Psalms 15:4

In whose eyes a vile person is contemned,.... A "vile" man is a very wicked, profligate, and abandoned creature, one that is to every good work reprobate; and such sometimes are in high places,

In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

In whose eyes, i.e. in whose judgment and estimation, a vile person, i.e. one, that deserves contempt, an ungodly or wicked man, as appears from the next clause, where he that feareth God is opposed to him, is contemned or despised, notwithstanding all his wealth, and glory, and greatness. He doth not admire his person, nor envy his condition, nor court him with flatteries, nor value his company and conversation, nor approve of or comply with his courses; but he thinks meanly of him; he judgeth him a most miserable man, and a great object of pity; he abhors his wicked practices, and labours to make such ways contemptible and hateful to all men as far as it lies in his power. But this contempt of wicked men must be so managed as not to cause a contempt of just authority, which if it be lodged in a wicked hand, doth challenge not only obedience, but also honour and reverence; as is manifest from the precepts and examples of Christ and of his apostles, who charge this upon the Christians every where, although the magistrates of those times were unquestionably vile and wicked men. See Romans 13$ , &c. He honoureth, i.e. he highly esteemeth and heartily loveth them, and showeth great respect and kindness to them, though they be mean and obscure as to their worldly condition, and though they may differ from him in some opinions or practices of lesser moment. He that sweareth, to wit, a promissory oath, engaging himself by solemn oath to do something which may be beneficial to his neighbour. To his own hurt, i.e. to his own damage or prejudice. As if a man solemnly swear by the name of the great God, that he will sell him such an estate at a price below the full worth, or that he will give a poor man such a sum of money, which when afterwards he comes to review and consider, he finds it very inconvenient and burdensome to him, where he is tempted to break his oath. Changeth not, to wit, his purpose or course, but continues firm and resolved to perform his promise, and sacrificeth his interest and profit to his conscience, and the reverence of God and of an oath. See ,19.

Psalms 15:4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. [He that] sweareth to [his own] hurt, and changeth not.Ver. 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned] An abject, a reprobate, as one rendereth it; be he as high as Haman; see Esther’ s character of him, Esther 7:6, and Mordecai’ s slighting of him, Esther 3:2 (Josephus). Be he as great as Antiochus Epiphanes, to whom the Samaritans, excusing themselves that they were no Jews, wrote thus, To Antiochus, the great god. Daniel counted and called him a vile person, Daniel 11:21. So Elisha despised Jehoram the king, 2 Kings 3:14; we also must despise the wicked; yet non virum, sed vitium, et salvo cuique loci sui honore, giving honour, befitting their places, to whom honour is due, Romans 13:7., but shunning that partiality taxed by St James, James 2:3-4. The burgess of the New Jerusalem, reprobos reprobat, et probes probat, he cannot flatter any man, nor fancy such as in whom he findeth not aliquid Christi, something of the image of God. A golden colosse, stuffed with rubbish, he cannot stoop to. But he honoureth them that fear the Lord] As the only earthly angels, though never so mean and despicable in the world’ s eye. Mr Fox, being asked whether he remembered not such a poor servant of God who had received help from him in time of trouble? answered, I remember him well; I tell you I forget lords and ladies to remember such. Ingo, an ancient king of Draves and Veneds, set his pagan nobles, at a feast, in his hall below, and a company of poor Christians with himself in his presence chamber, entertaining them with the royalest cheer and kingliest attendance that might be. At which when his nobles wondered, he told them, this he did not as he was king of the Draves, but as he was king of another world, wherein these should be his companions and fellow princes (Aeneas Sylv. cap. 20). He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not] Covetousness he so hateth that, first, he will rather suffer loss than be worse than his oath or honest word; secondly, he lendeth, looking for nothing again; thirdly, he taketh no reward against the innocent, either as a judge or as a pleader. Of many swearers it may be said, that they can play with oaths as children do with nuts; or as monkeys do with their collars, which they can slip off at their pleasure. And of many promisers, that they are like the peacock, all in changeable colours, as often changed as moved; but this is not the guise of God’ s people. The Jews at this day keep no oath unless they swear upon their own Torah, or law, brought out of their synagogues (Tertul.). The Turks keep no oath further than may stand with their own convenience. The Papists hold that faith is not to be kept with heretics; and they practise accordingly.

