The first line of this psalm is known to many - "The earth is the Lord's and all that it is in it." That doesn't mean we always act like it. From abuse of the earth through pollution to acting as though we can do anything we want cause, "it's mine and I earned it and my neighbors, government, (insert favorite figure you love to hate) can just go stuff it."
It is interesting after just being reminded that God owns it all the psalmist turns to a discussion about clean hands and pure hearts. Intent seems to matter to God. Falsehood and deceit get a very, very bad review in the scriptures. Lying to God is just not a good idea.
The fact that many of the psalms were actually poetry and likely may have been sung can be seen in the final verses where we get a call/response set of lines. Imagine two choirs (likely all male, sorry ladies but this was definitely a sexist world) singing this back and forth. Wonder if anybody who had been less than honest thought that week suddenly remembered they might have forgotten to tie up the donkey and slipped out?
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