Psalm 26

⁰⁸          O Lord, I love the [beauteous presence in] Your house

 the tabernacle of Your glory.

⁰⁹          Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,

nor my life with bloodthirsty men,

¹⁰          in whose hands are evil devices,

whose right hands are full of bribes.

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Consider My Love

For the Lord’s Day:  the 10^th of April  2005

 

Introduction:  The first thing I need to mention today is the fact that my grouping of the verses in this psalm is not of the ordinary division.  If it were, verse eight would have been considered last week.  Now, I will not claim any superiority for my arrangement – since one ordering of David’s poetry in another language than his, is usually as good as another.  However, my purpose here – where David is arguing for the Lord to consider the love he has for God, especially in the sanctuary:  that love can be cast in contrast to the cleansing of dirt from the divine precinct.

 

My thinking here is similar to my understanding of Matthew and Mark’s reports of Jesus’ view on the hellishness of Gehenna: that final resting place where all kinds of unredeemed trash are thrown at the end of the age.  Hell thus may be perceived as the greatest trash dump in the universe, fit only and always for those whose presence cannot be abided by the One true and holy God of heaven and earth.  Certainly, we may appreciate that David’s constant and abiding love for the Divine presence indicates that he, as almost always - is welcome in the courts of the Lord. 

 

In our outline and understanding of this psalm, verse eight is a claim by David, followed immediately with a heart felt petition – that his claim is justified because of the Lord’s interest in his own person and soul.

 

The courtly scene here as I have established it, should be considered in the same sense of Moses, Isaiah and the Apostle John – when they realized the awesome presence of the Lord God of heaven and earth.  Moses hid his face, Isaiah thought that he was lost and John fell down as if dead.  David realizes from long association with the Most High – that in His presence, no ungodly persons can stand except for those covered over by the intensity of the Divine love: a loving presence that heals the sincere in heart but destroys all who follow their natural inclinations. 

 

Development:  With those thoughts in mind, let us consider the sincerity of David’s claim and the humble petition that follows afterwards in these three verses.  God’s grace here is simply contrasted with the awesome holiness of the Divine wrath.  We begin with the intricacies of verse eight.  The wording in the first line reads “habitation” in the Hebrew, but “beauty” in the LXX Greek translation.  Commentators have attempted to wrestle with this difference for many generations.  Obviously the theme in this verse is the real presence of the Spirit of God on Mount Zion, whether that presence was known in the tabernacle of David’s era or the fabulous Temple built by Solomon.

 

In David’s mind, it was not the sanctuary itself that impressed him, but the real presence of his Lord.  “O Lord, I love the [beauteous presence in] Your house, the tabernacle of Your glory.”  Certainly, the Divine presence is beyond real description and it is probably that reality that confuses the translation of the wording in the first line.  With the word’s [beauteous presence] I have attempted to point however awkwardly to the awesomeness of the reality of God, known for certain by David, whenever he attends to the duties of worship and prayer.

 

I am also reminded of the nebulous description of the divine presence leading Israel through the desert exodus from Egypt.  “The Pillar of Cloud,” with which we are more familiar in the Book of Exodus means in the Hebrew “something standing.”  This fact of God's regular presence noticed daily over a long period of time was described in familiar terms even as His presence is still known to be out of the ordinary ability to describe.  Years, ago I read a description in one of CS Lewis' novels about spiritual beings.  In this description he compared microscopic life (which is too small to be seen by the naked eye) - to macroscopic beings (which would be too big to be fathomed). We have to appreciate that Moses as well as David, was describing something beyond normal comprehension.  So there He was: the column like a “pillar of cloud” which indicated God's abiding presence with His people in their coming out of Egypt.  Given the implied vagueness of Moses’ language, we can better appreciate the [beauteous presence] described by David.

