Psalm 101A - Uprightness (Part 1)

Within the psalms of praise in Book Four of the Psalter sits Psalm 101, which begins with a statement of singing praise, but then shifts gears into a statement of personal commitment to uprightness and opposition to those who are not upright.

The superscription attributes the psalm to David, “A Psalm of David." Did David write this, or did someone else write it and use his name? It doesn’t matter in terms of seeing this psalm as a part of the Scripture. It is part of the canon and is part of the inspired and authoritative Word of God. Therefore, it is just as easy and correct to call David the author as not, so in this discussion, David, the king of Israel, is the writer as the superscription declares.

As the king of Israel, David had the responsibility of guiding the nation. Leaders have the responsibility before God to govern righteously. As Jethro advised his son-in-law, Moses,

Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. (Exodus 18: 21, NASB)

God establishes leaders to create good government.

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. (Romans 13: 1-7, NASB)

We are to pray for our leaders.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2: 1-4, NASB)

But what does good leadership look like from the perspective of the leader? Since very few of us are public leaders, we gain insight from this psalm into how political leaders should see their responsibility before God and before the people.

In light of the standards in this psalm, how are we to view and evaluate our leaders?

Then, how are we to view ourselves in light of this call to uprightness?

The Leader’s View

David begins with a statement of praise and singing, which is probably why this psalm is in Book Four of the Psalter.

I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,

To You, O Lord, I will sing praises. (Psalm 101: 1, NASB)

David commits to singing to the Lord and states the topic for this song: lovingkindness and justice. Both of these are attributes of God. 

God loves. It is a continuous activity that is consistent with His character and nature. It is what He does naturally. He never stops loving. He cannot, not love. 

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3: 16, NASB)

As has been discussed before, it is not clear whether these are the words of Jesus or John's comments on Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus. It doesn’t matter because the words are true, and are the Word of God through John the apostle and author of the gospel.

God is just. He cannot be unjust. It is also one of His attributes - it is true about God. His character and His nature are just. Another way to express it is that there is no injustice in Him. God is concerned about justice for His creation. He cannot be unconcerned with justice, nor can He look the other way. He can and does offer forgiveness for injustice through the sacrifice of the second person of God, which is the final and only payment for sin, thus satisfying His justice.

God is also concerned about justice among people on earth. He cannot be unconcerned. And again, ultimately, He will judge all people on earth. Everyone will bow the knee before Him at the last judgments. 

In the meantime, God uses people to lead and to judge other people. 

What might be the concerns of a leader God has called? What does it look like from the leader’s perspective?

It begins with self-examination.

I will give heed to the blameless way.

When will You come to me?

I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;

I hate the work of those who fall away;

It shall not fasten its grip on me.

A perverse heart shall depart from me;

I will know no evil. (Psalm 101: 2-4, NASB)

David recognizes that before he can be an upright leader, he must be respectable. Scripture contains more about David than any man other than Jesus.  The successes of his life, as well as his failures, are all there. And there were many failures. All of us are familiar with those stories. So David is not pretending in Psalm 101  that he is blameless. He recognizes that he is not, as we also should.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3: 23, NASB)

But that does not mean that we should give up and not pursue holiness, as we have seen in previous psalms in Book Four. We follow the way of the Lord, even if it is a struggle to do so.

David desires to be blameless. He recognizes that his sinfulness impacts his relationship with the Lord. He wants to be close to God, and he wants God to be close to him. In Psalm 15, David addresses the requirements of those you seek to be close to God.

A Psalm of David.

O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?

Who may dwell on Your holy hill?

He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,

And speaks truth in his heart.

He does not slander with his tongue,

Nor does evil to his neighbor,

Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,

But who honors those who fear the Lord;

He swears to his own hurt and does not change;

He does not put out his money at interest,

Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken. (Psalm 15: 1-5 (all), NASB).

In Psalm 101, David lists 14 ways in which he will work to provide upright leadership. Remember that many of these are parallel constructions. In synonymous parallelism, the intent is to say the same thing in another way. Antithetical parallelism addresses its opposite. There are also some chiastic parallelisms, where the first phrase of the first line is echoed in the second phrase of the second line so that the two lines form an “X” pattern. Regardless, there is value in seeing each statement of the parallelism distinctly because each will still be a true statement.

1) I will give heed to the blameless way. (v. 2)

David commits himself to a life of walking with God as the leader of Israel. He understands that he must commit to righteousness. Later, during the divided monarchy after Solomon, the northern kingdom of Israel would be led by a series of kings, none of whom would walk with God. Of the nineteen kings of the north, none are good. All of them followed the ways of false religions and questionable ethics in their leadership.

