| Barnes' Notes on the Bible Gather not my soul with sinners - Margin, "take not away." The word rendered "gather," means properly to "collect;" to "gather," as fruits, Exodus 23:10; ears of grain, Ruth 2:7; money, 2 Kings 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 Psalm 5:6.
Clarke's Commentary on the BibleGather 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!
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleGather 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 2 Kings 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.
The Treasury of David9 Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: 10 In whose hand is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes. Psalm 26:9 "Gather not my soul with sinners." - Lord, when, like fruit, I must be gathered, put me not in the same basket with the best of sinners, much less with the worst of them. The company of sinners is so distasteful to us here, that we cannot endure the thought of being bound up in the same bundle with them to all eternity. Our comfort is, that the Great Husbandman discerns the tares from the wheat, and will find a separate place for distinct characters. In the former verses we see that the Psalmist kept himself clear of profane persons, and this is to be understood as a reason why he should not be thrust into their company at the last. Let us think of the doom of the wicked, and the prayer of the text will forcibly rise to our lips; meanwhile, as we see the rule of judgment by which like is gathered to its like, we who have passed from death unto life have nothing to fear. "Nor my life with bloody men." Our soul sickens to hear them speak; their cruel dispatches, in which they treat the shooting of their fellow-men as rare sport, are horrifying to us; Lord, let us not be shut up in the same prison with them; nay, the same paradise with such men would be a hell, if they remained as they now are. Psalm 26:10 "In whose hands is mischief." - They have both hands full of it, plotting it and carrying it out. "And their right hand," with which they are most dexterous, "is full of bribes;" like thieves who would steal with impunity, they carry a sop for the dogs of justice. He who gives bribes is every way as guilty as the man who takes them, and in the matter of our parliamentary elections the rich villain who gives the bribe is by far the worse. Bribery, in any form or shape, should be as detestable to a Christian as carrion to a dove, or garbage to a lamb. Let those whose dirty hands are fond of bribes remember that neither death nor the devil can be bribed to let them escape their well-earned doom.
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old TestamentIt is now, for the first time, that the petition compressed into the one word שׁפטני (Psalm 26:1) is divided out. He prays (as in Psalm 28:3), that God may not connect him in one common lot with those whose fellowship of sentiment and conduct he has always shunned. אנשׁי דּמים, as in Psalm 5:7, cf. ἄνθρωποι αἱμάτων, Sir. 31:25. Elsewhere זמּה signifies purpose, and more particularly in a bad sense; but in this passage it means infamy, and not unnatural unchastity, to which בּידיהם 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 (מלאה, not מלאה) with accursed (Deuteronomy 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.
Geneva Study Bible{f} Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: (f) Destroy me not in the overthrow of the wicked.
Wesley's Notes 26:9 Gather not - Do not bind me up in the same bundle, or put me into the same accursed condition with them.
King James Translators' NotesGather...: or, Take not away bloody...: Heb. men of blood
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary9. Gather not, &c.-Bring me not to death. bloody men-(compare Ps 5:6).
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary26:9 David, in this psalm, appeals to God touching his integrity. - David here, by the Spirit of prophecy, speaks of himself as a type of Christ, of whom what he here says of his spotless innocence was fully and eminently true, and of Christ only, and to Him we may apply it. We are complete in him. The man that walks in his integrity, yet trusting wholly in the grace of God, is in a state of acceptance, according to the covenant of which Jesus was the Mediator, in virtue of his spotless obedience even unto death. This man desires to have his inmost soul searched and proved by the Lord. He is aware of the deceitfulness of his own heart; he desires to detect and mortify every sin; and he longs to be satisfied of his being a true believer, and to practise the holy commands of God. Great care to avoid bad company, is both a good evidence of our integrity, and a good means to keep us in it. Hypocrites and dissemblers may be found attending on God's ordinances; but it is a good sign of sincerity, if we attend upon them, as the psalmist here tells us he did, in the exercise of repentance and conscientious obedience. He feels his ground firm under him; and, as he delights in blessing the Lord with his congregations on earth, he trusts that shortly he shall join the great assembly in heaven, in singing praises to God and to the Lamb for evermore.