 

The [beauteous presence] is expanded upon in the second phrase: “the tabernacle of [His] glory.”  Those specific words come from the notes in my old copy of the New Geneva Study Bible.  The point of the whole verse is this; it is the exceeding glory of the God of heaven that not only fills the Holy of Holies in tabernacle or temple, but also the whole universe as well.  David, like many spiritually experienced saints: fathoms the sanctity of any and every place - wherever and however, the God of heaven and earth is experienced by the elect.  Francis Schaeffer spoke well of our experience:  “God is there and He is not silent.”

 

This knowledge is what gives David the utmost confidence as he worships and declares himself in solemn oaths before the throne of God.  However, as every saint well knows – we are at the disposal of the Lord God, to do with us whatever He will.  And therefore, immediately after his claim – he moves naturally to the petition that should always be ours.  And this involves a regular confession of sin and a begging for forgiveness, because without the blessed salvation that is ours in the grace of Christ – we too would be swept out of not only the tabernacle, but also into the fire of consumption that burned in the valley of Gehenna down through the time of Christ.

 

The petition is heart felt, and hangs on David’s mind:  “Do not sweep my soul away with sinners.”  Whatever accusation brings David before the tabernacle altar, it is one that must have been pernicious indeed.  A guilty party to the deed must have deserved such sweeping cleanliness presumed in the heartache of this prayer.  We certainly know that David sinned and when confronted by godly men, he would repent – this we know from the later Psalm, the fifty-first as well as words and phrases throughout all of his psalms.

 

But, here – it is the totality of true innocence in the charges levied that concerns him.  Sort of like Rush’s observations about the liberal mantra in out time:  “that the seriousness of the charges are always more important than any evidence that might or might not be available to substantiate them.”  Like David’s son Solomon noted:  “There is nothing new under the sun!”  The enemies of Christ and God’s kingdom really haven’t learned any new lies since the dawn of time.  Continually the belief that if a false charge is repeated enough than it must certainly be factual, if not – well it darn well ought to be!

 

Application: Such men are the bane of the church, both Old and New Covenant!  The last three lines of this petition, I have grouped together.  Beginning with the first words of verse nine, we finish the petition in this manner:  “Do not sweep … my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are evil devices, whose right hands are full of bribes.”

 

Here in these words, David earnestly prays that God will not “mingle good and bad together without distinction,” as Calvin notes.  Further, Calvin is of the opinion that the “sweeping” here signifies to “gather into a heap.”  Pretty much like the janitor or housewife sweeps the dust and dirt into a pile before using a dust pan to fetch it to the trash!

 

Again Calvin encourages us that “these forms of prayer are dictated by the Holy Spirit, in order that the faithful may unhesitatingly assure themselves that God still sits in inquisition upon every man’s case, in order to give righteous judgment at last.”  Ah yes, but because of God’s grace and mercy – our Lord Jesus Christ received the punishment that should have been ours.

 

Therefore by that grace we will not on the last day be mingled with those who worship idols, as we might read here.  Neither are we to be co-mingled with those who suppose their sacrifices to be a spiritual form of bribery!  Blood thirsty are they all who serve the cause of Satan.

 

In our land today, there are several forms of cults that sacrifice animals to pagan deities.  The more occultic they are, the more likely that eventually they will work their way up the food chain and slaughter a human.  This almost happened in a neighboring county about fifteen years ago.  And there is some minimal evidence that occasional bodies discovered in rural areas might have met just such a tragic fate.  But, it would be politically incorrect to make such accusations in the media – otherwise connections might be drawn to consider the refuse of abortuaries in a similar light.  And so the worst forms of murder may generally go unmentioned.

 

Before we close our meditation on this section, we must return to how it began.  There in the heart songs of one devoted to the God of heaven we may find our own peace and security.  And if we truly love and seek the divine presence day by day, and if we make our prayers and worship regular – thereby will grace be made more manifest and like David, who allowed the Lord to dispose of himself in whatever manner pleases Him, still there is the divine hope of a better end than that of the all too common sinner who despises any reference to the Lord of hosts.  May we share David’s blessed hope that in the hands of the Lord, we are safe and secure against all alarms.  And that we may be assured that He is ours and we are His, not only today – but for all time.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

 

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

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