Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 26:2
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
2. God knows him already (Psa 17:3); and fearlessly he offers himself for a fresh scrutiny. This prayer attests at once the clearness of his conscience, and his desire that if aught of evil remains, it may be purged away. Cp. Psa 139:23-24. Three words are used to express the thoroughness of the scrutiny. Examine me, as the refiner assays his metal to test its fineness; prove me, by bringing me into circumstances in which the reality of my faith may be demonstrated; try me, as the refiner smelts gold to get rid of any remaining dross. So God ‘proved’ Abraham (Gen 22:1); and Israel (Deu 8:2; Deu 8:16). The purpose of such heart-searching is ‘to give every man according to his ways’ (Jer 17:10).
my reins and my heart ] The reins are the seat of the affections, the heart of thought and will. Cp. Psa 7:9; Psa 11:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Examine me, O Lord – The meaning of this verse is, that he asked of God a strict and rigid examination of his case. To express this, the psalmist uses three words – examine; prove; try. These words are designed to include the modes in which the reality of anything is tested, and they imply together that he wished the most thorough investigation to be made; he did not shrink from any test. He evidently felt that it was essential to his welfare that the most rigid examination should be made; that the exact truth should be known; that if he was deceived, it was best for himself that he should not be left under the delusion, but that, understanding his own case, he might be led to secure his salvation. The word rendered examine means, to try, to prove, and is applicable especially to metals: Jer 9:7; Zec 13:9. It means here, Apply to me such tests as are applied to metals in order to determine their genuineness and their value.
And prove me – A word of similar import. In the original meaning of the word there is a reference to smell; to try by the smell; to ascertain the qualities of an object by the smell. Hence, it comes to be used in a more general sense to denote any way of ascertaining the quality of an object.
Try my reins – The word here rendered try (test) is one that is most commonly applied to metals; and the three words together express the earnest desire of the psalmist that God would examine into the evidences of his piety – those evidences to which he immediately refers – and apply the proper kind of tests to determine whether that piety was genuine. The word rendered reins means properly the kidneys, and hence, it is used to denote the inward part, the mind, the soul – the seat of the desires and the affections. See Psa 7:9, note; Psa 16:7, note. We speak now of the heart as the seat of the affections or of love. The Hebrews more commonly spoke of the heart as the seat of intelligence or knowledge, and the reins or the bowels as the seat of the affections. In itself there was no more impropriety in their speaking of the reins or kidneys as the seat of the affections than there is of our speaking of the heart in that manner. Neither of them is strictly correct; and both modes of speech are founded on popular usage.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 26:2
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
Our need of Divine scrutiny
I. It is possible that we may try ourselves by false principles. Self-examination is an all-important duty, but when we have searched most diligently we need that God should examine us. Now, we are prone to err in regard to our repentance, our faith, and our obedience–these which are the grand requisites for salvation.
II. We are prone to be partial to ourselves,–to make allowances where we should not.
III. And our motives in our conduct are so difficult to ascertain by any but God.
IV. And when we discover imperfections we cannot correct them, even by that Divine grace which He is willing to bestow.
V. The Divine judgment will determine the decisions of the last day. What we think, or our fellow men believe, will not avail then.
VI. What is needed to prepare for heaven. (S. Morell.)
Examinations
(A talk with children):–As a rule, children are not very anxious for examinations. They do not see what possible good can come out of them. If most of them had their wishes, they never would have one at all. Yet in days to come these children will see that of all things that they did in their school days perhaps the most important were these very examinations. Now, David here asked God to examine him; he asked a very keen examiner to take the task in hand. He knew what that meant: he knew that no weakness, no ignorance, no sin would remain hidden; but that everything would be known, not only to God, but also largely to David himself. And that was one of the reasons why he wanted to he examined.
I. Now, observe that the word examine here is a very forcible word. It means to examine by fire, and, therefore, by that which shall burn up all the dross, and only leave behind that which can pass through fire. Again, the word try is further expressive. The Hebrew word means melting by fire; in other words, it means examine by fire to the point of melting. Thus the examination the Psalmist asked for was an examination by fire–an examination that should burn away everything that was impure.
