Ps. 101 (excising deception)

No one / has lived at my court
who acts deceitfully
none who speaks lies / has stayed long
before my eyes. 

Perhaps we should put it this way: wisdom is something in both space and in time. The first section of the poem, in some sense, focuses on the ‘space’ that wisdom inhabits—evil should not be close to, cling to or be before the wise man. Likewise, the good is something that should ‘surround’ and ‘abide with’ the wise king. Here, we see, along with the previous verse, how wisdom inhabits time. For the good—as in the previous verse—it should “live with” the king and “minister” to him. Here, that is reversed as to the wicked—they “do not live” in the court nor do they “stay long” before him. There is a deeper insight to this. In these verses we are, again, in the realm of deception and lies. It is due to the nature of these vices as ‘festering’ vices that we are now concerned with their temporal aspect. It has occurred before—when the king discovered “secret slandering against associates”, he silenced them (vs. 5). The reason is important—acts of deception are ‘slow moving’ and are most destructive because of their abiding, but plodding, growth. Once they are established, their effect is broad ranging and very difficult to uproot. They are, like weeds. This is why the king must act decisively and quickly against that which ‘feeds off of time’ (deception). There is, in other words, no ‘tolerance’ for evil. Once the king has discerned the deception, he excises those who perpetrate it.