Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 26:9
Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:
9. Gather not ] i.e. take not away. Let me not share the fate of those whose society and practices I have ever shunned. How natural a prayer if a pestilence was raging which seemed to strike righteous and wicked indiscriminately! The wicked are described as men of blood (Psa 26:6), who do not shrink from violence and murder: in whose hands is mischief (Psa 7:3), they deliberately plan and execute crime; and their right hand is full of bribes, which they take to pervert justice (Psa 15:5). Nobles and men in authority are referred to. Comp. Mic 7:2-3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gather not my soul with sinners – Margin, take not away. The word rendered gather, means properly to collect; to gather, as fruits, Exo 23:10; ears of grain, Rth 2:7; money, 2Ki 22:4. There is the idea of assembling together, or collecting; and the meaning here is, that he desired not to be united with wicked people, or to be regarded as one of their number. It does not refer particularly, as I apprehend, to death, as if he prayed that he might not be cut down with wicked people; but it has a more general meaning – that he did not wish either in this life, in death, or in the future world, to be united with the wicked. He desired that his lot might be with those who revered God, and not with those who were His foes. He was united with those who feared God now; he desired that he might be united with them forever. This is expressive of true religion; and this prayer must go forth really from every pious heart. They who truly love God must desire that their lot should be with his friends, alike in this world and in the world to come, however poor, and humble, and despised they may be; not with sinners, however prosperous, or honored, or joyful, or rich, they may be. The word my soul here is synonymous with me; and the meaning is, he desired that he himself should not thus be gathered with sinners. It is the same word which is commonly rendered life.
Nor my life – This word properly means life; and the prayer is, that his life might not be taken away or destroyed with that class of men. He did not wish to be associated with them when he died or was dead. He had preferred the society of the righteous; and he prayed that he might die as he had lived, united in feeling and in destiny with those who feared and loved God.
With bloody men – Margin, men of blood. People who shed blood – robbers, murderers – a term used to denote the wicked. See the notes at Psa 5:6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 26:9
Gather not my soul with sinners.
The great care and concern now that our souls be not gathered with sinners in the other world, considered and improved
It is taken for granted that at death souls are gathered together after their own sort, and that horror is felt at being gathered with sinners. In discoursing on this doctrine we shall note–
I. Some things implied in it.
1. Here souls are mingled together. The result of this is that it keeps both parties uneasy; they are a mutual check one upon another, and providence varies in its dispensations accordingly.
2. In the other world there will be separation; and that–
3. The time for this is at death. But–
4. The saints have a horror of being gathered with sinners, and so, too, have the wicked. Balaam (Num 21:10).
II. Who are sinners. All unjustified and unsanctified persons; such as they who neither know nor care about religion: the profane, the mere moralists (Mat 5:20), and formalists (2Ti 3:5). For all these miss the mark men should aim at, and all are guilty of death before the Lord (1Ki 1:21; Rom 3:19), and they can do nothing but sin (Psa 14:3), since the principles that govern them are wrong (Tit 1:15).
III. The meaning of the soul being gathered with sinners in the other world. The soul is separated from the body at death and goes to its appointed place, which is separate from that of saints.
IV. The concern felt in reference to this. It implies an earnest belief in the foregoing truths, and a dread of what they declare, together with an acknowledgment that God might justly condemn them; wherefore they betake themselves to His mercy (Job 9:15).
V. The reasonableness of such concern.
1. Because to be gathered with sinners is to be separated from God.
2. In a most doleful place (Isa 24:22).
3. With the most frightful society (Mat 25:41).
4. Suffering the heaviest punishment (2Th 1:9).
5. To be left in their sin there; which will itself be their punishment. Their passions will rage, but they cannot be satisfied.
