Hello, I am Pastor Ben Baker. I teach biblical languages at ALTS, and today I thought we would take a look at Psalm 26, which is the psalm for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost.
So Psalm 26 says this:
“Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind, for your mercy is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you. I do not sit with false men, nor do I consort with dissemblers. I hate the company of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. I wash my hands in innocence and go about your altar, O Lord, singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wondrous deeds. O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Sweep me not away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, men in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes. But as for me, I walk in my integrity. Redeem me and have mercy on me. My foot stands on level ground. In the great congregation, I will bless the Lord.” (Psalm 26:1–12)
So this psalm, and ones like it, can be difficult for Christians to read or to pray. After all, you know, which of us feels comfortable saying things like, “I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering”? (Psalm 26:1) Who really wants to pray, “Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind”? (Psalm 26:2)
You know, such language can be difficult for Christians, for you and me, to say and to pray, especially if we have a healthy biblical understanding of the sinful nature that still clings so closely in this present age. Perhaps we wonder, how could it be that, in this case, King David could pray such a prayer? Doesn’t it sound rather a bit self-righteous, maybe? Can David really say, “I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering”? (Psalm 26:1)
You know, perhaps if we understand a couple of things first, psalms like this will make some sense to us.
One of the things that we can note about this psalm is that, you know, again, this is a prayer. This is a psalm that comes out of some distress that King David is in. And from the text of the psalm, we get the idea that King David is being attacked and accused. People are lying about him or bringing some kind of false accusations against him. And this causes him great distress.
And so David is not here making a, you know, we might say, a theological treatise on his own human nature and his sinfulness, or lack thereof. He is praying out of a specific situation. Right? So that’s important for us to know.
Secondly, it’s important for us to read this psalm as a whole and notice the language used in the entirety of the psalm. You know, sometimes it seems like we are prone to just read snippets of things, just maybe a verse here or a verse there, and then draw some conclusions from it. All the while, we miss the rest of the words that are in the psalm or in whatever text we are looking at.
So yes, David uses statements like—he says things like, “I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.” (Psalm 26:1) But alongside statements like these are also other statements that David makes, such as his prayer, “Redeem me and have mercy on me,” (Psalm 26:11) and, “Your mercy,” or “your steadfast love.” (Psalm 26:3)
That word there is that Hebrew word חֶסֶד (ḥesed), which requires numerous English words to convey what it means. But it speaks there of God’s unwavering mercy, his—we could say—his covenant faithfulness, faithfulness to you and to me on account of faithfulness to his promises.
So David prays also, “Your mercy is before my eyes.” (Psalm 26:3) And so the statements concerning the psalmist’s integrity and innocence are paired with confessions of and trust in God’s mercy and redemption. So we want to keep those things together, right? We don’t want to isolate certain of David’s statements and not pay attention to the other statements with which he pairs them in this prayer.
And thirdly, you know, we often struggle, do we not, to trust God’s Word and promise. Now, we might say maybe a first reaction is like, “Wait a minute. I trust God’s Word. I trust his promises. I know they’re true.” But do we really trust what God says?
It is certainly true that we are sinners in ourselves, and our sinful nature still clings closely to us in this present age. This is very true. But this is not all that is true. We might set alongside this the promises that God has made.
Has not God promised to you and to me that we have been given the righteousness of Christ? Perhaps we should think about that as we think about David’s words. And are we not, as Scripture says, righteous and innocent before God through faith in Jesus Christ? And does not Holy Scripture also teach us that being joined to Christ through faith also brings with it a renovation or a restoration of our human natures and begins to bring about our new obedience to him?
You know, these things are true, and we can trust what God says. Absolutely.
And so we can live in that confidence both in the Word and promise of God and in his mercy and forgiveness when we, in our weakness, fail to do as we ought. And this gives us a kind of confidence, not in ourselves, but in God’s promise to us, to you in Christ: that you are righteous in him; that you are innocent in him; that all of your sin is forgiven in Jesus Christ; and that, as his child, redeemed and cleansed by him, you begin to live a new life of obedience to God.
And knowing that these things are true—more than that, believing that these things are true—we can have confidence to pray prayers like this, as King David did.
So I have here some notes on Psalm 26 as we look at some of the particulars.
So in verse one, David’s prayer begins, “Vindicate me, O Lord.” (Psalm 26:1) Again, this is a cry to God that truth would prevail and that God would show the psalmist to be in the right in the midst of the lies and unjust accusations against him.