(4) In whose eyes.—The first clause is obscure. The subject and predicate are not clearly marked; but the Authorised Version gives the right sense. It is quite out of keeping with the context to make both verbs predicates, and to translate, “He is despised and rejected in his own eyes,” i.e., thinks humbly of himself. The meaning is, “Those deserving contempt are contemned; but the good who fear Jehovah are honoured.” To his own hurt.—Literally, to do evil, i.e., to him-self (see Leviticus 5:4). The LXX., by transposing the letters, read, “to his neighbour;” and the English Prayer Book version has apparently combined the two thoughts: “Who sweareth to his neighbour, and dis-appointeth him not, even though it were to his own hindrance.” “His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles, His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate; His tears pure messengers sent from his heart, His heart is far from fraud as heaven from earth.” : Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Verse 4. In whose eves a vile person is contemned] 7. This man judges of others by their conduct; he tries no man's heart. He knows men only by the fruits they bear; and thus he gains knowledge of the principle from which they proceed. A vile person, נמאס nimas, the reprobate, one abandoned to sin; is despised, נבזה nibzeh, is loathsome, as if he were covered with the elephantiasis or leprosy, for so the word implies. He may be rich, he may be learned, he may be a great man and honourable with his master, in high offices in the state; but if he be a spiritual leper, an infidel, a profligate, the righteous man must despise him, and hold him, because he is an enemy to God and to man, in sovereign contempt. If he be in power, he will not treat him as if worthy of his dignity; while he respects the office he will detest the man. And this is quite right; for the popular odium should ever be pointed against vice. Aben Ezra gives a curious turn to this clause, which he translates thus: "He is mean and contemptible in his own eyes;" and it is certain that the original, נבזה בעיניו נמאס nibzeh beeynaiv nimas, will bear this translation. His paraphrase on it is beautiful: "A pious man, whatever good he may have done, and however concordant to the Divine law he may have walked, considers all this of no worth, compared with what it was his duty to do for the glory of his Creator." A sentiment very like that of our Lord, Lu 17:10: "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do." Taken in this sense, the words intimate, that the man who is truly pious, who is a proper member of the Church militant, and is going straight to the Church triumphant, is truly humble; he knows he has nothing but what he has received, he has no merit, he trusts not in himself, but in the living God. He renounces his own righteousness, and trusts in the eternal mercy of God through the infinitely meritorious atonement made by Jesus Christ. The language of his heart is, - "I loathe myself when God I see, And into nothing fall; Content that thou exalted be, And Christ be all in all." He honoureth them that fear the Lord] 8. This cause is a proof, however just the sentiment, that Aben Ezra has mistaken the meaning of the preceding clause. The truly pious man, while he has in contempt the honourable and right honourable profligate, yet honours them that fear the Lord, though found in the most abject poverty; though, with Job, on the dunghill, or, with Lazarus, covered with sores at the rich man's gate. Character is the object of his attention; persons and circumstances are of minor importance.

4. Render with R.V., In whose eyes a reprobate is despised. The truthfulness of his character is shewn in his estimate of men. The world’s false estimates are one of the evils which will disappear in the Messianic age (Isaiah 32:5 ff.). A reprobate, one who is not good metal but worthless dross (Jeremiah 6:30), he treats with well-merited contempt, while ‘he honoureth those that fear Jehovah.’ By the Targum and some commentators, ancient and modern, the clause is rendered, despised is he in his own eyes, rejected, which is well paraphrased in P.B.V. “He that setteth not by himself, but is lowly in his own eyes;” cp. 2 Samuel 6:22. But (1) the words ‘despicable reprobate’ are such as David could hardly use to express humility and self-abasement; and (2) the contrast required by the parallelism is not ‘he despises himself and honours others,’ but ‘he abhors the base and honours the godly,’ i.e. shews right discernment in his regard for men. Cp. Psalms 16:3; 1 Samuel 2:30. He that sweareth &c] Though he hath sworn to his own hurt, he changeth not. He performs his oaths and vows without modification or rebatement, even though they may have been rashly made and prove to be to his own disadvantage. Comp. the phrase in the Law for the expiation of rash oaths (Leviticus 5:4), “if any one swear rashly with his lips to do evil or to do good.” Any ‘changing’ of animals devoted by vows (which were of the nature of oaths) was expressly forbidden (Leviticus 27:10). Here the reference is quite general. The LXX, Vulg., and Syr. render, by a slight change of vocalisation, to his fellow (cp. Psalms 15:3): and P.B.V. (as in Psalms 84:7) combines both renderings in its paraphrase, ‘He that sweareth unto his neighbour and disappointeth him not, though it were to his own hindrance.’

In whose eyes a vile person is contemned - That is, who does not show respect to a man of base or bad character on account of his wealth, his position, or his rank in life.

4. A vile person is contemned—This clause relates to the moral estimate given of a worthless character. The true, or ideal, man described in the text despises a “vile” person. He hates the hateful because he loves the lovely.