Psalm 101, Seeking a Blameless Heart

Of David. A psalm.

This is a rare David psalm in Book IV. The only other psalm in Book IV attributed to David is Psalm 103.

Psalm 101:1-2, Seeking a blameless heart

 I will sing of your love and justice; 

to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.

I will be careful to lead a blameless life-- 

when will you come to me? 

I will walk in my house with blameless heart.

The song begins with a commitment to praise, love and blamelessness. Alter says that this is a Wisdom psalm, a psalm focused on teachings, similar to the book of Proverbs. Here, as in the book of Proverbs, the search for wisdom begins with a vertical relationship, worship of YHWH, before turning "horizontal" later, to relationships with other people.

There is a hint, in the middle of verse 2 ("when will you come to me?") that wisdom and a blameless life is not easy.

The word translated "love" in the first line is the Hebrew hesed, too complex for a good English translation (see this post.)

Psalm 101:3-5, Nothing to do with evil

 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. 

The deeds of faithless men I hate; 

they will not cling to me.

 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; 

I will have nothing to do with evil.

 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, 

him will I put to silence; 

whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, 

him will I not endure.

David is committed to avoiding evil and vile things. He intends to keep these things far from him. (Recall that this is the man who murdered Uriah and slept with Bathsheba; actions that began on a lazy afternoon by gazing around from the palace rooftop, 2 Samuel 11:2.)

Psalm 101:6-8, Blameless ministers and cut-off evildoers

 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, 

that they may dwell with me; 

he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.

 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; 

no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.

 Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; 

I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

The psalmist commits to actively fighting evil. Here we have indications that the psalmist, a king, is one with power, one who intends to control deceit in his house, in his presence, even in the land he rules. (For this reason, some record this as a royal psalm, but the kingly statements here are secondary to the commitment to wisdom and justice.

Sadly, David was unable to control deceit even in his own house, as his acts of adultery, deceit and murder surely contributed to the palace rape of his daughter Tamar by her half-brother Amnon (2 Samuel 13) and eventually the rebellion of his son Absalom. Kidner (p. 359) writes, 

"The psalm is doubly moving: both for the ideals it discloses and for the shadow of failure which history throws across it. Happily the last word is not with David nor with his faithful historians, but with his Son. There, there is no shadow."