Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.
Psalms 26:1-12.-David's appeal to God for deliverance on the ground of on the ground of his integrity and trust (Psalms 26:1); his heart, if examined, will prove this; his walk in God's truth, shunning the bad; his love to God's house, where he goes in innocency (Psalms 26:2-8); prayer that his soul may not be gathered with sinners in down, as his walk and theirs are so diverse (Psalms 26:9-11); confident that his standing is sure, he blesses Yahweh (Psalms 26:12) As in Psalms 25:1-22 he pleaded the Lord's mercy, so in Psalms 26:1-12 his judicial righteousness, which must distinguish the godly from the ungodly in their respective lots.
Judge me, O Lord ... therefore I shall not slide. As the second and third clauses the verse correspond, so the first and fourth. As, then, the first clause is a prayer, "Judge me," resting on the petitioner's "integrity" toward his fellow-men (the second table of the law), so the fourth clause ought to be translated, 'let me not slide,' resting on the petitioner's 'trust in the Lord' (the first table) (Psalms 18:36; Psalms 37:31): "Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine (habitual) integrity." 'Let me not slide,' for "I have trusted in the Lord." The latter prayer is answered at Psalms 26:12, "My foot standeth in an even place" - i:e., hath a sure footing. The former is answered virtually in the thanksgiving, "in the congregations will I bless the Lord." "Judge me" is, in the case of one of blameless "integrity," equivalent to "vindicate my cause." "Redeem me" from my troubles and foes (Psalms 26:11). Only Messiah could use such a prayer in the full sense: in a limited sense His people can use it, as sincere in their trust toward God, and in their endeavours to walk blamelessly toward men.