Psalms 24:4

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart,.... Though "clean hands" are mentioned first, as being more obvious to view, and better known, and more subject to the cognizance and observation of

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. Clean hands, and a pure heart.

Whose actions and conversations are holy and unblamable. It is here very observable, that the character of a right and acceptable worshipper of God is not taken from his nation and relation to Abraham, nor from all those costly and laborious rites and ceremonies of the law, in which the generality of the Israelites pleased themselves, but in moral and spiritual duties, which most of them grossly neglected. A pure heart; purged from hypocrisy and inward filthiness, and careful to approve itself to God as well as to men, ordering a man’ s very thoughts and affections according to God’ s word. This is fitly added, because a man may keep his hands clean in good measure upon mere worldly motives, or with an evil design, or without any respect to God. Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity; either, 1. Who doth not worship idols, which are oft called vanities in Scripture. Or, 2. Who doth not swear vainly or falsely, the phrase here being much the same with that in the third commandment, of taking God’ s name in vain. But that seems to be a quite differing phrase, and the name of God there mentioned determines the sense of that general phrase to oaths, which without that addition, or something equivalent, is never to my knowledge used in Scripture in that sense. Nor do all those learned men who so expound this place give one instance of that signification of this phrase. And for their other argument for that sense, that this clause is conjoined with the next by the conjunction vau, and therefore is to be explained by it, it seems to have no weight, because thesameconjunctionjoinsthetwofirstcharacterstogether, and yet it is confessedthat cleanhands and a pureheart are two distinct and very differingthings. Orrather, 3. Who doth not immoderately value and affect, or ardently desire, the vain things of this present life and world, such as honours, riches, pleasures, and the like, which are oft called vain things or vanities in Scripture, as 119:37 12:8. And this is very fitly mentioned as a character of a truly goodman, because hereby he is distinguished from all ungodly men whatsoever, whose inseparable property this is, both in the Old and New Testament, noted to be, to love vanity, and to set their hearts chiefly upon the good things of this life, such as corn and wine, ,6,7; and to have their portion in this life, ; and to mind earthly things, ; and to be friends of the world, ; and to love the world, and the things of the world, .

Psalms 24:4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.Ver. 4. He that hath clean hands] The clean in hands, that is, of innocent and unblamable conversation; debet esse purus corde, ore, opere, saith Kimchi; he must not touch that unclean thing, 2 Corinthians 6:17. Non magna munera, sed immunis manus mensque sincera Deo placent. Men must lift up pure hands in prayer, 1 Timothy 2:8, or else their incense will stink of the hand that offereth it, Isaiah 1:13. Immunis aram si tetigit manus (Horat.). Those that draw near to God must not only have their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, but their bodies also washed with pure water, Hebrews 10:22. And a pure heart] Which, while Pilate wanted, it nothing profited him to wash his hands in the presence of the people. Heaven is a holy place; and they that would go thither must cleanse themselves from "all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God," 2 Corinthians 7:1. The serpent could screw himself into Paradise; but no unclean creature ever came into God’ s kingdom. The citizens of heaven must here affect purity of heart, aim at it, and in some measure attain to it too; the old frame of impure motions being dissolved, &c. Who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity] i.e. Ad idols vel opes, saith one, that is, to idols or riches, Jeremiah 22:27, but hath lifted it up in the ways of the Lord, as Jehoshaphat did, 2 Chronicles 17:6, and David, Psalms 25:1, not heeding or hankering after the world’ s delights or the devil’ s delusions. Some write the word Shau, signifying vanity, with a little Vau, ad indicandum quod minima vanitas est vitanda, &c., to show that he who would dwell in God’ s holy mountain must carefully avoid the least vanity, that is, keeping God’ s commandment as the apple of his eye, that will bear no jests, Proverbs 7:2. Some, for his soul, read my soul; he hath not taken in vain my soul, that is, saith R. Obadiah, That soul inspired by God (which I also have received), he taketh not in vain, he misemployeth not to iniquity, but consecrateth to the service of God, whose image and superscription it beareth. Nor hath sworn deceitfully] Or inured his tongue to any other kind of the language of hell, rotten communication, to the dishonouring of God, or deceiving of others. Perjury is here instanced for the rest, as one of the most heinous. But Geraldus reckoneth up four and twenty different sins of the tongue; all which every inhabitant of the new Jerusalem is careful to avoid, as the devil’ s drevil, no way becoming his pure lip.

(4) His soul.—The Hebrew margin is “my soul,” a reading confirmed by the Alexandrian Codex of the LXX. The Rabbis defend it by saying soul here = name (comp. Amos 6:8; Jeremiah 51:14), and to lift up to vanity = to take in vain.Vanity.—Evidently, from the parallelism, in the sense of falsehood, as in Job 31:5. Deceitfully.—Literally, to fraud, from a root meaning to trip up. The LXX. and Vulg. add (from Psalms 15) “to his neighbour.”

Verse 4. He that hath clean hands] He whose conscience is irreproachable; whose heart is without deceit and uninfluenced by unholy passions. Who hath not lifted up his soul] Who has no idolatrous inclination; whose faith is pure, and who conscientiously fulfils his promises and engagements.

4. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart] He who is innocent of violence and wrong-doing (Psalms 18:20; Psalms 18:24); nay, innocent even in thought and purpose as well as in deed. Cp. Psalms 73:1; Matthew 5:8. Who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity] i.e. who is true and faithful to Jehovah. ‘To lift up the soul’ means to direct the mind towards (Psalms 25:1), to set the heart upon (Deuteronomy 24:15), to desire (Hosea 4:8). ‘Vanity’ denotes what is transitory (Job 15:31), false and unreal (Psalms 12:2), or sinful (Isaiah 5:18), and may even designate false gods (Psalms 31:6). It includes all that is unlike or opposed to the nature of God. The traditional reading (Qrç) however is, my soul (so too Cod. Alex. of the LXX.). This reading must be rendered, Who hath not taken me in vain. God speaks; and the words are an echo of Exo 20:7, with my soul (= my being) substituted for my name. But this explanation is forced, and cannot be defended even by Amos 6:8, and Jeremiah 51:14, where God is said to swear ‘by His soul’ = by Himself. nor sworn deceitfully] R.V., and hath not sworn deceitfully. The paraphrase of P.B.V., ‘nor sworn to deceive his neighbour,’ which follows the LXX and Vulg., gives the sense rightly. He has been true to his neighbour, as well as to God. Cp. Psalms 15:4.

He that hath clean hands - In the parallel passage in Psalms 15:2, the answer to the question is, “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness.” The sentiment is substantially the same there as in the passage before us.

4. Clean hands—An emblem of innocence from overt sin, as a pure heart, in the next sentence, is of purity of thought, purpose, and intention.See Job 17:9; Matthew 27:24; 1 Timothy 2:8.