6. And this forever.
VI. Lessons from this doctrine.
1. However favourable the condition of the sinner in this world, it is a miserable one after all.
2. That the great business of our life is to learn to die, and to prepare for the next world.
3. We are in great danger of perishing, and therefore should be all the more earnest.
4. Therefore let the careless, slothful, delaying, malignant sinners take heed. But–
5. Such as are showing this concern may be comforted, for they are in the way of duty, and are taking their work in time; it is the Spirit who works in them this concern, and they have to do with a good and gracious God (Eze 23:11). Then–
6. Your concern is quite different from that of the ungodly, who also shrink from hell, as Balaam did. For your concern is, not to be separated from Christ, and not to be left in sin; and you are now forsaking sin with true purpose of heart. Wherefore–
7. Be thus concerned all of you, come to Christ, forsake all sin, unite with the godly, observe ordinances, avoid the way of sinners now. For how important this matter is; nothing is to be put before it, and now is the accepted and the only time, and the gathering in the other world will be eternal and unutterable. Wherefore, upon the whole, let me obtain of you–
(1) That you will take scale serious thoughts of the other world in both parts of it.
(2) That you will inquire what case you are in for it. And–
(3) That you will lay down measures timely, that year souls be not gathered with sinners there. May the Lord persuade and incline your hearts unto this course. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The saints horror at the sinners hell
We must all be gathered in due course. It may come tomorrow; it may be deferred another handful of years. Filled with a holy horror of the hell of sinners, let us make most sure our calling to the heaven of the blessed. Consider–
I. The gathering. There have been many such–Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; Jericho and the Canaanites; the destruction of Jerusalem. But forgetting all these inferior gatherings, let us look on to the last great one, which is proceeding every day to its completion As the huntsman, when he goes forth to the battle, encompasses the beasts of the forest with an ever-narrowing ring of hunters, that he may exterminate them all in one great slaughter, so the God of Justice has made a ring in His providence about the sinful, sons of men. None can escape. I will not attempt, to describe, what our Saviour, veiled in words like these: These shall go away into everlasting punishment.
II. The prayer itself. We are all agreed about it, every one of us. Sinners do not wish to be gathered with sinners. But the reasons of the one prayer are different in different persons. A selfish desire to escape misery is sufficient to account for it with sinful men. There is a class of sinners that some would like to be gathered with now. Can we say, when we look upon the bright side of the wicked, Gather not, etc.? If we cannot we really cannot pray the prayer at all. But the Christian prays this prayer because, as far as his acquaintance with sinners goes, he does not even now wish for their company. We cannot be with them and feel ourselves perfectly at home. And even now, when God comes to punish a nation, the Christian has to suffer with the rest. He may well, from the little taste he has had of their company, pray, Gather not, etc. I do not know any class of sinners whose company the Christian would desire. I should not like to live with the most precise of hypocrites, nor with the formalist; and as for the blasphemer, we would as soon be shut up in a tigers den. And there are other reasons. When sinners are gathered at the last their characters will be the same. And think of the place, the pit of hell. Their occupations, cursing God; their sufferings, the pain of body and soul they know. And they are forever banished from God and Christ.
III. But there is in our text a fear, as if a whisper said, Perhaps, after all, you may be gathered with the wicked. This fear may arise from remembrance of past sin. Before we were converted we lived as others. Present backwardness, unfruitfulness, and our conscious weakness, these all rouse this fear. Therefore note–
IV. The answer to this prayer. Have you the two things that David had, the outward integrity and the inward trust? If so, then you cannot be gathered with sinners. For the rule is, like to like. And our comrades here are to be our companions hereafter. And we have been too dearly bought with Christs blood, and are too much loved by God; and the new nature given you will not allow of it. Careless and thoughtless one, I entreat you to consider if it be not a dreadful thing to be a sinner. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The awful association
Many disputes there are concerning the origin of human souls. The Bible assigns the first origination to God, and closely connects all with the first man. All souls are Mine; as the soul of the master, so the soul of the servant. He is the great Lord of human souls.
