Psalms 101
Big idea: A king's job description, written by the king, and it is mostly about hiring. My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me — and the reverse: he who practices deceit won't dwell within my house. Slanderers silenced, the arrogant not tolerated. But the striking thing is where it starts. Before any of the staffing decisions, verse 2 says I will walk within my house with a blameless heart, and asks a question that hangs oddly in the middle of a resolution: when will you come to me?
Psalm 101 is a king cleaning his own house. Psalm 102 is a man too ill to leave his.
101:1–8 — I will walk within my house with a blameless heart
A king's job description, written in the first person, and its most interesting feature is where it starts. Not the court, the palace, or the city — 'I will walk within my HOUSE with a blameless heart'. Public integrity is treated as downstream of domestic integrity, and the staff policy in verses 6–7 follows from it. The plaintive half-line in verse 2 is the psalm's one crack: when will you come to me?
1 A Psalm by David. I will sing of loving kindness and justice. To you, Yahweh, I will sing praises. 2 I will be careful to live a blameless life. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a blameless heart. 3 I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me. 4 A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil. 5 I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is arrogant and conceited. 6 My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he will serve me. 7 He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes. 8 Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land, to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).