II. The result of an examination to a large extent is to make one know oneself. If it were not for the examinations which children get, some of them would get, very conceited, and would think that they knew everything. When anyone begins a study he is convinced in a week or so that he knows all about it. If you see him again in a twelvemonth he begins to doubt it; but if you see him in two years be is quite convinced he knows very little. Now, examinations are very helpful in that way. The condition of learning is just to learn, first of all, that we know next to nothing, and thus to be dissatisfied with ourselves. Then, and then only, we shall make an effort.
III. Failure in examination has very often led to determination on the part of a boy or girl never to fail again; thus failure has been one of the greatest blessings they have had in life. David felt sure that if God examined him he would know very much more of his own poor miserable self than he did before, and some path of sin which had escaped his notice would be revealed to him. Indeed, he was anxious that the Lord should not conceal from him anything that was evil in him. To be conscious of ones error is the first step necessary to avoid repeating it.
IV. Again, there was another feeling on the part of David, namely, that thorough as God was as an examiner, and thorough as the exposure would be by such an examination, God was nevertheless very kind; for David says in the following verse, For Thy loving kindnesses are before mine eyes. Our best loved teachers have been those who, though they saw all our failings, all our mistakes, very clearly, yet did not hold us up to ridicule, but sympathised with our difficulties and put the best construction on all our actions. So it is with our Lord. He knows our hearts, and reads every thought before we express it in words. Hidden desires are all known to Him. But then, He is so kind, so loving, so forgiving, we can leave ourselves in His hands. (D. Davies.)
Self-examination examined
Self-examination is to many disciples a kind of first point in practical religion. It is heard and read on all sides. But there are only two Scripture passages which can be at all cited for it, one of which (2Co 13:5) certainly has no such meaning; and the other (1Co 11:28) carries no sufficient authority for the practice. Scripture sends us to God: Examine me, O Lord; Search me, O God; The Lord trieth the heart.
I. God certainly can examine us, and we cannot in any but the most superficial and incomplete sense examine ourselves. For–
1. Our memory is too short and scant to recall or restore the conception of one in a hundred million of the acts that make up our lives.
2. Even if we could recall them, everyone, we could never go over the survey of such vast materials, so as to form any judgment of them or of ourselves.
3. And since the understanding of our present state is impossible without understanding all the causes in our action that have fashioned the character and shaped its figure, our faculty is even shorter here than before. Omniscience only is equal to the task.
II. In what is frequently understood by self-examination there is something mistaken or deceitful which needs to be carefully resisted.
1. It is a kind of artificial state, in which the soul is drawn off from its objects and works, and its calls of love and sacrifice, to engage itself in acts of self-inspection.
2. He may even be so engrossed in self-examination as to become morbidly selfish in it; for nothing is more selfish than to be always boring into ones self.
III. How much is implied in a hearty willingness or desire to have God examine us and prove us. A mind seeking after truth, ready to receive it; more, a soul already found to be in Gods friendship, sealed with the witness of His acceptance.