So again, if we also remember, alongside, you know, God’s Word and promise regarding our status in Jesus Christ, that this prayer, this psalm, comes in the context of real-life circumstances. And is it not true that we, like David, can experience people telling lies about us, falsely accusing us? And we can say in all sincerity, without self-righteousness, that we are innocent of such charges. I think we can.
And we learn here from David in this psalm that we can come to our God in such situations. For God knows all truth, and he can parse truth from lie with perfection. And God is the one who can bring such vindication even when all human efforts to do so fail.
David also says, “I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.” (Psalm 26:1) So again, this is not a statement of perfection or sinlessness on David’s part. Again, he is not speaking to God a theological treatise, we might say, on the nature of fallen humanity and so on.
But what he is saying, what he is asserting to God, is that he has not done what he is accused of doing. Right? And also, he appeals to God on the basis of this fact that he has trusted in the Lord. You know, we may get caught up on the “unwavering” part, but remember, you are righteous in Christ, and whatever is sinful in us is forgiven. David prays this part of the psalm standing firmly on that truth and that promise.
And this is perhaps something we don’t think of very often either, and that it is perfectly appropriate for you and I, as Christians, in our prayers to God, in our pleas to him—say, for example, if we’re in a situation like King David here—to appeal to God on the basis of the promises that he has made, and to bring before God this truth that we have trusted and still trust in him. Holy Spirit, through King David, gives us this permission with this prayer.
Now, verse three is kind of an interesting verse, and depending on the English translation that you use, it may be rendered a little bit differently. But I read earlier from the RSV, and the RSV says in verse three, the second part of verse three, it translates it this way: “And I walk in faithfulness to you.” (Psalm 26:3)
Now, this is interesting because the Hebrew here, however, the word behind this phrase is the word בַּאֲמִתֶּךָ (ba’amittecha). This word, that last part—that “-cha”—is what is called a second—it’s a second-person singular pronominal suffix.
Now, that might be a mouthful to wrap your mind around. But if you think of—so, pronominal, pronoun, right? So it’s a pronoun that is attached to the end of the word, the end of this verb. Okay? And that tells us something about how to understand what David is saying here.
And so this, again, this suffix, this pronoun, is the second-person singular “you.” And when it’s placed in this position, in this case here, it functions as a possessive, right? Or what we might call, in technical terms, a genitive. It functions as a possessive. Okay? So, “your.”
So again, the RSV says in the second part of verse three, “And I walk in faithfulness to you.” (Psalm 26:3) They translate this word as God being, in essence, the indirect object of the verb. Thus, they render it “faithfulness to you,” or “to God.”
However, this second-person pronoun suffix actually functions, again, in the possessive. So it would be better to translate this part of the verse as, “And I walk in your faithfulness.” So the accent, then, is not on the psalmist’s obedience to God, but on life lived under the faithfulness of God.
Verses four and five. So due to David’s use here of both the imperfect and the perfect in these verses, verses four and five are best understood in this way: “I have not sat with false men, nor do I now mingle with hypocrites.”
So if you can hear that difference, look again at my RSV. Verse four says, “I do not sit with false men, nor do I consort with dissemblers,” (Psalm 26:4) or that could be rendered “hypocrites.” Okay?
So in the RSV there, it’s translated as basically kind of this present tense. But when David uses the perfect and the imperfect in these verses, it gives us the sense of, you know, this ongoing action.
So David is saying, “I have not”—kind of looking back and summarizing all up to the present time—“I have not sat with false men, nor do I now, in the present, mingle with hypocrites.”
And similarly in verse five, whereas the RSV says, “I hate the company of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked,” (Psalm 26:5) again, kind of leaving it as that—I don’t know if we could say maybe like a static present—it just kind of leaves it in that finite present.
David is again looking over the whole scope of his life to the present day and saying, “I have always hated the company of evildoers, nor will I now sit with the wicked.”
And so David is embodying, really, the way that Psalm 1 begins, right? “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.” (Psalm 1:1) Right?
So part of David’s plea to God in his prayer is that not only do I not now sit with false men or mingle with hypocrites, I have never done so, and I do not now. Not simply, “I now hate the company of evildoers,” but, “I have always hated the company of evildoers, nor will I now sit with the wicked.”
