Psalms 52

We are not all alike temptable. There are some with sweet temper and equable disposition whom nothing disturbs. God seems to have sheltered them by their very nature from the power of evil. Then there are others whose natures seem to be open on all sides, exposed to every danger. To live truly costs them fierce struggles every day. The easily-tempted ones are they to whom Christ’s sympathy and helpfulness go out in most tender interest. He singles out the one from every circle that is most liable to fall, and makes special intercession for that one. Even the Johns, with their gentle loveliness, receive less of help from the Master than do the fiery Peters.

Our very sins, if we repent of them, will be used of God to help in the growth and upbuilding of our character. If we are Christ’s true followers, even our defeats shall become blessings to us, stepping-stones on which we may climb higher. This is one of the marvels of Divine grace that it can make all things work together for good. J. R. M.

FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN. MASCHIL OF DAVID: WHEN DOEG THE EOOMITE CAME AND TOLD SAUL, AND SAID UNTO HIM, DAVID IS COME TO THE HOUSE OF AHIMELECH.

1. WHY boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? The mercy of God endureth continually. 2 Thy tongue deviseth very wickedness; Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. 3 Thou lovest evil more than good: And lying rather than to speak righteousness. [Selah] 4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. 5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, He shall take thee up, and pluck thee out of thy tent, And root thee out of the land of the living. [Selah]

6. The righteous also shall see it, and fear, And shall laugh at him, saying, 7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; But trusted in the abundance of his riches, And strengthened himself in his wickedness. 8 But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. 9 I will give thee thanks for ever, because thou hast done it: And I will wait on [hope in] thy name, for it is good, in the presence of thy saints.

VARIOUS attempts have been made to find some other probable occasion for this Psalm than that mentioned in the title. But they have all failed. It is connected with the dastardly act of Doeg, the keeper of Saul’s asses, informing the king of Ahimelech’s kind treatment of David, as related in 1 Sam. 22 : 9. It resulted in the slaughter of eighty-five priests, with many men, women, and children in a priestly city. In fact, by the command of Saul he slew these defenceless ones with his own hand, and so merited the scornful salutation, “O hero!” It is a remarkable feature of this Psalm that

God is not invoked in any part of it. The poet begins with direct address to the infamous offender, and severe arraignment and castigation, as representing the Almighty, in whose name and by the inspiration of whose Spirit he speaks. De Witt.

This Psalm is not a prayer or complaint addressed to God against the oppression of the wicked; it is a stern upbraiding addressed to the man who, unscrupulous in the exercise of his power, and proud of his wealth (v. 9), finds his delight in all the arts of the practised liar. It is a lofty challenge, a defiance conceived in the spirit of

David when he went forth to meet the champion of Gath. The calm courage of faith breathes in every word. There is no fear, no trembling, no doubt, as to the end which will come upon the tyrant. How vain is his boast in presence of the lovingkindness of God, which protects His people; in presence of the power of God, which uproots the oppressor! Such is briefly the purport of the Psalm. P.

1-5. In interpreting the Psalms, Christian faith receives the principle of intensity. It is not for nothing that the Spirit of God so stirs the spirit of these Divine singers. The words of the Psalmists are truest when we pitch their significance highest. The enemies are not personal enemies of David and the rest. The notes of victory which ever and anon tremble from the strings thrill across no earthly battlefield. Bishop W. Alexander.

2-4. It is remarkable that there follows, not the description of the bold, bad man, ruling all around him by brute force, and crushing others into submission at his will, but that of one who gains his evil end by means chiefly of unblushing, deliberate falsehood.