IV. There is a way of coming at the verdict of God whatever it may be. God designs always to give us the benefit of His own knowledge of our state. He never intended us for, and never puts us to, the task of testing ourselves. He expects to do this for us. We are complete only in Him. He is, and is ever to be, our Light, and we only know ourselves in Him. God is manifested in the consciousness of them that love Him and are right towards Him. They will know God by an immediate knowledge or revelation. They will have His Spirit witnessing with theirs. God has planned our life so as to bring us into a perception of the many defects and errors lurking in us, and to set us in the same judgment of them that He has Himself, proving us at every turn, trying even the reins and heart, that our most secret things may be revealed. If there should be any legitimate place for self-examination it is in the field where we go to discover our faults and the sins that require to be forsaken or put away. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)
Morbid self-inspection kills love
Many years ago I knew an excellent much esteemed Christian mother, who had become morbidly introverted, and could not find her love to God. Seeing at once that she was stifling it by her own self-inspecting engrossment, which would not allow her to so much as think of Gods loveliness, I said to her, But you love your son, you have no doubt of that. Of course I love him, why should I not? To show her, then, how she was killing her love to God, I said, But take one week now for the trial, and make thorough examination of your love to your son, and it will be strange if, at the end of the week, you do not tell me that you have serious doubt of it. I returned at the time, to be dreadfully shocked by my too cruel experiment. No, she said, I do not love him; I abhor him. She was fallen off the edge, and her self-examination was become her insanity! (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)
God trying the reins and the heart
It is wonderful to see with what skill God has adjusted all our experiences, in this mortal life, so as to make us sensible of our errors and defects. As the invisible ink is brought out in a distinct colour by holding what is written to the fire, so God brings out all our faults and our sins by the scorches of experience through which we are ever passing in the fiery trials of life. If we are proud, He has a way to make us see it, and to break down our pride. If we cherish any subtle grudge or animosity, He will somehow call it out and make us see it. If we are selfish, or covetous, or jealous, or frivolous, or captious, or self-indulgent, or sensual, or self-confident, or fanatical, or self-righteous, or partial, or obstinate, or prejudiced, or uncharitable, or censorious,–whatever fault we have in us, whether it be in the mind, or the head, or the body, or I might almost say the bones, no matter how subtle, or how ingeniously covered it may be, He has us in the furnace of trial and correction, where He is turning us round and round, lifting us in prosperity, crushing us in adversity, subduing us with affliction, tempting out our faults and then chastising them humbling us, correcting us, softening, tempering, soothing, fortifying, refining, healing, and so managing us, as to detect all our drossy and bad qualities, and separate them from us. He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver, and allows nothing to escape either His discovery or our correction. No self-examination we could make would discover, at all, what He is continually bringing to the light, and exposing to our detection. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. Examine me, O Lord] To thee I appeal; and feel no hesitation in wishing to have all the motives of my heart dissected and exposed to thy view, and to that of the world.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Because it is possible that I may deceive myself, and be partial in my cause, or at least mine enemies will so judge of me, I appeal to thee, O thou Judge of hearts, and beg that thou wouldst search and try me by such ways and means as thou seest fit, and make me known to myself, and to the world, and convince mine enemies of mine integrity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. He asks the most carefulscrutiny of his affections and thoughts (Ps7:9), or motives.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Examine me, O Lord,…. His cause, his integrity, and trust in the Lord, as silver and gold are examined by the touchstone, the word of God, which is the standard of faith and practice;
and prove me; or “tempt me” r; as Abraham was tempted by the Lord; and his faith in him, and fear of him, and love to him, were proved to be true and genuine;
try my reins and my heart; the thoughts, desires, and affections of it, as gold and silver are tried in the furnace; and so God sometimes tries the faith and patience of his people by afflictive providences; and this examination, probation, and trial, are made by him, not for his own sake, who knows the hearts and ways of all men; but for the sake of others, to make known either to themselves or others the truth of grace that is in them, and the uprightness of their hearts and ways; and it was on this account the psalmist desired to pass under such an examination.
r “tenta me”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Prove me, (568) O Jehovah! The more that David observed himself basely and undeservedly pursued with calumnies, the more powerfully was he excited by the vehemence of his grief fearlessly to assert his rectitude. Nor does he merely clear himself of outward sins; he glories also in the uprightness of his heart, and the purity of its affections, tacitly comparing himself, at the same time, with his enemies. As they were gross hypocrites, proudly boasting of their reverence for God, he lays open before him their shameless effrontery and hardihood. This protestation, too, shows how intimately acquainted he was with himself, when he durst offer to submit the whole recesses of his heart to the examination of God. It is to be observed, however, that it was the wickedness of his enemies which forced him to commend himself so much. Had he not been unjustly condemned by men, he would have humbly deprecated such an examination, as he well knew, notwithstanding his zeal to act aright, that he was far from perfection. But when he felt himself to be falsely accused, the injustice and cruelty of men emboldened him to appeal to God’s judgment-seat without hesitation. And as he knew that an external appearance of innocence was of no avail there, he brings forward the honest uprightness of his heart. The distinction which some make here, that the heart signifies the higher affections, and the reins those that are sensual (as they term them) and more gross, is more subtle than solid. We know that the Hebrews understood by the term reins that which is most secret in men. David, therefore, conscious of his innocence, offers the whole man to the examination of God; not like careless, or rather stupid men, who, flattering themselves, imagine that they will deceive God with their pretences. It is evident, on the contrary, that he had honestly and thoroughly searched himself, before he presented himself with such confidence in the divine presence. And this we must especially bear in mind, if we would desire to obtain the approbation of God, that when unjustly persecuted, we must not only abstain from retaliation, but also persevere in a right spirit.
