Bible Commentaries

Psalms 101:1

This resolution indicates a hopeful and happy state of mind. A song is the natural channel for an outflow of gladness. "Is any merry? let him sing psalms."

Consider:—

I. To whom this man sings. "Unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing." He turns to God when he sings; he sings when he turns to God. Conscious nearness to God and exuberant joyfulness of spirit—these two have come together in the Psalmist. Apart from regeneration and reconciling, you may have one of these two in human experience, but not both. To turn to the Lord, and in that attitude to sing for joy, belongs to the children—to those who have been made nigh by the blood of Christ and are accepted in the Beloved.

II. The Psalm that he sings. It is a psalm about mercy and judgment. These are the two sides of the Divine character as it is revealed by God and apprehended by men. They are the two attributes which lie over against each other, for conflict or in harmony, according to the conditions in which they are exercised or the point from which they are viewed. They intimate that God is merciful, and that God is just. On the one hand, both these attributes are ascribed to Him throughout the Scriptures; on the other hand, both are more or less clearly mirrored in the human conscience. The subject of the song is not one or the other, but both united. Their nature, as manifested to men, is essentially determined by their union. Neither mercy nor justice alone and apart could become the theme of praise in the lips of men. We could not sing them separately. Their union takes place in Christ crucified. In Him the promises of God are Yea and Amen. Had Christ not covenanted from the beginning and come in the fulness of time, the justice must have been poured out on the same persons for whom the mercy was needed. In that case, mercy, though it lived in God, could have had no exercise towards the sinful. Justice would have swept all the fallen away; and when Mercy issued forth, she would have soared over the waters like Noah's dove, and finding no rest for the sole of her foot, would have returned on weary wing to the ark again.

In Christ the process is reversed. It is first the ark and then the Flood. You have mercy to sing of first and judgment following. In the Substitute mercy and justice meet. Christ is the unspeakable gift; God is love. The design and effect of the sacrifice of Jesus is that God may be just, and the Justifier of him who believeth on Jesus.

W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, p. 168.

I. Of mercy and judgment. And who among us has not the same mingled strain to utter? Who can say that his mercies have not been tempered with the gentle but solemn remindings of judgment at God's hand? Our very proverbs tell us of this: no day without its cloud; no rose without its thorn. And who can say, on the other hand, that his judgments have not been most tenderly mixed with mercies? Our song may well then be of mercy and judgment: of His dealings towards us who, when He blesses, also chastises, lest we should forget Him; who, when He chastises, also blesses, lest we should distrust Him.

II. The world's song of mercy and judgment is a very different strain from the Christian's song of mercy and judgment. The world, in fact, sees not mercy on the one side nor judgment on the other. The fountain from which all blessings flow is unknown to the ungodly man. It is because such persons abound, and ever will abound, among us that we are exhorted on such occasions as these to sing, not of fair and foul chance, but of mercy and judgment: mercy from One who shows mercy; judgment from One who exercises judgment.

III. Let us endeavour to make use of the present wonderful manifestation of God's mercies combined with His judgments to show our sense of His presence and our humility and thankfulness towards Him. We know of no mercies out of Christ. In Him we have every blessing. It is His satisfaction which has caused the Father to smile on this our world, His blood which has cleansed creation from its defilement.

IV. The joy of the Christian in God's mercies is never a barren joy, never only an inward feeling, a mere paroxysm of selfish exultation; but out of it ever springs from the fountain of his inner life the question, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His mercies to me?"

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. ii., p. 107.

Reference: Psalms 101:1.— Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 258.

Psalms 101:2

David's subject in this Psalm is the ordering and hallowing of family life by bringing it under the influences and sanctions of religion.

I. That which strikes us first of all in this Psalm is that the qualifications for continuing in the household of David are to be moral qualifications. That which shall disqualify men from living with him is not want of ability or want of distinction, but want of loyalty to goodness and to God.

II. The qualifications for membership in David's house are chiefly negative. He is more careful to say who shall not than who shall enjoy the privilege. David hopes that with the coming of the sacred ark to Jerusalem—in other words, that with a nearer contact with the presence of God—he will be able to effect a great change. If people are not to be expelled, they must be improved; they must be converted. The restored sense of a sacred presence among them, the active works of the ministers and the sanctuary, the pervading atmosphere of worship and praise—these things would in time make the reformation which David had at heart easy and natural.

III. In Christendom the family is a different and a more beautiful thing than it was in David's time. Each father of a family can, by God's help, say, with David, that he will walk in his house with a perfect heart. To every head of a household has been committed a great power of influencing those about him for good. Influence them in some way he certainly will: if not for good, then for evil.

Two lessons would seem to be suggested by this Psalm of King David. (1) Observe the order and method of David's proceeding. He began by improving himself. (2) The improvement of the family can only be procured by religious, as distinct from merely moral, influences.

H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 241.

References: Psalms 101:2.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1230. Psalms 101:6.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 401. Psalm 101—J. Keble, Sermons from Easter to Ascension Day, p. 323. Psalms 102:13, Psalms 102:14.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 199. Psalms 102:15.—G. S. Barrett, Old Testament Outlines, p. 132. Psalms 102:17.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1141. Psalms 102:18.—Bishop Alexander, Bampton Lectures, 1876, p. 105.