I. The worth of the human soul. Evinced–
1. By its intellectual capacities: thought, reason, memory, conscience, affection.
2. By its moral capacities. It is naturally endowed with an ability to know, serve, love, and enjoy God.
3. By its immortality. It perishes not with the body. The spirit of man goeth upward,–to God.
4. By the efforts of fallen spirits to effect its destruction.
5. By the means which God has used for its salvation.
II. The souls of all will be gathered together, classed and fixed forever, in a state suitable to their character.
1. What is more reasonable than such an association of similar minds after their probation?
2. Its probability is to be inferred from the nature of God and the present state of trial.
3. Its certainty is proved by Divine testimony. He will render to every man according to his works.
III. The souls of sinners are gathered at death into a state of shame and suffering.
1. This is a matter of positive Divine assertion.
2. Realise the fact. An entire company of lost souls!–shut up with such forever. Think of a prison full of felons and blasphemers!
3. Consider the threatenings connected with the fact. The wrath of God. Sin will forever live in them and incur wrath. Spiritual death will triumph over their soul, and never cease.
IV. The prayer of the text. Gather not my soul, etc.
1. How can this be answered, seeing we are sinners? The language of the prayer proceeds from a consciousness of deserving to be gathered with sinners.
2. Yet the prayer supposes the possibility of being heard and answered. The scheme of salvation shows how it can be.
3. The sincerity of the prayer will be proved by returning to God practically and in heart. If we would not be gathered with sinners at last we must break off from them now. (Evangelist.)
The eternal separation
I. The good man is chiefly concerned about his soul. Many anxious as to health, earthly comforts, security of goods, and so on. The care of the godly is his soul.
1. The soul is the man.
2. The salvation of the soul is necessary for the glory of God and the true ends of our being. The soul is ill desperate peril; and none but Christ can save.
II. The good man knows that the destiny of the soul is settled at death. Death comes to all. And after death the judgment: inferred by reason, foreboded by conscience, revealed by Scripture.
II. The good man recoils in horror from being associated in destiny with the wicked. Why? Because he abhors
(1) their character;
(2) their society;
(3) their doom.
Do we shrink from the society of the false, the impure, the revengeful, the slaves of lust and selfishness, how much more should we recoil from eternal fellowship with these and such as these! (W. Forsyth, M. A.)
The gathering time of souls
As there is a gathering time for the fruits of the earth, so there is a gathering time for men. Death is the reaper. With his scythe he mows down the generations, and justice gathers whom he mows,–some to misery, some to bliss. Who would be gathered with the sinners in the great world of retribution? (D. Thomas, D. D.)
A desire to be separate from all sinners
Even those of you who are not renewed by Christ despise vice when she walks abroad naked. I fear me ye cannot say as much when she puts on her silver slippers, and wraps about her shoulders her scarlet mantle. Sin in rags is not popular. Vice in sores and squalor tempts no one. In the grosser shapes, men hate the very fiend whom they love when it is refined and delicate in its form. I want to know whether you can say, Gather not my soul with sinners when you see the ungodly in their high days and holy days? Do you not envy the fraudulent merchant counting his gold, his purse heavy with his gains, while he himself by his craft is beyond all challenge by the law? Do you not envy the giddy revellers, spending the night in the merry dance, laughing, making merry with wine, and smiling with thoughts of lust? Yonder voluptuary, entering the abode where virtue never finds a place, and indulging in pleasures unworthy to be named in this hallowed house, does he never excite your envy? I ask you, when you see the pleasures, the bright side, the honours, the emoluments, the gains, the merriments of sin, do ye then say, Gather not my soul with sinners? There is a class of sinners that some would wish to be gathered with, those easy souls who go on so swimmingly. They never have any trouble; conscience never pricks them; business never goes wrong with them; they have no bands in their life, no bonds in their death; they are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. They are like the green bay tree, which spreads on every side, until its boughs cover whole acres with their shade. These are the men who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. Can we say, when we look at these, when we gaze upon the bright side of the wicked, Gather not my soul with sinners? Remember, if we cannot do so without reservation we really cannot pray the prayer at all; we ought to alter it, and put it, Gather not my soul with openly reprobate sinners; and then, mark you, as there is only one place for all sorts of sinners, moral or immoral, apparently holy or profane, your prayer cannot be heard, for if you are gathered with sinners at all–with the best of sinners–you must be gathered with the worst of sinners too. I know, children of God, ye can offer the prayer as it stands, and say, In all their glory and their pomp, in all their wealth, their peace, and their comfort, my soul abhors them, and I earnestly beseech thee, O Lord, by the blood of Jesus, Gather not my soul with sinners. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The company and destiny of sinners undesirable