5. Now comes, in short and powerful contrast to the unscrupulous violence, deceit, and falsehood of the proud oppressor the righteous judgment of God. P.—“Thou lovest all destructive words,” words having the power to swallow up and destroy. God also will destroy thee, for vengeance against such wickedness is demanded of the righteous God. The verbs in Hebrew are strongly significant, thus: God will tear thee down (“destroy”) as men tear down old or worthless buildings; will seize upon thee (“take”) as men take up fire from the hearth; He will pluck thee from thy dwelling-place as a tree is torn up, and will uproot thee from the land of the living. Pause and consider! for who can withstand the mighty God! C.

Wonderful is the force of the verbs in the original, which convey to us the four ideas of laying prostrate, dissolving as by fire, sweeping away as with a bosom, and totally extirpating root and branch, as a tree is eradicated from the spot on which it grew. If a further comment be wanted, it may be found in the history of David’s enemies, and the crucifers of the Son of David, but the passage will be fully and finally explained by the destruction of the world of the ungodly at the last day. G. Horne.—When good men die, they are transplanted from the land of the living on earth, the nursery of the plants of righteousness, to that in heaven, the garden of the Lord, where they shall take root forever; but when wicked men die, they are rooted out of the land of the living, to perish forever; as fuel to the fire of Divine wrath. This will be the portion of those that contend with God. H.

Unequivocally the Master speaks to us the words of warning. They are as much a part of His message to mankind as any words that He spoke. Whatever proportion they bear to different words, they have their fixed place. They are no more to be set aside, or passed over, or hidden, than any others. We may not be able wholly to explain them, but they are not to be explained away. “Wherever this Gospel is preached” warnings of judgment, of a real danger, of penalty for transgression, of a coming of the Son of Man which will bring with it terror to the disobedient, rejection to the unbelieving, and righteous retribution to the ungodly, must be heard. To say nothing of the fearful maledictions and woes of many other passages, and nothing of the fearful explicit disclosures of judgment in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth chapters of Matthew, ponder the parables. Of the thirty no less than thirteen turn directly on the reiterated fact of a future retribution. See the tares and the burning of them; the draw-net and the bad fish cast away; the fruitless branches of the vine in the fire; the unprofitable servant doomed to outer darkness; the wicked husbandman destroyed; the ten virgins too late shut out; the utter rejection and misery inflicted for lack of the wedding garment; the unused talent a damnum; the barren fig-tree blasted; the rich fool and his shrivelled soul; Dives in torment; the Pharisee bidden to look straight at the damnation of hell. What can a reader of the New Testament, who reads in his right mind, mean by saying that Christ does not seek to save men by forewarning them of the terrific consequences of their sins, “pulling them out of the” metaphorical “fire?” And this is the real and most gracious explanation of all that seems so hard. It is all to save. It is a Saviour’s word and a Saviour’s way. If you will let Him take His other and heavenly way, be sure He will gladly leave this way untrodden. No true father scourges his son but to receive him, and for the son’s sake. It is love’s altered voice, the merciful stroke of love’s hand, delivered with anguish and pity unspeakable, infinitely reluctant, infinitely sad. F. D. H.

6. “And shall laugh at him;” or, over him—over the wicked man thus cast down—they shall laugh. Such exultation, to our modern sensibilities, seems shocking, because we can hardly conceive of it, apart from the gratification of personal vindictiveness. But there is such a thing as a righteous hatred, as a righteous scorn. There is such a thing as a shout of righteous joy at the downfall of the tyrant and the oppressor, at the triumph of righteousness and truth over wrong and falsehood. P.—The exultation of the righteous at the just punishment of the wicked is frequently described in Holy Scripture. It is inseparable from a hearty and thorough sympathy with God’s law. That punishment which it is consistent with God’s attributes to inflict, it cannot be inconsistent for His people to view with a stern and holy gratification, utterly distinct from the indulgence of personal feelings of revenge or animosity. It was impossible for David not to desire the punishment of the treacherous murderer, nor to rejoice in the certainty of retribution.

7. Here again the Psalmist goes to the root of the evil; it began with alienation from God, was promoted by love of riches, such as Saul would of course heap on his unscrupulous adherent, and attained its full development in a heart strong only in its longings for evil. Cook.

