Psalms 36:2

For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,.... There are many self-flatterers; some on account of their worldly estate, that they are out of the reach of God and men, and regard neither; and that as

For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

For; so this is the proof of that assertion, . Or, although; and so it is an anticipation of an objection against it. He flattereth himself in his own eyes; he deceiveth himself with vain and false persuasions, either, 1. Concerning God, that he doth not see or mind his sins, or that he will not punish them. Or, 2. Concerning himself and his sins; either that they are not sins, which a mind bribed by passion and interest can easily believe; or that they are but small and venial sins; or that they will be excused, if not justified by honest intentions, or by outward professions and exercises of religion, or by some good actions, wherewith he thinks to make some compensation for them, or some other way. Otherwise thus, he flattereth him (i.e. God) in his eyes, i.e. openly and publicly makes a show of religion, as if he designed to deceive or mock God, whilst inwardly and secretly he is projecting wickedness. But it seems better to understand the last word reciprocally of his own eyes, as the same word is used in the end of the foregoing verse. Until his iniquity be found to be hateful, i.e. until God by some dreadful judgment undeceive him, and find, i.e. discover or make him and others to find and feel by experience, that it is a sin, and a very hateful one too. Or, until his abominable iniquity be found out, i.e. punished, as the same word and phrase is used, , Your sin shall find you out, i.e. bring you to condign punishment. In the Hebrew it is, to find out his iniquity to hate. But active verbs are oft taken passively, of which there are plain instances, 51:6, compared with ; and so here, to find, is put for to be found; and to hate, for to be hated, or to be hateful.

Psalms 36:2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.Ver. 2. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes] This is the first proof of the foregoing charge and the fountain of all the foregoing exorbitances. See the like 2 Timothy 3:2; there self-love brings all out of order, here self-flattery. Sibi palpum obtrudit, he stroketh himself on the head, and saith, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst, and rebellion to sin, Deuteronomy 29:19. Thus he sootheth and smootheth up himself, neither shall any one persuade him but that his penny is as good silver as the best of them all. Thus he calleth evil good and good evil; and, proudly bolstering himself in his sinful practices, he maketh a bridge of his own shadow, and so falleth into the ditch of destruction. Until his iniquity be found to be hateful] Till God by his judgments uncase him, and men, out of utter hatred of his execrable practices, tell him his own to his teeth. Thus Stephen Gardiner, being charged of cruelty by Mr Bradford, answered in open court, I, for my part, have been challenged for being too gentle oftentimes; which thing Bonnet confirmed, and so did almost all the audience, that he had ever been too mild and moderate. But Doctor Taylor told him another tale, when he said to him, How dare you for shame look me or any Christian man in the face, seeing you have forsaken the truth, denied our Saviour Christ, done contrary to your oath? &c. So Bonner, They report me, said he to the lord mayor, to seek blood, and call me Bloody Bonner; whereas God knows I never sought any man’ s blood in all my life. To whom Mr Smith, the martyr, answered, Why, my lord, do you put on this fair vizor before my lord mayor, to make him believe that you seek not my blood, to cloak your murders through my stoutness, as you call it? Have you not had my brother Tomkins before you, whose hand when you had burnt most cruelly, you burnt his whole body; and not only of him, but of a great many of Christ’ s members? &c. So, upon the martyrdom of Master Philpot, a certain unknown good woman in a letter to Bonner wrote thus: Indeed, you are called the common cutthroat and general slaughter slave to all the bishops of England; and therefore it is wisdom for me and all other simple sheep of the Lord to keep us out of your butchery stall as long as we can, especially since you have such store already that you are not able to drink all their blood, lest you should break your belly; and therefore you let them lie still, and die for hunger, &c.

(2) For he flattereth . . .—Literally, For he (or, it) makes smooth to him in his eyes to find out his evil to hate. (See margin.) A sentence of great difficulty. We must seek for the key to the interpretation of these words in the balance of the two phrases, “before his eyes,” “in his own eyes,” and must take the two verses together. They form, in fact, an example of introverted parallelism. (See Gen. Introduction.) Sin is the wicked man’s oracle in his heart; No fear of God is before his eyes; He makes all smooth to himself in his eyes. As to the discovery of his guilt that is his hate; Or, The discovery of his guilt is the only thing he hates. This reading takes the two infinitives as subject and complement with the copula understood. It would be strange if Hebrew, which, above all languages, makes the infinitive do duty in various ways, offered no instance of such a use. (For matsa aven in the sense of the discovery of guilt, comp. Genesis 44:16; Hosea 12:8, etc.)

Verse 2. For he flattereth himself] He is ruled by the suggestion already mentioned; endeavours to persuade himself that he may safely follow the propensities of his own heart, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. He sins so boldly, that at last he becomes detestable. Some think the words should be thus understood: "He smootheth over in his own eyes with respect to the finding out of his iniquity, to hate it. That is, he sets such a false gloss in his own eyes upon his worst actions, that he never finds out the blackness of his iniquity; which were it perceived by him, would be hateful even to himself." - Bishop Horsley.

2. A much disputed verse. Three renderings of the first line deserve consideration. (1) Taking the wicked man as the subject, we may render as the A.V. (2) Taking Transgression as the subject, we may render, For It flattereth him in his eyes. (3) Taking God as the subject, we may render, For He flattereth him in his eyes. The third rendering, whether it is explained to mean, ‘God treats him gently, so he imagines,’ (Cheyne) or, ‘God’s threatenings seem to him mere idle words,’ can hardly be supported by the usage of the word. The first agrees best with the reading my heart in Psalms 36:1, giving the ground of the Psalmist’s conviction expressed there. But if the better reading, his heart, is adopted, the second rendering gives the best connexion. It explains how Transgression goes to work. It ‘speaks smooth things and prophesies deceits’ to him, concerning the finding out of his iniquity and hating it, i.e. as R.V., That his iniquity shall not be found out and be hated: dragged to light in order to be punished, and exposed in its true hatefulness. The word find out is frequently used of detection with a view to punishment. See Psalms 17:3 : 1 Kings 1:52.

For he flattereth himself in his own eyes - He puts such an exalted estimate on himself; he so overrates himself and his own ability in judging of what is right and proper, that he is allowed to

2. He flattereth himself—He has made it smooth to himself; that is, his false and hypocritical reasonings have made the way of transgression smooth by making sin a trifle.