So understanding that interplay between the perfect and imperfect gives us a little more, I suppose we could say, more of a dynamic understanding of what David is saying.
Well, verses six and seven. So the text here, you know, in David’s prayer, he speaks of washing his hands in innocence and going about the Lord’s altar. (Psalm 26:6–7)
So when David is speaking here, he’s speaking in ritual or ceremonial terms. All right? So ritual washing, whether that be of washing the hands or any other part of the body, points to the cleansing from sin and impurity.
We might think of, for example, the high priest on the Day of Atonement, for example, when he takes a bath—he washes himself before he comes into the presence of God. (Leviticus 16:4)
So we can think of, you know, here along with that, all of the other ritual washings associated with worship of God at the tabernacle and temple, and, of course, their culmination in the washing and cleansing of Holy Baptism.
To go about the altar speaks really more of taking one’s place in the congregation or the assembly of believers around the altar or before the altar of the Lord. And this fits very well with the washing, right? One must be cleansed and clean from impurity if they are to be part of the congregation of the righteous. Right?
God had very particular instructions regarding such cleansings before one could come into his presence and join the assembly in the tabernacle or the temple. So having been washed in the waters of Holy Baptism, we can join together in the congregation or the assembly of the righteous around—or, in our case, as we, you know, sit in the pews before—the altar of God.
And so again, we can say that, you know, to reiterate, only the one who is cleansed from impurity and sin can gather safely around the altar of God in the holy assembly.
And so this also functions as further testimony by action, we might say, to the psalmist’s innocence of the charges brought against him. If he was guilty, he would first need to confess his sin and offer the appropriate sacrifices to God before he could enter the assembly. But by the very fact that he goes through the ritual washing and comes into the presence of God in the holy assembly is a testimony by action, we could say, of the psalmist’s innocence of these charges.
In verse eight, David continues in his prayer. He says, “O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” (Psalm 26:8)
You know, one thing that I just thought of that I meant to—I should have mentioned earlier—when we were looking at, you know, David’s posture, we could say, in this psalm, that throughout the text here, when we read or hear that word “LORD” in your English translations, it’s in all capital letters. And this is the divine name יהוה (YHWH, Yahweh).
And this name is on the lips of the faithful. To use this name of God as he has given it to us to use is really in itself a confession of faith in who God is and what he has promised. For this name, Yahweh, is associated with God’s redemption.
So David says, “O Lord,” or “Yahweh,” “O Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” (Psalm 26:8)
This brings to mind also something that I think we often forget. When we gather together as the holy assembly around the altar of God, around Word and Sacrament, Christ is present with us. Not in a theoretical way, but really and truly. God is here in our midst, and he is here with his righteousness, his forgiveness, his mercy, his redemption, and his salvation.
If we really understand—or understood—and believed this, what better place would we want to be? Would we not also cry out with David, “O Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells”? (Psalm 26:8)
We should indeed yearn for the house of the Lord, for this is where he is, and we should want to be with him.
Verses 11 and 12. Then David says again, in closing out his prayer, “But as for me, I walk in my integrity. Redeem me and have mercy on me. My foot stands on level ground. In the great congregation, I will bless the Lord,” or, “I will bless Yahweh.” (Psalm 26:11–12)
So regardless of the outcome in this present age, whether or not we are vindicated in this present age—and this is true for David as well—we stand on level ground because of the mercy and redemption that God has provided for you and for me and for all his people.
In the midst of the trial and the lies that were thrown against David, he could stand on level ground, or stand firmly, because he stood on the mercy and redemption of God that he provided for him and for all his people.
And we continue to walk in integrity as David did, because that is what God’s people do. And the mercy and redemption of God is worthy of public praise and the blessing of God in the midst of the holy assembly.
So in conclusion, then, as you think on this psalm, take your cue from David as he is led by the Holy Spirit. When evildoers lie and slander you, when they bring false charges and accusations against you, flee for refuge to the presence of your Savior.
And yes, this can happen anywhere. This is true. But it happens in a reliably tangible way in the house of the Lord, before his altar, gathered with the saints around his Word and Sacraments.
Here Christ is present in mercy, grace, righteousness, and forgiveness for you. Here you can stand on the solid ground that is the Word and promise of God in Christ: that your sins are forgiven; that you are God’s own child; that you are righteous in Jesus; and that God will indeed, one day, either in this present age or on that final day, vindicate you before all the world.
Peace be with you. Amen.