ARE YOUR HANDS CLEAN?

This psalm is recorded twice, here and in 2 Samuel 22. David commences by praising God for His wonderful deliverances, vv. 1-3. These deliverances he then proceeds to describe in strong poetical figures, vv. 4-19. These deliverances have not only been acts of mercy, he states, but acts of righteousness, vv. 20-24. These reasons for his deliverances are based upon the character of God and the principles of His moral government. These verses must have been written before David’s sad fall, Psa. 51. After this fall, the tone is different, yet then, too, there is the acknowledgement of the dread power of sin, so that the psalmist prays to be kept from his iniquity; he recognizes an inward tendency to sin, an inherent sinfulness, but he kept himself on guard against it.

Twice in verses 20-24 the psalmist refers to “the cleanness of my hands”. The Lord rewarded him, i.e., dealt with him on this basis. He repeats the claim in verse 24. The hands are instruments of action. The hands of some were “full of blood”, Isa. 1. 15, but the Lord would not hear such men, 59. 1-3. By cleanness of hands, he means the innocence of his conduct. It is the person who has clean hands who ascends into the hill of the Lord, and who stands in His holy place, Psa. 24. 3, 4. Those who compass the altar are those who have washed their hands in innocency, Psa. 26. 6. The substantiation of the psalmist’s claim comes in verses 20-23.

The righteousness claimed in verse 24 is not an absolute perfection or an entire exemption from all sinful infirmity, but with a faith in God’s mercy, and with a sincere controlling desire to do His will. It is no vainglorious boasting of his own merits, but a testimony to the faithfulness of God to guard and reward His faithful servants. He does not claim perfection, but a single-hearted sincerity in his devotion to God: compare his own testimony, 1 Sam. 26. 23, God’s testimony, 1 Kings 14. 8, and the testimony of history, 1 Kings 11. 4; 15. 5, to his essential integrity.

God deals with His servants according to their righteousness, in that sin that is cherished separates from Him, and forces His love to leave cries for help unanswered. This is permitted, so His people may have a wholesome fear of straying from Himself.