Psalms 12
BBCPsalms 12:1
Psalm 12: The Words of Men and of God12:1 The general decline of faithfulness among men, especially in their speech, evokes the prayer of verse 1: Lord, come to my rescue; piety is dead; in a base world, true hearts have gone rare (Knox). 12:2 Three specific charges are then leveled against the faithless generation: LiesThey are guilty not only of blatant forms of deceit, but of white lies, half-truths, exaggerations and broken promises. FlatteryThey heap insincere compliments on others. Praise is not the same as flattery; it only becomes flattery when it ascribes virtues to a person which he is known not to possess. And flattery usually has some sinister or selfish motive. Two-facednessThey think one thing and say something quite different. Like Machiavelli, they practice duplicity and intrigue. 12:3, 4 The age-long sigh of God’s true saints is that the LORD Himself will silence the ungodly’s flattering lipsthat He will immobilize the tongues of those who boast that their principles will prevail, that they have full freedom to say whatever they want, regardless of what anybody thinks. 12:5, 6 In response to the groan of the poor and needy, the LORD promises to arise and “grant them the salvation for which they thirst” (Gelineau). And what He has promised He will surely perform. His promises are pure . . . , like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven timesin other words, like the purest silver known. There is no deceit, no flattery, no double meaning, no error in God’s words. They can be fully trusted. 12:7 So the believer instinctively turns to the LORD for protection from this generationprotection not only from its attacks but from any form of compromise or complicity with it. 12:8 The last verse is a description of “this generation"the wicked generation which is continually on the prowl, exalting vileness and scoffing at virtue. It is the same generation described in Pro_30:11-14 : There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother. There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness. There is a generationoh, how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and whose fangs are like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.