Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
I will early destroy ... - Hebrew, "In the mornings I will destroy." That is, It shall be my first business as I enter upon the day. Possibly, also, by the use of the plural here - "in the mornings" - there may be the idea that this would be his constant rule of conduct: he would do it every day; he would do it morning by morning. He would on no day - at no time - allow the wicked to be in his service. This rule would be unvarying. It would extend through his life. The word "destroy" here may refer not only to his conduct as a man, and as the head of a family, but to the act of a magistrate; and the idea may be, that the rule which he prescribed for himself in his own house was a rule which he would carry with him into public: that is, as the psalm was composed by David, that, as a king and sovereign, it should be his aim to carry those principles to the throne; that, in respect to the state, he would do what he purposed to do in his home-relations. The strict and stern regard for truth, sincerity, honesty, fidelity, which he would evince in the one case he would evince in the other; carrying to the high employments of public life, where there were so many temptations to a contrary course, the inflexible virtues which were needful for peace, for happiness, and for success in domestic life.
That I may cut off - By discountenancing them; by punishing them if they are guilty.
All wicked doers - All violators of law.
From the city of the Lord - From Jerusalem, the place where God dwelt, and which was sacred to his service. See Psalms 46:4, note; Psalms 48:2, note; Psalms 48:8, note. Happy is the man at the head of a family - happy is the magistrate - who adopts for himself, and who faithfully carries out the principles laid down by the author of this psalm - divinely inspired to adopt such rules for himself, and to suggest them for others in all ages.
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