Matthew Henry's Whole Bible CommentaryVerses 6-12 In these verses, I. David mentions, as further evidence of his integrity, the sincere affection he had to the ordinances of God, the constant care he took about them, and the pleasure he took in them. Hypocrites and dissemblers may indeed be found attending on God's ordinances, as the proud Pharisee went up to the temple to pray with the penitent publican; but it is a good sign of sincerity if we attend upon them as David here tells us he did, v. 6-8. 1. He was very careful and conscientious in his preparation for holy ordinances: I will wash my hands in innocency. He not only refrained from the society of sinners, but kept himself clean from the pollutions of sin, and this with an eye to the place he had among those that compassed God's altar. "I will wash, and so will I compass the altar, knowing that otherwise I shall not be welcome." This is like that (1 Co. 11:28), Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat, so prepared. This denotes, (1.) Habitual preparation: "I will wash my hands in innocency; I will carefully watch against all sin, and keep my conscience pure from those dead works which defile it and forbid my drawing nigh to God." See Ps. 24:3, 4. (2.) Actual preparation. It alludes to the ceremony of the priests' washing when they went in to minister, Ex. 30:20, 21. Though David was no priest, yet, as every worshipper ought, he would look to the substance of that which the priests were enjoined the shadow of. In our preparation for solemn ordinances we must not only be able to clear ourselves from the charge of reigning infidelity or hypocrisy, and to protest our innocency of that (which was signified by washing the hands, Deu. 21:6), but we must take pains to cleanse ourselves from the spots of remaining iniquity by renewing our repentance, and making fresh application of the blood of Christ to our consciences for the purifying and pacifying of them. He that is washed (that is, in a justified state) has need thus to wash his feet (Jn. 13:10), to wash his hands, to wash them in innocency; he that is penitent is pene innocens-almost innocent; and he that is pardoned is so far innocent that his sins shall not be mentioned against him. 2. He was very diligent and serious in his attendance upon them: I will compass thy altar, alluding to the custom of the priests, who, while the sacrifice was in offering, walked round the altar, and probably the offerers likewise did so at some distance, denoting a diligent regard to what was done and a dutiful attendance in the service. "I will compass it; I will be among the crowds that do compass it, among the thickest of them." David, a man of honour, a man of business, a man of war, thought it not below him to attend with the multitude on God's altars and could find time for that attendance. Note, (1.) All God's people will be sure to wait on God's altar, in obedience to his commands and in pursuance of his favour. Christ is our altar, not as the altar in the Jewish church, which was fed by them, but an altar that we eat of and live upon, Heb. 13:10. (2.) It is a pleasant sight to see God's altar compassed and to see ourselves among those that compass it. 3. In all his attendance on God's ordinances he aimed at the glory of God and was much in the thankful praise and adoration of him. He had an eye to the place of worship as the place where God's honor dwelt (v. 8), and therefore made it his business there to honour God and to give him the glory due to his name, to publish with the voice of thanksgiving all God's wondrous works. God's gracious works, which call for thanksgiving, are all wondrous works, which call for our admiration. We ought to publish them, and tell of them, for his glory, and the excitement of others to praise him; and we ought to do it with the voice of thanksgiving, as those that are sensible of our obligations, by all ways possible, to acknowledge with gratitude the favours we have received from God. 4. He did this with delight and from a principle of true affection to God and his institutions. Touching this he appeals to God: "Lord, thou knowest how dearly I have loved the habitation of thy house (v. 8), the tabernacle where thou art pleased to manifest thy residence among thy people and receive their homage, the place where thy honour dwells." David was sometimes forced by persecution into the countries of idolaters and was hindered from attending God's altars, which perhaps his persecutors, that laid him under that restraint, did themselves upbraid him with as his crime. See 1 Sa. 20:27. "But, Lord," says he, "though I cannot come to the habitation of thy house, I love it; my heart is there, and it is my greatest trouble that I am not there." Note, All that truly love God truly love the ordinances of God, and therefore love them because in them he manifests his honour and they have an opportunity of honoring him. Our Lord Jesus loved his Father's honour, and made it his business to glorify him; he loved the habitation of his house, his church among men, loved it and gave himself for it, that he might build and consecrate it. Those who love communion with God, and delight in approaching him, find it to be a constant pleasure, a comfortable evidence of their integrity, and a comfortable earnest of their endless felicity. II. David, having given proofs of his integrity, earnestly prays, with a humble confidence towards God (such as those have whose hearts condemn them not), that he might not fall under the doom of the wicked (v. 9, 10). Gather not my soul with sinners, Here, 1. David describes these sinners, whom he looked upon to be in a miserable condition, so miserable that he could not wish the worst enemy he had in the world to be in a worse. "They are bloody men, that thirst after blood and lie under a great deal of the guilt of blood. They do mischief, and mischief is always in their hands. Though they get by their wickedness (for their right hand is full of bribes which they have taken to pervert justice), yet that will make their case never the better; for what is a man profited if he gain the world and lose his soul?" 2. He dread having his lot with them. He never loved them, nor associated with them, in this world, and therefore could in faith pray that he might not have his lot with them in the other world. Our souls must shortly be gathered, to return to God that gave them and will call for them again. See Job 34:14. It concerns us to consider whether our souls will then be gathered with saints or with sinners, whether bound in the bundle of life with the Lord for ever, as the souls of the faithful are (1 Sa. 25:29), or bound in the bundle of tares for the fire, Mt. 13:30. Death gathers us to our people, to those that are our people while we live, whom we choose to associate with, and with whom we cast in our lot, to those death will gather us, and with them we must take our lot, to eternity. Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous; David dreaded dying the death of the wicked; so that both sides were of that mind, which if we be of, and will live up to it, we are happy for ever. Those that will not be companions with sinners in their mirth, nor eat of their dainties, may in faith pray not to be companions with them in their misery, nor to drink of their cup, their cup of trembling. III. David, with a holy humble confidence, commits himself to the grace of God, v. 11, 12. 1. He promises that by the grace of God he would persevere in his duty: "As for me, whatever others do, I will walk in my integrity." Note, When the testimony of our consciences for us that we have walked in our integrity is comfortable to us this should confirm our resolutions to continue therein. 2. He prays for the divine grace both to enable him to do so and to give him the comfort of it: "Redeem me out of the hands of my enemies, and be merciful to me, living and dying." Be we ever so confident of our integrity, yet still we must rely upon God's mercy and the great redemption Christ has wrought out, and pray for the benefit of them. 3. He pleases himself with his steadiness: "My foot stands in an even place, where I shall not stumble and whence I shall not fall." This he speaks as one that found his resolutions fixed for God and godliness, not to be shaken by the temptations of the world, and his comforts firm in God and his grace, not to be disturbed by the crosses and troubles of the world. 4. He promises himself that he should yet have occasion to praise the Lord, that he should be furnished with matter for praise, that he should have a heart for praises, and that, though he was now perhaps banished from public ordinances, yet he should again have an opportunity of blessing God in the congregation of his people. Those that hate the congregation of evil-doers shall be joined to the congregation of the righteous and join with them in praising God; and it is pleasant doing that in good company; the more the better; it is the more like heaven. |