As for blasphemers, we could not endure them a moment. Would you not as soon be shut up in a tigers den as with a cursing, swearing, thievish profligate? Who can endure the company of either a Voltaire or a Manning? Find out the miserly, the mean, the sneaking, the grasping–who likes to be with them? The angry, the petulant, who never try to check the unholy passion, one is always glad to be away from such folks; you are afraid lest you should be held responsible for their mad actions, and therefore, if you must be with them, you are always ill at ease. With no sort of sinners can the child of God be hail-fellow. Lambs and wolves, doves and hawks, devils and angels are not fit companions; and so through what little trial the righteous have had, they have learned that there is no sort of sinners that they would like to be shut up with forever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The final separation of mankind
In Jersey City, over from New York, there is one of the largest distributing centres of passenger traffic in the world. All the passengers for the various ramifying routes are gathered together in the waiting hall, with the doors closed. Suddenly these doors are flung open, and in a high, shrill key the railway attendant calls out the route of the train that is about to start, and goes over the names of the big towns on that route, in a tale long enough to make him need breath when he has finished it. Philadelphia, etc., etc., and you see passengers start from their seats among the throng and hurry to the exit the railway man indicates. They are bound for Philadelphia, and the rest. The doors close, and the throng inside the hall settle down again. After some time the doors are flung open again, and the same sing-song of the route and the list of stops. Chicago and St. Louis, and you see another company of passengers make their way out to the waiting train. They are those going to Chicago and St. Louis. Again the doors close, and again they are flung to the wall, and this time the list of names the fellow calls out ends with Montreal, and, when I heard that, I started up and made for the door; I was going to Montreal. In a few hours they that were one company inside the waiting hall of the station of Jersey City are separated by hundreds of miles, and never all to meet again. That is like this world. We are gathered together in one waiting hall in the station of time, and those sky doors have yet to be flung open, and the voice of God, the last trump, is to burst on every mortal ear, and companies and groups have to separate and gather according to their destination for eternity. Here passengers for heaven: there passengers for hell. You cannot tell in the waiting hall what passengers are bound the glad one way or what passengers are bound the sad other way. The outward appearance is all we can see. He that looketh upon and knoweth the heart is the Lord. Some presumptuous folk would try to erect a dividing barricade in the waiting hall, and divide it into two sections, whose partitions would be covered in regulation form with ecclesiastical jagged broken glass, mostly coloured, I know. But it will not do: it will not do. Leave the division to the Divider Himself. Judge not, but wait till the shout of the archangel of the coming King is heard through the suddenly flung open doors–in a moment, in that moment, in that twinkling of an eye, at that last trump. There are only two groups, and two departures, and two destinations from this waiting hall of time. How fitting the prayer, Gather not my soul with sinners. (John Robertson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Gather not my soul with sinners] As I have never loved their company, nor followed their practice, let not my eternal lot be cast with them! I neither love them nor their ways; may I never be doomed to spend an eternity with them!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My soul, i.e. my life, as it is explained in the next clause. Do not bind me up in the same bundle, nor put me into the same accursed and miserable condition, with them. Seeing I have had so great an antipathy against them in the whole course of my life, Psa 26:4,5, let me not die their death; as Balaam on the contrary desired
to die the death of the righteous, Num 23:10. And seeing I have loved thy house and worship, and endeavoured to serve thee acceptably, not only with ceremonial cleanness, but with moral purity of heart and life, Psa 26:6-8, do not deal with me as thou wilt with those that are filled with ungodliness and unrighteousness; do not destroy me with them, the righteous with the wicked, Gen 18:23, but save me in the common calamity, as thou hast promised and used to do in like cases. The Hebrew word asaph, rendered gathering, is oft put for taking away, as Gen 30:23; Isa 4:1; Jer 8:13; 16:5, and that by destruction and death, as 1Sa 15:6; Isa 57:1; Jer 8:13; Eze 34:29; Hos 4:3. The ground of which phrase may be either, because by death mens souls or spirits are gathered and returned to God, Ecc 12:7, who had dispersed them all the world over; or because the several sorts of men, good and bad, which live here together promiscuously, are there severed, and all of one sort of them gathered together unto their fathers or peoples, as it is expressed, Gen 15:15; Num 20:24; 2Ki 22:20; compare Heb 12:23.
