Psalms 26
Big idea: Most psalms ask God to look away from their sins. This one asks him to look closer. Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me; try my heart and my mind. What makes it more than bravado is what the psalmist offers as evidence — not achievements but company kept and company refused: I have not sat with deceitful men; I hate the assembly of evildoers. And the positive side is just as concrete: Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house. Where he sits, and where he refuses to sit, is his whole defence.
Psalm 26 loves the house where God's glory dwells. Psalm 27 asks to live in it.
26:1–12 — I love the habitation of your house
A psalm that asks to be examined and then keeps walking round an altar while it waits. The claim of integrity is easy to misread as self-satisfaction; what it actually consists of is a list of rooms he has not sat in. And the psalm's centre is not the defence but verse 8 — a plain statement of affection for a building — which reframes everything around it as a wish to stay where he loves being.
1 By David. Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering. 2 Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind. 3 For your loving kindness is before my eyes. I have walked in your truth. 4 I have not sat with deceitful men, neither will I go in with hypocrites. 5 I hate the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. 6 I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, Yahweh, 7 that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard and tell of all your wondrous deeds. 8 Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house, the place where your glory dwells. 9 Don’t gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men 10 in whose hands is wickedness; their right hand is full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity. Redeem me, and be merciful to me. 12 My foot stands in an even place. In the congregations I will bless Yahweh.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).