Psalms 101: The king’s house is the first place to be examined

Psalm 101 begins where public authority is easiest to fake and hardest to test: at home. The ruler sings of mercy and judgment, but before he speaks about removing liars, slanderers, or wicked people from the city, he places his own heart, eyes, and household under examination. The Book of Psalms makes access to power part of the moral question. Who is watched, welcomed, believed, and allowed to remain nearby matters because private company becomes public administration. The closing language is severe, but the chapter never turns its pledges into a report card proving that every promise was fulfilled. It gives the declared standard of a ruler who wants the city of the LORD governed by the same integrity he claims for his own house.