He trusted in the abundance of his riches, which he imagined were laid up for many years; nay, he thought his wickedness would help to support it; right or wrong, he would get what he could and keep what he had, and be the ruin of any one that stood in his way; and this he thought would strengthen him; they may have anything that will make conscience of nothing. But now see what it comes to; see what untempered mortar he built his house with, now that it is fallen and himself buried in the ruins of it. II.

If a staff be placed in the hand of a bent and feeble man, what more natural than that he should lean on it? Man is that impotent traveller, and wealth is the staff which offers to support his steps. Hence, in the Word of God it is repeatedly intimated that to possess riches and to trust in them is one and the same thing, except where grace makes the distinction. The term mammon, according to its derivation, imports whatever men are apt to confide in. The original term for faith is of the same derivation, and for the same reason—because it implies such a reliance on God as the worldly mind places on riches. So that mammon came to signify riches, because men so commonly put their trust on them. And when our Lord perceived the astonishment He had excited by exclaiming, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven!” the only explanation which he gave, and which he deemed sufficient, imported that as the danger of riches consisted in trusting in them, so the difficulty of possessing them, and not trusting in them is next to an impossibility—a difficulty which can only be surmounted by omnipotent grace. Harris.

So-called riches may free the life from many of its annoyances and cares, but beyond this their power of contenting the soul is ridiculously limited. Realizing, as most men do, how little, for example, the selfish spending of fifty thousand dollars annually can add to the sum total of life’s enjoyments above the spending of ten thousand dollars, they have ceased expecting to extract much of satisfaction from the expenditure of wealth, unless it be a benevolent expenditure, and they usually devote their energies to the heaping up of riches, either from the gratification of pride, or from the steady, fixed habit of life. These things being so, it must be plain to all who are not morally idiotic that a man’s life cannot consist in possessions external to himself of which he can make no use. A man’s life consists in what he appropriates to himself, of that which ministers to the varied wants of his physical, intellectual, and spiritual nature, and he has the largest and truest life who appropriates most abundantly that which ministers to his higher and truer nature; so that we are not surprised to hear Jesus identifying life, even life eternal, with the loving knowledge of God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ. That man does not live, in any high sense of the word, who sits in miserly greed upon a heap of gold, neither spending nor enjoying, and fretted with the fear of losing. We have all heard of men whose resources were enormous, who thought themselves far poorer than many a man living on a small salary, for the man with the meagre income had an enlarged mind, a contented spirit, the temper of benevolence, freedom from anxiety, and a thorough trust in Him who said, and so saying has quieted many a fretful spirit: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” And if he who miserably hoards is not rich, equally poverty-smitten is he who miserably spends on that which satisfieth not. Without peace of mind, without a loving heart, without domestic happiness, without an affectionate trust in God, unlimited money will vex and not content both the avaricious and the luxurious. It is the knowledge of God as good, made real in Jesus Christ, which underlies all earthly possessions and makes them good, which enters into all earthly enjoyment and makes it a blessing, which penetrates earthly experiences and takes from them their sting if they be sorrowful, and the fearful dread of losing them forever if they be joyful. Our higher life rests ultimately in the knowledge of God as our Father, of ourselves as sprung from a Divine lineage, as heirs to an infinite patrimony, as the redeemed by a Divine sacrifice. Without such a faith the pessimist’s creed is justified, that “life is not worth living,” and may as well be ended at once. Human existence is a dismal and tragic failure, and all things that enter into it are lowered and cheapened. He who doubts, denies, or fails to rejoice in the goodness of God is allied to a philosophy that would be glad of the simultaneous suicide of all mankind. And such is the ultimate logical outcome of all philosophy which does not see that life consists not in goods, but in God; not in things external to the soul, but in the loving fellowship of the human with the Divine, by which man finds himself and his eternal Heaven by finding God. J. H. Barrows.

