Indignant or Innocent

Vindicate me, O Lord,
    for I have walked in my integrity,
    and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
    test my heart and mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
    and I walk in faithfulness to you.

I do not sit with the worthless,
    nor do I consort with hypocrites;
I hate the company of evildoers
    and will not sit with the wicked.

I wash my hands in innocence
    and go around your altar, O Lord,
singing aloud a song of thanksgiving
    and telling all your wondrous deeds.

O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell
    and the place where your glory abides.
Do not sweep me away with sinners
    nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
those in whose hands are evil devices
    and whose right hands are full of bribes.But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
    redeem me and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
    in the great congregation I will bless the Lord. (Psalm 26 NRSV)

Psalm 26 is variously known as a psalm of innocence, complaint, or lament, sung by an individual who declares their faith in God and insists that they have been falsely accused of wrongdoing. John Calvin regarded it as an exemplar of personal piety. Orthodox priests recite the psalm as they wash their hands during the Divine Liturgy. Walter Brueggeman suggests readers view the psalms, in general, as an imaginative construction of a normative counterworld, a world in which hope and truth-telling and justice prevail, over and against the world in which goodness, truth, and beauty are most visible by their absence. 

Although there is no consensus on the formal structure of Psalm 26, it contains clear themes.  The psalmist repeatedly asserts their innocence and integrity in verses 1, 6, 11, and 12. “Vindicate me oh Lord, for I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.” Dissociation from evildoers, from hypocrites, and from worthless people is declared in verses 4, 5, 9, and 10. “Do not sweep me away with sinners nor my life with the bloodthirsty, those in whose hands are evil devices and whose right hands are full of bribes.” Finally, proclamations of faithfulness and trust in divine judgment are made in verses 1, 2, 3, 8, and 11. “Redeem me and be gracious to me.” The psalmist insists that they themselves are ritually pure and subsequently demands to be counted among the faithful, absolved of any kind of crime that could separate them from God. 

At first, as I read Psalm 26, the words do not fit neatly on my tongue. I want to know the story of this plaintiff who so angrily proclaims their integrity in sharp contrast to evildoers and hypocrites. Methinks he doth protest too much. 

Plenty of people, including those who promote political violence, claim to be blameless and paragons of integrity in a world in which truth-telling seems to be in short-supply. It is surprisingly easy to imagine the words of Psalm 26 in the mouth of former president Trump. A convicted felon on multiple counts, he loudly proclaimed in  response to guilty verdicts,  “I am a very innocent man.” There is certainly nothing humble about the psalmist bragging about their own impeccable behavior in contrast to evildoers.

Twice, the singer proclaims “I have walked in my integrity” in their self-defense. So what is integrity? The Hebrew word tom occurs in Job, Psalms, and Proverbs and seems to be related to perseverance under difficulty. Concordances link it to moral innocence as well as to “completeness.” This sense of “completeness” accords with the Quaker testimony on integrity as an alignment between one’s theological convictions and behavior. For members of the Religious Society of Friends this has included such risky practices as refusing to swear on Bibles in a courtroom (lest one suggest that it is OK to lie under other circumstances) or registering as a conscientious objector to war in affirmation that one abides by the Sixth Commandment and lives consistently “in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars.” These are examples of ways in which a faithful person might strive to behave so that their spiritual life and public life are both part of an integral, undivided whole.

The singer of Psalm 26 wants the world to know that not only do they talk the talk, but they walk the walk in contrast to the hypocrites who say one thing while doing another. The repeated professions of innocence and declarations that they are different from the evildoers raises an important question about how one might distinguish between integrity and a  “holier-than-thou” self-righteousness. 

In contrast to an integral and concerted striving to correct one’s own behavior when it falls short of the mark, self-righteousness is characterized by an apparent unwillingness to see, let alone tell the truth, about one’s own limitations and need for growth or improvement. If we read Psalm 26 as the testimony of a false witness, we can read the egocentric plaintiff in Psalm 26 as failing to acknowledge any shortcomings at all. They report only that they’ve been falsely accused and have immediately and completely dissociated from the dark side. Again, we have a contemporary example of categorical denial in former president Trump: “Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?”

Engaging Psalm 26 is a reminder of the rhetorical and political tension expressed by Abraham Lincoln when he hoped that he could, as a matter of integrity, be on God’s side, rather than fall into the blasphemous, self-righteous conviction that God would always be on his side. 

Perhaps it is a sign of jaded times that it is so easy to read Psalm 26 as false testimony, cynically doubting the integrity of this unknown witness who narrates their faithfulness and calls God to their side. This was my immediate reaction. But first impressions are subject to revision. As Paul Ricoeur writes in Essays on Biblical Interpretation, “Testimony gives something to be interpreted.” (122) In Liturgies from Below, Claudio Carvalhaes interprets Psalm 26 as counter-imperial testimony, naming violent politicians, gangs, and police as the ones from whom the singer seeks divine protection (162). The lives of innocent people, whose integrity may be disregarded by those in powerful social and political locations, cry out for vindication. This past week the state of Missouri executed a Black man, Marcellus Williams, who had been wrongfully convicted of murder based on the words of witnesses who were paid to testify against him. The state refused to vindicate him, even in the face of exonerating evidence. According to the Innocence Project, Williams steadfastly maintained that he did not commit the crime. 

What if Psalm 26, as a psalm of innocence and integrity, is read as the testimony of a man condemned to die by people whose hands are full of bribes? When human institutions have utterly failed to protect him, the prayer that God will offer grace and redemption is the only hope that remains. In this instance, an expectation of patience or gentleness undercuts the Biblical power of truth-telling and lamenting injustice. This is a reminder that it is essential to provide political and social as well as literary context for Scripture. Here is an argument for “both / and” rather than “either / or.” Scripture can be interpreted cynically, reflecting the bitterness of the world, or as the text of “a normative counterworld” – a ground of prophetic and life-affirming testimony in the face of death.