With sinners; profligate and obstinate sinners, as the following words describe them, such being oft called sinners by way of eminency, as 1Sa 15:18; Psa 1:1; 104:35; Isa 1:28; 33:14.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Gather not, &c.Bringme not to death.
bloody men(compare Ps5:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Gather not my soul with sinners,…. Profligate and abandoned ones, such as are notoriously profane, and who live and die impenitent ones; otherwise all men are sinners: the sense is, either that he desires that he might not, by any means, be brought into the company of such persons, be joined unto them, and have a conversation with them, which would be uncomfortable, dishonourable, and dangerous; or that God would not destroy him with them; and that he might not die the death of the wicked, nor be gathered with them at death: death is often expressed by a man’s being gathered to his people, and to his fathers; see 2Ki 22:20; the body is gathered to the grave, the soul returns to God that gave it, and has its place assigned by him; the souls of the righteous are gathered into heaven, Christ’s garner; the souls of the wicked into hell; the psalmist deprecates being gathered with them;
nor my life with bloody men; that thirst after blood, lie in wait for it, shed it, and are drunk with it, as the antichristian party; these God abhors and detests; nor shall they live out half their days, and their end is miserable.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
It is now, for the first time, that the petition compressed into the one word (Psa 26:1) is divided out. He prays (as in Psa 28:3), that God may not connect him in one common lot with those whose fellowship of sentiment and conduct he has always shunned. , as in Psa 5:7, cf. , Sir. 31:25. Elsewhere signifies purpose, and more particularly in a bad sense; but in this passage it means infamy, and not unnatural unchastity, to which is inappropriate, but scum of whatever is vicious in general: they are full of cunning and roguery, and their right hand, which ought to uphold the right – David has the lords of his people in his eye – is filled ( , not ) with accursed (Deu 27:25) bribery to the condemnation of the innocent. He, on the contrary, now, as he always has done, walks in his uprightness, so that now he can with all the more joyful conscience intreat God to interpose judicially in his behalf.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
9. Gather not my soul with wicked men. Having now affirmed his innocence, he has recourse again to prayer, and calls upon God to defend him. At first sight, indeed, it appears strange to pray that God would not involve a righteous man in the same destruction with the wicked; but God, with paternal indulgence, allows this freedom in prayer, that his people may themselves in this way correct their anxieties, and overcome the fears with which they are tempted. David, when he conceived this supplication, in order to free himself from anxiety and fear, placed before his eyes the righteous judgment of God, to whom nothing is more abhorrent than to mingle good and bad together without distinction. The Hebrew word אספ, asaph, sometimes signifies to gather together, and sometimes to destroy. In this place, I am of opinion it signifies to gather into a heap, as was wont to be the case in a confused slaughter. This was the objection stated by Abraham,
“
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee.” (Gen 18:25,)
Let us remember, therefore, 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. In the second clause, instead of the phrase, wicked men, he uses bloody men, amplifying what he had said. For although many wicked men rush not all at once to murder, yet in process of time they harden themselves to cruelty; nor does Satan allow them to rest until he precipitate them into deeds of blood.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Gather not.Better as in margin. The psalmist prays that he may be spared to worship in the sanctuary, when doom falls on evildoers and carries them off. The LXX. and Vulg. have destroy not.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. His prayer concludes with a deprecation (Psa 26:9-10) of the doom of the wicked.