8. 9. Each trait of the description of the true servant of God is suggested by the contrast between him and the wicked. They make not God their strength, the Psalmist lives and prospers in God’s house; they trust in riches, he in God’s mercy; they are wholly given up to evil lusts, he waits only on God’s name. Cook.

The green tree is a figure—at once beautiful and expressive—of that which is pleasant to the sight, useful, thriving, and enduring. The root of David’s strength was finely indicated by locating this tree in the house of God. “I trusted,” literally, I have trusted, but implying also the future: I will trust in God’s name, which endures forever. “I will praise Thee forever, because Thou hast wrought”—achieved—he does not define what, but leaves us to assume it to be that which I trust Him for—viz., my safety and ultimate success in my life-work—the thing which God virtually promised when He called David to the throne of Israel. “I will wait on Thy name in the presence of the saints,” making the most public manifestations of my grateful and absolute trust in my God. C.

8. Those that by faith and love dwell in the house of God shall be like green olive-trees there; the wicked are said to flourish like a bay-tree (37 : 35) which bears no useful fruit, though it have abundance of large leaves; but the righteous flourish like a green olive-tree which is fruitful as well as flourishing. H.—The verdant olive flourishing round the year, nourished by a rich soil, fostered by a pure element and glowing temperature, and gizing to man freely what it freely receives from heaven, may well represent David in his holy and happy condition while depending upon God and benefiting His people. Anon.

9. I will praise Thee forever. Like Thy mercy shall my thankfulness be. While others boast in their riches I will boast in my God; and when their glorying is silenced forever in the tomb, my song shall continue to proclaim the lovingkindness of Jehovah. S.

The common version, I will wait on Thy name, is not so happy as the one in the Prayer Book, I will hope in Thy name. The clause, for it is good, relates not to the act of expectation, but its object. He does not mean, “because it is good to hope in Thy name,” but “because Thy name is good, and is therefore to be hoped in.” A.—We know that His name is just the highest name for goodness and blessedness. We know that His is the mind to which evil is the supreme impossibility. We know that He is the God of truth and without iniquity; just and right is He. Amidst the multitude of promises which His munificence has prompted Him to make, we know that not one good word hath failed, but every yea has found its Amen. Amidst the multitude of creatures over which His sovereignty extends we know that there exists no instance of unkindness, or neglect, or oppression. And amidst the multitude of thoughts and emotions which make up the joys of Deity, we know that there is not one malevolent affection; but all is condescension to His creatures, care for their well-being, and delectation in their joy. Hamilton.

Thy saints. A saint is a believer in Christ, who is a partaker of His spirit, maintains a close walk, and keeps up a communion and fellowship with the Lord; lives in the fear of Him and in good conscience toward Him. He is chosen out of the world and separate from it; though in it he is not of it. He is warmly attached to the Lord’s cause, is diligent in the means of his appointment, orders his steps by God’s Word, and follows his Lord in the regeneration. Such souls the Lord hath sanctified, and such souls will ever sanctify Him. William Huntington.

Saints are made saints not by doing extraordinary or uncommon things, but by doing common things in an uncommon way, on uncommonly high principles, in an uncommonly self-sacrificing spirit. Be sure that this is the only substantial thing. The bits of knowledge that we call our learning, the bits of property that we call our wealth, the momentary vanities of delight that we call the conquests of social life—how swiftly they hurry to their graves, or

are lost in forgetfulness! Nothing, nothing else but character survives, and character is Christ formed within. Character is an integral and not a fragmentary thing. It is a symmetrical growth, having laws, proportions, and vital conditions of its own. It cannot be a practical force without having its root in unseen reali-

ties, and its conscious source in the living God, and its perpetually replenished supply by communion with Him. There cannot be a developed and healthy saint without a constant putting forth of vitality and vigor in a principled activity of use and exercises of righteousness. F. D. II.