Vindication, Psalm 26

Psalm 26: 1 NASB: Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity,
And I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

VINDICATE from Hebrew shaphat: pronounce sentence on me (favorably), prove me correct, support me, justify me.

Psalm 26 was probably written when Saul and his men were chasing him around the wilderness, seeking to murder him, and slandering him to everybody who would listen while they were at it. Vindication might not mean as much to us if we weren't standing in a courtroom. Or reading an audit from the IRS. Or running from an angry lynch mob, as the young David also was.

But there are times when vindication will be the most important thing in our lives...

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In Hemingway's last great work, "The Old Man and the Sea," the elderly fisherman Santiago has a faithful young apprentice, Manolin. The younger, stronger fishermen in the village, with their better equipment, don't think much of Santiago -- they weren't there when Santiago made his reputation.

Manolin's parents also twist his arm to sign on with a better teacher than Santiago. But Manolin likes Santiago's company and his stories, and has faith in the old man.

84 days of fishing drought hit. Santiago has taken little or nothing for three months. Things become desperate. Santiago, raging against the dying of the light, tells Manolin that the next day, he will do some real fishing...

Santiago takes his little skiff far, far out into the gulf, and once he finds the area he wants, puts his bait out. By noon of the first day, he gets a hit. A hit? No, an explosion: a giant marlin has taken his bait.

The marlin drags Santiago's skiff around for two days, until on the third day, it flounders up to the skiff and Santiago sticks a harpoon in it. Santiago starts the long journey back to the village. The marlin's flesh, of course, will be worth a fortune back in the village.

A mako shark appears, and when it starts attacking Santiago's precious catch, he kills it with the harpoon -- but loses his harpoon in the process. More sharks arrive. Santiago fastens his knife to an oar and kills many more. But the sharks continue to tear at his precious flesh.

When Santiago finally does get back to the village, it is late night. His giant marlin is now a skeleton. A tragedy by Hemingway? If you think so, you've misread the master's intent completely...

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Santiago goes back to his room and collapses on his bed. The next morning, he awakes and finds ... a crowd and commotion surrounding his skiff. The village has gone berserk around his boat. A young man pulls the marlin skeleton up and measures it at, IIRC, 18 feet.

The book ends with Manolin respectfully sitting at Santiago's feet as Santiago barks instructions for the preparation for their next fishing trip.

Hemingway's master stroke? The old man received exactly nothing from the sea -- except vindication. Hemingway brought his point into laser focus with this twist. The old man didn't want a reputation that he didn't actually deserve: he just wanted the new generation to realize that he *had,* in fact, learned a thing or two about fishing.

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David writes Psalm 26 when Saul is trying to murder him. Can he take his problem to Israel's courts? Saul IS the supreme judge in Israel.

When fatigued by the unfairness of men... when wrongly insulted... we can file a case with the Throne of truth.

DID God vindicate David? DID the day come when David stood on the palace porch, looking out over the teeming crowds of Israel, and Saul laid buried and forgotten?

God stands ready always to vindicate the Christian who walks in his integrity. Vindication isn't about being given a reputation that is undeserved: it is about being treated fairly, and with dignity, when we *do* deserve it.

Warmly,
Jeff