Psalms 12

A prayer for help in an age of apparently universal hypocrisy, dissimulation, and untrustworthiness. The title assigns it to David, who might have written it while he was at the court of Saul, or during his outlaw life. Men like Doeg were in positions of authority. Unscrupulous enemies were poisoning Saul’s mind against him (1 Samuel 26:19). The ungrateful citizens of Keilah were ready to betray their deliverer (1 Samuel 23:11). The Ziphites deliberately meditated treachery (1 Samuel 23:19 ff.). The situation of the writer resembles that described in Psalms 5. [Psalms 5:5-6; Psalms 5:9-10); Psalms 12:5 should be compared with Psalms 9:18 and Psalms 10:5; ‘I will arise’ (Psalms 12:5) is the answer to the prayer of Psa 3:7, Psalms 7:6, Psalms 9:19, Psalms 10:12. But the language is general, and the Psalm might belong to almost any age. Similar complaints are found in Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah. In every period of the Church’s history there have been godly men who, separated from friends and persecuted by enemies, have been tempted to say with Elijah, “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away.” In this psalm prophecy and psalmody meet. The Psalmist speaks to God, and God answers through the Psalmist (Psalms 12:5). It is no doubt possible that he is quoting some prophetic utterance (cp. Psalms 89:19 ff.), but there is no need of the supposition. He can himself hear God speak, and deliver His word as an authoritative message. Cp. Psalms 2:6-7 ff., Psalms 50:1 ff., Psalms 60:6 ff., Psalms 81:6 ff., Psalms 82:2 ff., Psalms 91:14 ff. The Psalm falls into two equal divisions, each consisting of two equal stanzas. i. Prayer for help amid prevailing faithlessness (Psalms 12:1-2). O that insolent braggarts might be exterminated! (Psalms 12:3-4). ii. Jehovah’s promise of help; its purity and preciousness (Psalms 12:5-6). The Psalmist’s confidence in the divine guardianship in the midst of unrestrained wickedness (Psalms 12:7-8). On the title, For the Chief Musician, set to the Sheminith (R.V.), see Introd. pp. xxi, xxv.

Psalms 12:1-2

1, 2. A cry for help in the midst of prevailing faithlessness.

Psalms 12:2

2. Hypocrisy and duplicity are universal. Men’s words are vanity, or falsehood, hollow and unreal. Their flatteries come from ‘a double heart,’ lit. a heart and a heart, which thinks one thing and utters another, and has no constancy or consistency, but thinks one thing today and another thing tomorrow. Cp. Proverbs 26:24 ff. For the opposite see 1 Chronicles 12:33; 1 Chronicles 12:38.

Psalms 12:3-4

3, 4. The prayer for help passes into a prayer for the excision of these false-hearted braggarts. Cp. Psalms 5:10.

Psalms 12:4

4. Who] Namely, the owners of the flattering lips and boastful tongues. ‘Our tongue,’ they say, ‘we will make mighty: our lips are with us,’ under our own control, at command as faithful allies; who is lord over us? No one can call us to account for our use of them (Psalms 10:4). Unscrupulous courtiers appear to be meant, who deliberately propose to obtain their own ends by reckless disregard of truth, e.g. by flattery, slander, false witness, and the like.

Psalms 12:5-6

5, 6. The Psalmist hears God’s answer, and affirms its trustworthiness.

Psalms 12:6

6. A general truth with direct application to the promise of the preceding verse. In Jehovah’s words there is no dross of flattery or insincerity or falsehood. Unlike the words of men, they are wholly to be relied on. as silver tried] Omit as. Silver is a natural emblem of purity and preciousness. The metaphor underlies the language of Psa 18:30, Psalms 119:140, Proverbs 30:5. in a furnace of earth] The precise meaning is doubtful. Either (1) in a furnace on the earth (R.V.), i.e. a furnace built on the ground, the point of which is not obvious: or (2) silver refined in a furnace (flowing down) to the earth may be meant to picture the bright stream of pure metal flowing from the furnace, shewing that the process of refining has done its work. purified seven times] Again and again till no trace of dross is left. Seven is the number of completeness and perfection. Cp. Psalms 79:12; Proverbs 6:31; Isaiah 30:16.

Psalms 12:7-8

7, 8. Concluding expression of confidence in Jehovah’s protection, which is sorely needed when wickedness prevails unchecked.

Psalms 12:8

8. Jehovah will preserve the righteous; although when vileness is exalted among the sons of men, when worthless or profligate men are raised to positions of authority, the wicked stalk insolently everywhere, unabashed and unrestrained. Cp. Psalms 11:1-3. The Psalmist returns to the thought of the prevailing corruption, from which he started.