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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
16:3-4 My Preferred Company: The Godly. There is a contrast between "the saints," in whom is all my delight (v. 3), and those who run after another god (v. 4; idolaters, among whom would be unfaithful Israelites), whose practices the faithful will shun.
16:3 the saints. That is, the holy ones. All Israel is holy in the sense of being consecrated to the God who is himself holy; this does not guarantee, however, that every member of Israel will actually live out his holy status, and thus the command to "be holy" (Lev. 20:7-8). Here, the saints are those who have actually embraced their privilege; these are the ones whom the faithful singers should esteem, and whose company they should prefer.
16:4 The psalmist utterly refuses to participate in idolatrous practices (probably carried out by unfaithful Israelites). Their names probably refers to the names of the false gods being worshiped rather than the names of the idolaters.