(568) The primary signification of the Hebrew word צרף, tsaraph is to try as the refiner tries his gold by dissolving and melting it, In this sense it is used in Psa 66:10, “Thou hast tried us as silver is tried.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Try.Rather, purify, according to the right reading. LXX., try by fire.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Examine me Search me, try me as metals in the fire, as the word denotes. He invites the Searcher of hearts to institute the closest scrutiny, so self-conscious was he of upright intentions.
Reins heart An intensive form of speech denoting the innermost thoughts and feelings. He uncovers all his thoughts before God, and submits himself to the divine mercy and judgment. See on Psa 16:7; Psa 25:6
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Examine me, O YHWH, and prove me,
Try my heart and my mind.
He is so confident of his current faithfulness to YHWH that he is ready to open himself for a thorough examination. ‘Examine me.’ He wants Him to test his integrity like an assayer tests the purity of metal. Compare Jer 6:27 where Jeremiah was to act as such an assayer, ‘I have made you an assayer and a tester among my people that you may know and try their way’. See also Psa 66:10. ‘Prove me.’ By weighing him up, measuring him against the Law, and coming to a fair conclusion. ‘Try my heart and my mind.’ By assessing all his inner thoughts. The word for ‘heart’ is often translated kidneys, which were seen as the seat of the emotions, or as ‘reins’, that which controlled those emotions (compare Psa 7:9). The word for ‘mind’ signifies that which controls the thought and will.
We should note that he is not asking God to send him trials in order to test him. He has had enough of those. Rather he wants Him now to examine the results of those trials in order to discover that they have accomplished their purpose (compare Psa 11:4-5). We should never pray for trials to come on us, for as Jesus stressed, our prayer should be, ‘do not bring us into trials but deliver us from evil’ (Mat 6:13).
A prayer like this in public would rightly have been dismissed as showmanship (compare Luk 18:11-12). But in private it is the sign of a genuine desire to be pleasing to God. We should all be making such a prayer on a regular basis so that God can carry out His regular ‘service’ on our lives.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Who but the Lord Jesus Christ could ever take up such language? Who but him must assume such language, If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord who shall stand! Psa 130:3 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
Ver. 2. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me ] It must needs be a good conscience that thus boldly offereth itself to God’s trial; so Job 31:6 .
Try my reins and my heart
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
reins = kidneys.
reins . . . heart. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Subject), App-6, for thoughts and feelings.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 7:9, Psa 17:3, Psa 66:10, Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24, Job 13:23, Job 31:4-6, Jer 20:12, Zec 13:9
Reciprocal: 1Sa 16:5 – sanctify yourselves 1Sa 30:6 – David Job 34:36 – My desire is that Job may be tried Psa 11:5 – trieth Psa 51:6 – Behold Pro 17:3 – General Isa 33:15 – that walketh 1Co 11:28 – let a 2Co 13:5 – Examine Gal 6:4 – prove
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 26:2-3. Examine me, and prove me Because it is possible I may deceive myself, and be partial in my cause, or, at least, mine enemies will so judge of me: I appeal to thee, O thou Judge of hearts, and beg that thou wouldst search and try me by such ways and means as thou seest fit, and make me known to myself and to the world, and convince mine enemies of mine integrity. For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes I have a true and deep sense of thy loving-kindness upon my heart, by which I have been obliged, and in a manner constrained to love and obey thee, and, in all things, to approve my heart and ways to thee, and consequently to abstain from all such evil practices as mine enemies charge me with. And hence it is, that I dare appeal to thee with this confidence. My experience of and trust in thy goodness fully satisfy me that I do not need to use, and so supports me that I do not use, any indirect or irregular courses for my relief. I have walked in thy truth That is, according to thy word, believing its promises, and observing its precepts and directions; and not according to the course of this world.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my {b} reins and my heart.
(b) My very affections and inward motions of the heart.