Gather not my soul with sinners The word for “gather” often means to take away, as in Isa 16:10: “And gladness is taken away.” Psa 104:29: “ Thou takest away their breath. Eze 34:29; 2Ch 34:28; Isa 57:1. “Gather not away my soul with sinners,” is a clear and emphatic recognition of the common faith in a future state, and the future punishment of the wicked.
Nor my life A repetition of the prayer of the preceding line.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gather not my soul with sinners,
Nor my life with men of blood,
In whose hands is wickedness,
And their right hand is full of bribes.
He prays that his soul will not be ‘snatched away’ and his life taken from him. Premature death is the lot of men of violence, and men who propagate violence, those whose ways are wicked, who constantly use underhand methods to get their way. It may be that a pestilence was raging, which would explain why he felt that some of the evil-doers might in the near future reap their deserts, and from which he himself was anticipating protection because he was under YHWH’s eye.
‘In whose hands is wickedness,’ They were guilty of corruption and defrauding the people, and if it seemed as though they might be caught they prevented it by the payment of bribes.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 26:9. Gather not Unite not.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 26:9 Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:
Ver. 9. Gather not my soul with sinners ] I have loved thy house, which sinners never delighted in; therefore “gather not my soul with sinners”; so the Syriac senseth it. Let me not die the death of sinners, for I never cared for their company; so the Rabbis. See Trapp on “ Psa 26:5 “ Let me not share with them in punishment, for I could never abide their practice. Balaam would die the death of the righteous, but he liked not of their life. Euchrites would be Croesus vivens, et Socrates mortuus. like like Croesus and die like Socrates, Sir Walter Raleigh would live a Papist (there being no religion like that for licentious liberty and lasciviousness), but die a Protestant. We have some that would gladly dance with the devil all day, and then sup with Christ at night; live all their lives long in Delilah’s lap, and then go to Abraham’s bosom when they die. But this cannot be, as David well understood; and, therefore, both eschewed the life of a wicked person, and deprecated his death: Gather not, or take not away, &c. The righteous is taken away (Heb. gathered, Isa 57:1 , as men gather flowers and candy them, preserve them); with such to be gathered David would hold it a happiness, but not with sinners with sanguinaries; for such are gathered but as house dust, to be cast out of doors.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gather not = Destroy not. Hebrew. ‘asaph. A Homonym. See note on “receive” (Num 12:14, Num 12:15).
my soul = me (emphatic). Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 26:9-12
Psa 26:9-12
“Gather not my soul with sinners,
Nor my life with men of blood;
In whose hands is wickedness,
And their right hand is full of bribes.
But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity:
Redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
My foot standeth in an even place:
In the congregations will I bless Jehovah.”
“Their right hand is full of bribes” (Psa 26:10). “This is a reference to persons in office who took bribes to pervert judgment and justice.”
Adam Clarke also tabulated the several references to wicked men in this psalm.
They are vain, irreligious persons (Psa 26:4).
They are deep, dark men, saying one thing, meaning something else (Psa 26:4).
They are malignant, doing everything for their own ends (Psa 26:5).
They regard neither God nor holy religion (Psa 26:5).
They are blood-thirsty murderers, “men of blood” (Psa 26:9).
They are traffickers in wickedness (Psa 26:9).
They are ready with their hands to execute the wicked schemes of their hearts (Psa 26:10).
They are lovers of bribes, perverting judgment for the sake of money.
All of these verses are a plea from David that God will not appoint his portion with the wicked; and Psa 26:12 carries the assurance that God has heard his prayer.
