Psalm 26, You Vindicate Me & I Praise You

Of David.

Psalm 26: 1-5, I am blameless!

Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have led a blameless life; 

I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

Test me, O LORD, and try me, 

examine my heart and my mind;

for your love is ever before me, 

and I walk continually in your truth.

I do not sit with deceitful men, 

nor do I consort with hypocrites;

I abhor the assembly of evildoers 

and refuse to sit with the wicked.

This is a passage of adoration and moral confidence.  In our modern culture this sounds (at least to me) arrogant and hypocritical.  But David is being simple, innocent, straightforward.  He has been seeking God and trying to follow God's law and wants to make that clear.  His emphasis is on sincerity more than on moral perfection.

Like the writer of Psalm 1, David insists that the community he forms around himself is not one that is wicked or hypocritical.

The hypocrites (end of verse 4) and the wicked (verse 5) are synonymous.

Psalm 26: 6-8, I love your house

I wash my hands in innocence, 

and go about your altar, O LORD,

 proclaiming aloud your praise 

and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

I love the house where you live, O LORD, 

the place where your glory dwells.

The concept of washing one hands is a symbol of spiritual cleanliness. This entire paragraph suggests a visit to the Tabernacle, with hands washed before the laver and then proceeding to the altar.  The "house" or abode of God, is, in the Old Testament, evidence of close communion.  (Note that the location of the "temple" of God changes in the New Testament!  See I Corinthians 6: 19-20.)

Psalm 26: 9-12, Redeem me, be merciful!

Do not take away my soul along with sinners, 

my life with bloodthirsty men,

in whose hands are wicked schemes, 

whose right hands are full of bribes.

But I lead a blameless life; 

redeem me and be merciful to me.

My feet stand on level ground; 

in the great assembly I will praise the LORD.

David's refrain throughout the psalm is: "I am blameless!  I trust in God without wavering!"  (Yet see Psalm 143: 2, for a balancing viewpoint.)

There is a certain general parallelism, "envelope" structure to this psalm, a broad repetition:

• A: Vindicate, test/ I avoid evil
• B: I proclaim your praise and enjoy your temple.
• A: So protect me and don't let me be defeated
• B: while I praise you

The cycle is one of righteous joy followed by petition and praise.