(17) Thou triest the heart.--Psalm 11:4; Psalm 7:9; Psalm 26:2. Hast pleasure in.--1Chronicles 28:4, 1Chronicles 29:3. (Comp. also 1Chronicles 28:9.) Uprightness.--Or, sincerity (mesh?rim, Song of Solomon 1:4). In the uprightness (y?sher), integrity (Deuteronomy 9:5),, a synonym of mesh?rim. Both literally mean straightness: e.g., of a road (Proverbs 2:13; Proverbs 23:31). The connexion of ideas is this: Thou that lookest upon the heart knowest that my offering has been made without grudging and without hypocrisy; my motive was not my own interest, but Thy glory. Hence my joyful thanksgiving, because of the free generosity of Thy people. Which are present here.--Literally, Who have found themselves here (reflexive verb). (So 2Chronicles 5:11, and other places.) Verse 17. - It may very possibly be that the stress with which David here says, I know, had its special cause. The thought of God as one who "tried" the heart is one often brought out in David's psalms, but a strong conviction of it may have been wrought in David's mind by Samuel's rehearsal of the language God used to him at the very time of the election of David from amid all the other of Jesse's sons (1 Samuel 16:7). 29:10-19 We cannot form a right idea of the magnificence of the temple, and the buildings around it, about which such quantities of gold and silver were employed. But the unsearchable riches of Christ exceed the splendour of the temple, infinitely more than that surpassed the meanest cottage on earth. Instead of boasting of these large oblations, David gave solemn thanks to the Lord. All they gave for the Lord's temple was his own; if they attempted to keep it, death would soon have removed them from it. They only use they could make of it to their real advantage, was, to consecrate it to the service of Him who gave it.I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart,.... Searchest it, and knowest it perfectly, whether what is done is from it:and hast pleasure in uprightness; in what is done in sincerity and uprightness of heart: as for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things; for the truth of which he could appeal to the heart searching God: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee; he judged by what they did, and their manner of doing it, that it was done in the uprightness of their hearts also, as his were, which gave him sensible joy and pleasure. |