. Caught up in the act of temple worship (perhaps for the first time, if these are truly the words of a postexilic pilgrim), the psalmist is filled by a sense of love for the temple as the place where God and humans come together.21 The successful completion of the long journey to Jerusalem, the excitement of joining with the international community of the faithful, and the wonder of sinful humans being allowed to stand in the very presence of the glory (26:8b) of Yahweh22 are almost overwhelming. That the temple is the “house” where Yahweh’s glory “dwells” is clearly established by a variety of passages (esp. 2 Chron. 7:1–3; Ezek. 43:4–5; 44:4). Ezekiel also speaks of praising the “glory of the LORD” in his dwelling place (Ezek. 3:12), while Psalm 29:9 records the response of the company of gathered worshipers to the theophanic approach of Yahweh as storm: “and in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’ ”23 The reference in 26:8 to the “house” of Yahweh links this psalm backward and forward with the group of thematically related Psalms 23–30.
Do not take away my soul along with sinners. If this is understood as the voice of one taking asylum in the temple, then the plea is that the psalmist will be judged worthy of refuge and be allowed to remain in the temple. We know that once an individual had claimed asylum in the temple, a determination had to be made as to the legitimacy of the request. If it was determined to be a just request, the individual was allowed to remain until the trial date; if not, then asylum was denied and the individual executed.24 Thus, the psalmist’s plea not to be taken away along with sinners speaks to the possibility of being declared guilty and asylum being denied.
In the literary context of the postexilic community, the “bloodthirsty”25 schemers and bribers from whom the psalmist wishes to be disassociated would be understood as (1) the pagans among whom the exiles lived, and (2) those elements of the Jewish community who had accommodated themselves to pagan society in ways detrimental to their own people.26 The verb “take away” (ʾsp [“gather as in harvest”]) clearly refers to divine action rather than human agency. This allows the broader interpretation that the psalmist desires to be distinguished from those whom God judges and destroys. The psalmist’s final plea for redemption (26:11), based on a “blameless life,” fits this context as well.27
I lead a blameless life. The psalmist returns to the protestations of innocence with which he began (cf. 26:1). If his plea for divine examination issues in the expected decree of vindication, then the recognition of a blameless life lays the sure foundation of hope for redemption (“redeem me”)28 through divine grace.
Confident Expectation (26:12)
THE PSALM ENDS—as do many of the laments and pleas for deliverance—with a statement of the psalmist’s firm conviction that God will act in his behalf. Elsewhere we hear of the fear engendered when the narrator’s feet are in danger of “slipping” (cf. Deut. 32:35; Pss. 17:5; 37:31; 73:2; 121:3); like a mountain climber crossing a snowy crevice on an aluminum ladder, each step is precious. Here, however, because of God’s protective guidance the psalmist’s feet “stand on level ground” (26:12), and all fear of slipping is gone. As a result, the psalmist’s praise of Yahweh wells forth in the “great assembly” (lit., “assemblies”).29
Bridging Contexts
VINDICATE ME. The idea of vindication (26:1) is associated with judging. In Psalm 26 the verb used is špṭ (“judge”), the same root behind the name of the “judges” (šopeṭ/šopeṭim), who delivered Israel during the period of the settlement. The NIV translates this verb as “vindicate” (cf. also 1 Sam. 24:15; Pss. 35:24; 43:1). The thinking behind this translation is that when the innocent are “judged,” they will be declared “not guilty” in public and thus experience vindication. But it is possible for a person judged to be declared “guilty,” so the translation as vindication is interpretive and dependent on the interpreter’s reading of the individual context.30
Perhaps more clearly related to the idea of “vindication” is the verbal root ṣdq (“declare righteous”; cf. Job 11:2, “Is this talker to be vindicated/declared righteous?”). Nouns from the root ṣdq are translated by the NIV as “vindication” or “vindicator” in Psalms 24:5; 35:27; Isaiah 50:8; 54:17; Jeremiah 51:10. Obviously, when a person who claims to be innocent is declared “righteous” in a legal decision, vindication has taken place.
The whole idea of “vindication” is that a public acknowledgment of righteousness takes place. The central struggle of the poetic sections of Job is for a public acknowledgment of Job’s righteousness. Job is willing to lose all—family, possessions, health, even life—if only God will appear and acknowledge to Job’s friends what he (and the reader) already know to be true, namely, that Job is “blameless and upright.” This public pronouncement does finally take place for Job (Job 42:7–9), but only after he is confronted by God himself and forced to admit that his desire is of little consequence in light of God’s awesome presence in all his glory (42:1–6).
Although vindication is clearly a desire of the psalmist and has often sustained martyrs willing to die rather than give up their faith, both Job and Daniel warn the faithful that in some circumstances, public acknowledgment of righteousness may be impossible. Daniel’s three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego articulate this clearly when, faced by the blazing furnace, they refuse to bow to idols with a radical affirmation of their faith: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan. 3:17–18, italics added). As it turns out, the three men are saved and their faith is vindicated, but their statement clearly separates their faithfulness from any necessary public vindication.
