Reflections on Psalms 101

 Psalms 101(Contemporary English Version)

1. (A psalm by David.) I will sing to you, LORD! I will celebrate your kindness and your justice.
   
2. Please help me learn to do the right thing, and I will be honest and fair in my own kingdom.
   
3. I refuse to be corrupt or to take part in anything crooked,
   
4. and I won't be dishonest or deceitful.
   
5. Anyone who spreads gossip will be silenced, and no one who is conceited will be my friend.
   
6. I will find trustworthy people to serve as my advisors, and only an honest person will serve as an official.
   
7. No one who cheats or lies will have a position in my royal court.
   
8. Each morning I will silence any lawbreakers I find in the countryside or in the city of the LORD.

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In this Davidic psalm, David vows to be a person of integrity who gathers other persons of integrity around him to make up his royal court. He begins by extolling faithful love and justice. These are qualities he sees in the Lord and therefore sings praise to the Lord. But they are qualities he would like to have reproduced in himself. As a person of faithful love and justice he vows to "pay attention to the way of integrity." (101:2) He will begin by being a person of integrity in his own house. This denotes true integrity. Were he to display a character of integrity in his duties as king but not at home in the palace, he would not, in fact, be a person of integrity. This would be to live as a hypocrite rather than with integrity.

Beginning with verse 3 he tells how he will live out his integrity. First, he will avoid anything godless. To do so would draw him away of his vow. He can only live with integrity as he focuses on God and what is godly. Likewise, he will have nothing to do with transgression or a devious heart or be involved with evil. As for those who serve in his court, he will not tolerate those who "secretly slanders his neighbor" or anyone with haughty eyes or an arrogant heart. Such people are proud and arrogant and seek to serve themselves rather than the king or those in his kingdom.

The prerequisite for those who serve him will be faithfulness and integrity. Any who are deceitful and liars will be eliminated from serving in his court. And in carrying out justice in his kingdom, he will get rid of the wicked and of evildoers.

From this desire to be upright in both his personal and public life we can see why he prospered more as king than any other who ruled in Israel. Though he did not always succeed in adhering to this vow of integrity, he always returned to it.