John Gill Commentary Psalms 17

Hear the right, O Lord
The psalmist appeals to the Lord as a Judge, sitting on the throne judging right, that he would hear his cause litigated between him and his adversaries, determine and give the decisive sentence about it; so Christ committed himself to him that judges righteously, (1 Peter 2:23); for by "right" may be meant his right and cause, or his righteous cause, as in (Psalms 9:4); unless rather his righteous prayer should be intended, so the Targum paraphrases it, "my prayer in righteousness"; not presented for the sake of his own righteousness, but on account of the righteousness of Christ, and for the vindication of his righteous cause before men: the Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, render it "my righteousness", meaning his righteous cause; but rather the word may be rendered "righteousness" ^F26, or the "righteous one", and may design the psalmist himself, who was a righteous person, and such the Lord hears; or Christ, whose name is the Lord our righteousness, (Jeremiah 23:6);

and who, as an advocate or intercessor for himself and for his people, is Jesus Christ the righteous, (1 John 2:1). The Septuagint version takes it to be an epithet of the Lord himself, translating it, "O Lord of my righteousness", as in (Psalms 4:1); and so the Syriac version, "hear, O holy Lord"; and in this manner does Christ address his father in prayer, (John 17:11John 17:25); and the consideration of the holiness and righteousness of God is of use in prayer to glory God, and to command a proper awe and reverence of him;

attend unto my cry ;
the word for "cry" signifies both a noise made in a way of joy and grief; wherefore the Chaldee paraphrase renders it, "attend to my praise", or hymn of praise, and which arises from sorrow and distress; and intends not mental prayer attended with groanings which cannot be uttered, but vocal prayer expressed in a loud and mournful manner, signifying the distress the person is in, and his earnestness and importunacy for help; and of this sort were some of Christ's prayers; see (Hebrews 5:7) ;

give ear unto my prayer, [that goeth] not out of feigned lips ;
hypocritical and deceitful ones; but this went forth from his heart, which was lifted up with his hands to God, to whom he drew nigh with a true heart, and called upon him in the sincerity and uprightness of his soul; and of this sort were all Christ's prayers, in whose mouth there is no guile: the various expressions, "hear, attend, give ear", which signify the same thing, show the distress the supplicant was in, the fervency of his prayer, and his vehement and earnest desire to be heard and answered immediately; and since the accent "athnach" is upon the word (ytlpt) , "my prayer", this last clause is not to be joined only to that, but refers to all that is said before; as that his "right" and his "cry", as well as his prayer, were unfeigned.

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: (qdu) "justitiam", Vatablus, Cocceius, Gejerus; (to dikaion) , Aquila in Drusius; "justitiam", i.e. "me qui sum justus", Piscator.

Let my sentence come forth from your presence
Not of condemnation, such as came forth from God and passed on Adam and all his posterity, (Romans 5:12Romans 5:18) ; though such an one was executed on Christ, as he was the surety and representative of his people; but of justification, which came forth from God and passed on Christ, when he rose from the dead, and upon his people in him, (1 Timothy 3:16) (Romans 4:25) . Here it chiefly designs the vindication of the innocence of the psalmist before men; and his request is, that as he was fully persuaded that he was clear of the things he was charged with in the sight of God, that he would openly and publicly make him appear so before men; that he would bring forth his righteousness as the light, and his judgment as the noonday, (Psalms 37:6) ; and of which he made no doubt but he would; so Christ, though he was traduced by men, knew he should be justified by his Father, and by his children, (Isaiah 50:8) (Matthew 11:19) ;

let your eyes behold the things that are equal ;
which is not to be understood barely of the eyes of his omniscience; for these behold things both equal and unequal, good and evil, things which agree and disagree with the law of God, the rule of righteousness and equity; but of his approbation of them, and that he would some way or other testify that approbation; for the petition intends the favouring of his just and equal cause, and making it to appear to be so.

You have proved my heart
This properly belongs to God, who is the searcher of the heart and reins, and is desired by all good men; and though God has no need to make use of any means to know the heart, and what is in it; yet in order to know, or rather to make known, what is in the hearts of his people, he proves them sometimes by adversity, as he did Abraham and Job, and sometimes by prosperity, by mercies given forth in a wonderful way, as to the Israelites in the wilderness, (Deuteronomy 8:2Deuteronomy 8:16) ; sometimes by suffering false prophets and false teachers to be among them, (Deuteronomy 13:3) ; and sometimes by leaving corruptions in them, and them to their corruptions, as he left the Canaanites in the land, and as he left Hezekiah to his own heart, (Judges 2:22) (3:1) (2 Chronicles 32:31) .

