I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
The verse belongs to a vow to walk inside the house with a perfect heart. It means setting no wicked thing before the eyes and refusing to look upon wickedness, hating and rejecting the work of those who turn aside from what is right, and not allowing it to cling to the person. It is a vow for all who guard the influences of the home and are responsible for the young, requiring them to guard those influences and keep the young from learning evil alongside good, because evil can grow faster than good and may be difficult to remove. It calls every family to solemnly seek the Lord, with fathers and mothers awakened to their individual responsibility, and it requires diligent work with no time squandered foolishly, because heaven is to be won and eternal life is to be gained.
Together with the preceding verse it teaches that faithfulness and integrity must mark the character. The psalm was sung while working at the carpenter's trade when companions criticized exactness, saying there was no need to be so particular and work could be done with less exactitude to save time, with the criticism answered by song instead of argument. It was also sung when a quarrel arose instead of stopping to argue or justify the course taken, and the spirit of the song touched the hearts of those present so that they forgot differences of opinion and angry words and joined in singing praise. Singing the psalm in the same way hides the singer in Christ and makes him a partaker of the divine nature.
The verse belongs to a vow to walk inside the house with a perfect heart. It means setting no wicked thing before the eyes and refusing to look upon wickedness, hating and rejecting the work of those who turn aside from what is right, and not allowing it to cling to the person. It is a vow for all who guard the influences of the home and are responsible for the young, requiring them to guard those influences and keep the young from learning evil alongside good, because evil can grow faster than good and may be difficult to remove. It calls every family to solemnly seek the Lord, with fathers and mothers awakened to their individual responsibility, and it requires diligent work with no time squandered foolishly, because heaven is to be won and eternal life is to be gained.
Together with the preceding verse it teaches that faithfulness and integrity must mark the character. The psalm was sung while working at the carpenter's trade when companions criticized exactness, saying there was no need to be so particular and work could be done with less exactitude to save time, with the criticism answered by song instead of argument. It was also sung when a quarrel arose instead of stopping to argue or justify the course taken, and the spirit of the song touched the hearts of those present so that they forgot differences of opinion and angry words and joined in singing praise. Singing the psalm in the same way hides the singer in Christ and makes him a partaker of the divine nature.