In the southern kingdom of Judah, only eight of twenty kings would be called good by God. Most of the southern kings also left the blameless way and followed evil.

David had experiences of personal failure. If he wrote this psalm after those public humiliations, then David may have learned his lesson. He could make this commitment to unstained leadership.

2) I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. (v. 2)

David recognized that state leadership must begin with home leadership.

How did David walk with integrity within his own house? David had multiple wives and concubines and numerous children by them all. 

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David

“Biblical account: Family”

His children had problems with him and with each other. Absalom led a rebellion because of how his father, David, refused to deal with the issues resulting from the rape of his sister by one of his step-brothers.

And yet, given what we know of David, he also had the desire to walk with God, calling the Lord “my shepherd” in Psalm 23. So David recognized, perhaps through his failures as a parent, the need for a godly character for leadership.

3) I will set no worthless thing before my eyes (v. 3)

In contrast to the idolatrous practices which Saul allowed as king of Israel, David was committed to not letting those things exist in his kingdom. 

In the divided kingdom, the shrines constructed on the high places and the inclusion of pagan worship in Israel's life brought judgment from God because they violated the terms of the covenant which He and the people of Israel had made together when they entered the land. After crossing the Jordan river, the people divided into two groups, one on Mount Ebal and one on Mount Gerizim to recite the blessings and the cursings of that covenant which God and His people were making together. God promised that if the people did not adhere to the covenant's commitments, then God would bring national judgment against them. In 722 BC, God brought the Assyrians to destroy the northern kingdom of Israel, and in 586 BC, the Babylonians took the southern kingdom of Judah into captivity.

4) I will hate the work of those who fall away, it shall not fasten its grip on me. (v. 3)

Not only does David set a high standard for himself as the leader of Israel, but he also chooses to separate himself from those who would not walk with God and, in fact, decide to walk separately from Him. Those people would be his adversaries.

5) A perverse heart shall depart from me (v. 4)

Good leaders surround themselves with good counselors and bad leaders with bad. When Rehoboam inherited the kingdom from Solomon, rather than accept the wisdom and advice of older and more mature leaders of his father, he chose younger and less wise men to be his counselors. As a result, the kingdom divided into civil war.

6) I will know no evil (v. 4)

Nationally, a leader makes policy decisions that affect the nation. David commits to not letting evil lead him, but rather to choose the excellent way of the Lord.

7) Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy (v. 5)

Trust is the foundation of good leadership. When trust erodes, then loyalty is questioned. When the leader discovers that those under his administration have done evil in their relationships, they must decide whether to replace that person with someone more trustworthy.

8) No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure (v. 5)

Humility before the Lord does not mean a lack of leadership capability. Arrogance before the Lord is a sign of a lack of wisdom and maturity. A wise leader will look for those who have strength with genuine humility.

9) My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me (v. 6)

A leader who recognizes the value and worth of the individuals he leads will find those people loyal to him. Those who do not value individuals will discover those people resenting their leadership.

10) He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me (v. 6)

A leader needs people around him and working with him whom he trusts and who he believes are reasonable and quality people. Those with selfish ambition will make unwise and perhaps even unlawful decisions that will undermine their administration. A leader cannot tolerate that kind of unfavorable influence on their team.

11) He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house (v. 7)

The wise leader cannot cover-up the crime when one of their advisors does something illegal.  President Nixon covered up his friends' wrongdoings and resigned rather than face impeachment.

12) He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me. (v. 7)

A leader must surround themselves with those who will speak honestly. To have a following of “yes men” might be temporarily satisfying, but will ultimately lead to bad policies and decisions. A good leader must be willing to hear critical views that expose weaknesses in thinking and planning and be prepared to change plans based on the merits of those differing views.

13) Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, (v. 8)

Leaders who turn a blind eye to wrongdoing will have their leadership undercut. Justice is one of the qualifications of good leadership. A good leader is just in that they reward good behavior and punish evil behavior. The justice system of an administration must include officers who will enforce law and judges who will make judgments fairly and without bias.

14) So as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity (v. 8)

That justice system must include penalties. Those who choose to break laws must have penalties applied, which are commensurate with their crime. Jails and prisons are necessary to serve their sentences. Without rules, the society moves to anarchy where, as at the end of Judges, “every man did what was right in his own eyes."

In Part 2, we look at applying these same fourteen principles to ourselves.