He that hath clean hands - In the parallel passage in Psalms 15:2, the answer to the question is, “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness.” The sentiment is substantially the same there as in the passage before us. The meaning is, that he who would be recognized as a friend and worshipper of Yahweh must be an upright man; a person not living in the practice of iniquity, but striving always to do that which is right. The “hands” are the instruments by which we accomplish anything; and hence, to have clean hands is equivalent to being upright. See Job 17:9; Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 59:3; Acts 2:23; Psalms 26:10. The margin here, as the Hebrew, is “the clean of hands.”
And a pure heart - Not merely the one whose external conduct is upright, but whose heart is pure. The great principle is here stated which enters always into true religion, that it does not consist in outward conformity to law, or to the mere performance of rites and ceremonies, or to external morality, but that it controls the heart, and produces purity of motive and of thought.
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity - Unto that which is “vain,” or which is “false.” This expression might refer to one who had not devoted himself to the worship of an idol - regarded as vain, or as nothing 1 Corinthians 8:6; Isaiah 41:24; Psalms 115:4-8; or to one who had not embraced that which is false and vain in opinion; or to one who had not sworn falsely, or taken the name of God in vain, Exodus 20:7. The probable meaning is, that he has not set his heart on vain things, or that which is false. He has sought after substantial truth, alike in the object of worship, in that which he professes to believe, and in the statements and promises which he makes to others. He aims to secure that which is true and real. He is in no sense “carried away” with that which is unreal and false.
Nor sworn deceitfully - This is one form of that which had been just specified - his love of truth. The idea here is, that he has not affirmed under the solemnities of an oath, that which was false; and that he has not, under similar solemnities, promised what he has not performed. He is a sincere man; a man seeking after the true and the real, and not running after shadows and falsehood; a man true to God and to his fellow-creatures; a man whose statements are in accordance with facts, and whose promises may be always relied on. In the parallel passage, in Psalms 15:2, the statement is, “he that speaketh the truth in his heart.” See the notes at that passage.