In one or other or more of these ways God proved the heart of David, and found him to be a man after his own heart; and in the first of these ways he proved Christ, who was found faithful to him that appointed him, and was a man approved of God;

you have visited [me] in the night ;
God visited and redeemed his people in the night of Jewish darkness; he visits and calls them by his grace in the night of unregeneracy; and so he visits with his gracious presence in the night of desertion; and he often visits by granting counsel, comfort, and support, in the night of affliction, which seems to be intended here; thus he visited the human nature of Christ in the midst of his sorrows and sufferings, when it was the Jews' hour and power of darkness. Elsewhere God is said to visit every morning, (Job 7:18) ;

you have tried me ;
as silver and gold are tried in the furnace; thus the people of God, and their graces in them, are tried by afflictions; so David was tried, and in this manner Christ himself was tried; wherefore he is called the tried stone, (Isaiah 28:16) ;

[and] shall find nothing ;
or "shall not find": which is variously supplied; some "your desire", or what is well pleasing to you, so Jarchi; or "you have not found me innocent", as Kimchi; others supply it quite the reverse, "and iniquity is not found in me", as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions; or "you have not found iniquity in me", as the Syriac and Arabic versions; to which agrees the Chaldee paraphrase, "and you have not found corruption"; which must be understood, not as if there was no sin and corruption in David; for he often makes loud complaints and large confessions of his sins, and earnestly prays for the forgiveness of them; but either that there was no sin in his heart which he regarded, (Psalms 66:18) ; which he nourished and cherished, which he indulged and lived in; or rather there was no such crime found in him, which his enemies charged him with; see (Psalms 7:3Psalms 7:4) .

This is true of Christ in the fullest sense; no iniquity was ever found in him by God, by men or devils, (John 14:30) (1 Peter 2:22) ; and also of his people, as considered in him, being justified by his righteousness, and washed in his blood, (Jeremiah 50:20) ; though otherwise, as considered in themselves, they themselves find sin and corruption abounding in them, (Romans 7:18Romans 7:21) ;

I am purposed [that] my mouth shall not transgress ;
by murmuring against God, on account of his visitation and fiery trials, or by railing at men for their false charges and accusations; this resolution was taken up by the psalmist in the strength of divine grace, and was kept by him, (Psalms 39:9) ; so Christ submitted himself patiently to the will of God without repining, and when reviled by men reviled not again, (Luke 22:42) (1 Peter 2:23) ; and from hence may be learned, that the laws of God may be transgressed by words as well as by works, and that the one as well as the other should be guarded against; see (Psalms 39:1) .

Concerning the works of men
Of wicked men, as to what respects and concerns them, or in the midst of them; in the midst of a wicked generation of men, and their filthy conversation; who appear to be so,

by the word of your lips ;
the law of God, the Scriptures of truth, the rule and standard of faith and practice, which show what works are good and what are not; by the use, help, and benefit of this;

I have kept [me from] the paths of the destroyer ;
such is the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning; antichrist, whose name is Abaddon and Apollyon, both which signify a destroyer; false teachers, and all wicked men: the "paths" of such are their wicked principles and practices, their damnable errors and heresies, their sins and lusts, which make up the broad road that leads to destruction: these the psalmist "kept" or "observed" ^F1 , for the words "me" and "from" are not in the original text; and the sense is, that he took notice of them, and avoided them, and, as a faithful prince and magistrate, forbad his subjects walking in them, and restrained them from them, making the word of God the rule of his conduct.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: (ytrmv) "custodivi", Pagninus, Montanus; "observavi", Musculus, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus; so Ainsworth; "vel prohibui", Muis.

Hold up my goings in thy paths Which being spoken by David in his own person, and for himself, shows that he was conscious of his own weakness to keep himself in the ways of God, and to direct his steps therein; and that he was sensible of, the need he stood in of divine power to uphold and support him in them;

[that] my footsteps slip not ; out of the paths of truth and duty, of faith and holiness; of which there is danger, should a man be left to himself, and destitute of divine direction and aid; see (Psalms 73:2) (Jeremiah 10:23) ; and though Christ had no moral weakness in him, and was in no danger of falling into sin, or slipping out of the ways of God; yet these words may be applied to him in a good sense, as considered in human nature, and attended with the sinless infirmities of it, he being God's servant, whom he upheld, and of whom he gave his angels charge to keep him in all his ways, (Isaiah 42:1) (Psalms 91:11) .