Divine scrutiny. The psalmist invites divine examination, confident of his blameless character. This motif appears in other psalms as well (e.g., 7:6–9; 11:4–6; 14:2–3; 17:2–5). God is judge, who knows the outer acts and inward thoughts of humans; thus, he is able to determine without error the relation of each human to mišpaṭ—what ought to have occurred in each circumstance. See the discussion of “Yahweh the Examiner” in the comments on Ps. 11:4–6.
Contemporary Significance
LIVING A BLAMELESS LIFE. The psalmist claims to have led a “blameless” life (26:1, 11). As we have already seen, this does not mean a perfectly sinless life but a life grounded in “fear of the LORD”—acknowledgment of one’s absolute dependence on the gracious mercy of God (cf. comments on 26:1, 11). The psalmist unpacks to an extent what it means to live “blamelessly.” Let us consider these attitudes and actions and consider how they might relate to our own attempts to live faithful lives before God.
Trust in Yahweh without wavering. The first element of blameless living is an attitude of unwavering trust in God. This foundational attitude undergirds all we think, say, and do. Unwavering trust enables us to do things we might not ordinarily attempt. Sometimes this may mean we remain still and wait for God rather than relying on our own strength (cf. 27:14). Other times it might encourage us to leap out in faith.
When my son was about two years old, he took swimming lessons. I can still remember him standing dripping wet on the side of the pool, preparing to leap into the pool where I waited to catch him. His eyes shifted back and forth from the water to my eyes, and then he jumped, arms straining to reach mine. I pulled him into my arms and felt him shivering more with excitement than the cold. That took a lot of trust, and I was amazed to think he trusted me so much. Later that trusting leap communicated such confidence to my son that he demonstrated little fear of the water and was likely to plunge into the water at any time, even without anyone to catch him. Trust can give us the confidence to attempt things that seem beyond us.
Walk continually in your truth. The second element the psalmist describes in a blameless life is related to the first. An unwavering trust in God leads one to shape one’s life continually by recourse to God’s “truth.” Again, we must remember that the Hebrew word ʾemet has more the sense of “enduring reliability” than what we normally think of as “truth.” This is supported by the use of ḥesed (“lasting loyalty”) in the preceding parallel line. Yahweh is trustworthy because all his dealings with us are characterized by “lasting loyalty” and “enduring reliability.”
What makes for a blameless life, however, is to commit oneself to a continual relationship with this reliable God. The psalmist claims to “walk around continually,” immersed in the reliable character of God. This kind of relationship rubs off on others so that they too become reliable, loyal individuals. May it be so with us.
Avoiding evil associations. In contrast to continual association with a reliable God, the psalmist avoids enduring linkages with those whose lives repudiate the faithfulness displayed by God. We are not talking about causal or even redemptive association here. Clearly Jesus purposefully associated with “sinners” as a way of revealing God’s love for them while calling them to repentance and salvation. The verbs employed in these verses of Ps. 26 (yšb [“sit, dwell]; bwʾ [“enter in, have dealings with”]) describe more extended, intimate relations. If one is walking “continuously” in the presence of God’s reliable love, then the lifestyle of the deceitful, hypocrites, evildoers, and the wicked is no longer attractive.
I love the house where you dwell. The one who lives a blameless life loves the dwelling place of God. Immersing oneself in the things of God and avoiding those things that counter or undermine his purposes make entering his presence more appealing. As the Gospel of John affirms, “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God” (John 3:20–21).
Where we live and where we spend our time has a lot to say about who we are and what we value. Do we love the house where God dwells? Or are we content to rub shoulders with the rich and famous, who seek pleasure, power, and wealth as the defining values of their lives? This psalm calls us to reflect on our own lives. If we were to open our lives up to the honest examination of heart and mind described in 26:2, would we find the same indicators of a blameless life that the psalmist claims? What changes would you have to make to be able to say, “I walk continually in relationship with your enduring reliability”?
Living a confident life. The psalmist is so confident that we may wonder how we could ever gain such confidence in our own acceptability to God. Whenever we are forced (usually against our will) to take a close look at the interior reality of our lives, we may not see much of enduring value there. Thankfully, however, we are not talking about earning God’s acceptance through perfectly righteous behavior. We know enough if we are honest to dismiss that possibility from the start. Our only hope is the same kind of “unwavering trust” our psalmist speaks of in 26:1.
Our trust should be in what Paul calls “the righteousness from God” (Rom. 3:5, 21–24)—the righteousness God confers on those who accept salvation offered through Jesus Christ. Such righteousness (dikaiosyne) is a legal term similar to that used in the Old Testament (ṣedaqah). Humans receive “righteousness” from God in that they are declared “not guilty” by God and thus legally “justified.”31 As Romans 5:1–5 makes abundantly clear, this righteousness gives us confidence to stand in the presence of holy God without fear and to anticipate with great joy “the hope of the glory of God.”