“My foot standeth on an even place” (Psa 26:12). “These words are a symbol of comfort and safety. “The psalmist is sure that his desire of compassing God’s altar with praise will be fulfilled, and that, instead of compulsory association with `the congregation of evil-doers,’ he will bless Jehovah `in the congregation’ where God’s name is loved and that he will find himself among those who, like himself, delight in the praise of God.
Delitzsch also agreed that, “The prayer here changes to rejoicing due to the certainty that the answer shall be given. Hitherto, as it were, shut in by deep trackless gorges, he now feels himself to be standing upon a pleasant plain.
Note: The notion that God’s “habitation” mentioned in Psa 26:8 is the Jewish Temple is sometimes advanced as proof that David could not have written this psalm; but the American Standard Version margin reveals that the Hebrew text in Psa 26:8 actually has the words, “The house of the tabernacle of thy glory.”
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 26:9. Gather means “remove,” and “soul” means his life. David prayed that sinners might not be permitted to take his life. The last clause was more specific as he prayed to be delivered from bloody men; those who delighted in shedding blood.
Psa 26:10. These bloody men were using their hands to perform mischief. When right hand is used figuratively and for a good purpose, it means that the person uses his hand to do right things. When used in the sense of this verse, right hand means his stronger and more experienced hand. The person uses his greatest ability to perform something to earn a bribe.
Psa 26:11. Walk in mine integrity means to walk innocently, and in such a manner as to retain a good reputation. Redeem as used here has the sense of “preserve,” and was said in view of the dangers threatened against David by his many enemies.
Psa 26:2. Even means level or plain. It has the same idea as was set forth in the work of John the Baptist. (Luk 3:4-5; Isa 40:3-4.) Congregations refers to any of the groups or assemblies where David might be present. In all such places he would bless or praise the Lord.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Gather not: or, Take not away, Psa 28:1-3, 1Sa 25:29, Mal 3:18, Mat 24:51, Mat 25:32, Mat 25:44, Mat 25:46, Rev 22:14, Rev 22:15
bloody men: Heb. men of blood, Psa 51:14, Psa 55:23, Psa 139:19, 1Sa 22:18, 1Sa 22:19, 2Sa 16:7, 2Sa 21:1
Reciprocal: Gen 49:6 – secret Exo 18:21 – hating Jos 20:4 – take Jdg 19:18 – receiveth 1Ki 13:31 – lay my bones Neh 13:31 – Remember Psa 1:5 – sinners Psa 22:1 – why hast Psa 28:3 – Draw Psa 59:2 – save Psa 119:115 – Depart Pro 24:1 – neither Isa 33:15 – stoppeth Amo 5:12 – take Luk 17:34 – two Act 24:26 – hoped 2Co 6:14 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 26:9-10. Gather not my soul That is, my life, as it is explained in the next clause; with sinners Profligate and obstinate sinners, as the following words describe them, such being often called sinners by way of eminence. Do not bind me up in the same bundle, nor put me in the same accursed and miserable condition with them. Seeing I have loved thy house and worship, and endeavoured to serve thee acceptably, not only with ceremonial cleanness, but with moral purity of heart and life, do not deal with me as thou wilt with those that are filled with ungodliness and unrighteousness; do not destroy me with them, the righteous with the wicked; but save me in the common calamity, as thou hast been wont to do in such cases. In whose hands is mischief Who not only imagine mischief in their hearts, but persist in it, and execute it with their hands. And their right hand Which should be stretched out to execute justice and punish offenders; is full of bribes By which they are induced to pervert justice, acquit the guilty, and punish the innocent.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
26:9 {f} Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:
(f) Destroy me not in the overthrow of the wicked.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. Prayer for reward 26:9-12
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
David asked God to spare him from a premature death in the company of the wicked. Evidently he expected God to judge the wicked this way, and wanted God to separate him from them in His judgment (cf. Gen 18:23), as David had separated himself from them in his behavior. It appears that some people were grouping David together with others who were wicked in their thinking, but he did not want God to do that.