Part 1 Commentary on Psalm 15

The questions therefore are,

1. Who can be considered a fit member of the Church of Christ here below? and,

2. Who shall be made partakers of an endless glory? In answer to these questions, the character of what we may term a true Israelite, or a good Christian, is given in the following particulars:-

Verse 2. He that walketh uprightly

a. He walks perfectly. Who sets God before his eyes, takes his word for the rule of his conduct, considers himself a sojourner on earth, and is continually walking to the kingdom of God. He acts according to the perfections of God’s law; he has respect to all its parts, and feels the weight and importance of all its injunctions.

• As he is the creature of GOD, he has duties to perform to him. He owes God his heart: May son, give me thy heart; and should love him with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is giving GOD his due.
• As a member of civil society, he has various duties to perform to his fellows, as they have to him. He is to love them as himself, and do unto all men as he would they should do unto him.
• There are duties which he owes to himself. That his body may be in health, vigour, and activity, he should avoid every thing by which it might be injured, particularly all excesses in eating, drinking, sleeping, his soul may be saved, he should avoid all sin; all irregular and disorderly passions. He owes it to his soul to apply to God for that grace which produces repentance, faith, and holiness; and in order to get all these blessings, he should read, watch, pray, hear the word preached, and diligently use all the ordinances of God. He who acts not thus, defrauds both his body and soul: but the person in the text works righteousness-gives to all their due; and thus keeps a conscience void of offence, both towards God and man.

b. And worketh righteousness. He is not satisfied with a contemplative life; he has duties to perform. The law of righteousness has placed him in certain relations, and each of these relations has its peculiar duties. poel tsedek, the words here used, signify to give just weight, to render to all their dues.

• He is a true man; in him there is no false way.
• He is no man of pretenses; speaking one thing, and meaning another.
• He professes nothing but what he feels and intends; with him there are no hollow friendships, vain compliments, nor empty professions of esteem, love, regard, or friendship.
• His mouth speaks nothing but what his heart dictates. His heart, his tongue, and his hand, are all in unison. Hypocrisy, guile, and deceit, have no place in his soul.

Verse 3. He that backbiteth not with his tongue lo ragal al leshono, “he foots not upon his tongue.”

He is one who treats his neighbour with respect. He says nothing that might injure him in his character, person, or property; he forgets no calumny, he is author of no slander, he insinuates nothing by which his neighbour may be injured. The tongue, because of its slanderous conversation, is represented in the nervous original as kicking about the character of an absent person; a very common vice, and as destructive as it is common: but the man who expects to see God abhors it, and backbites not with his tongue. The words backbite and backbiter come from the Anglo-Saxon bac, the back, and {A.S.}, to bite.

How it came to be used in the sense it has in our language, seems at first view unaccountable; but it was intended to convey the treble sense of knavishness, cowardice, and brutality. He is a knave, who would rob you of your good name; he is a coward, that would speak of you in your absence what he dared not to do in your presence; and only an ill-conditioned dog would fly at and bite your back when your face was turned. All these three ideas are included in the term; and they all meet in the detractor and calumniator. His tongue is the tongue of a knave, a coward, and a dog. Such a person, of course, has no right to the privileges of the Church militant, and none of his disposition can ever see God.

• He not only avoids evil speaking, but he avoids also evil acting towards his neighbour.
• He speaks no evil of him; he does no evil to him; he does him no harm; he occasions him no wrong.
• On the contrary, he gives him his due. See under the second particular. See Clarke on Psalms 15:2.

Commentary on Psalm 15 ESV Study Bible