Psalms 52

Psalms 52THIS psalm, besides the title, yes. 1, 2, contains three stanzas of three verses each. In the first, the Psalmist expostulates with an arrogant, cruel, and deceitful enemy, Psalms 52:3-5 (1-3). In the second, he foretells the destruction of his enemy by the divine judgments, and the contempt to be excited by his folly, Psalms 52:6-8 (4-6). In the third, he contrasts this fatal fruit of unbelief with the happy effects of his own trust in God, Psalms 52:9-9 (7-9). The two Selahs in Psalms 52:5; Psalms 52:7 (3, 5), have reference not so much to the form of the psalm as to the feelings of the Psalmist, and are therefore placed irregularly. See above, on Psalms 3:3 (2). The variation of the English and the Hebrew Bible, in numbering the verses of this psalm, isthe same, and arises from the same cause, as in the fifty-first.

1. To the Chief Musician. Maschil. By David. The psalm is expressly designated as a Maschil or didactic psalm, because its adaptation to this purpose might very easily be overlooked in consequence of its avowed relation to a particular event in David’s history. See above, on Psalms 32:1; Psalms 42:1; Psalms 45:1. Though occasioned by this incident, however, it was written for the permanent and public use of the ancient church, and is therefore inscribed to (or for) the Chief Musician. See above, on Psalms 4:1; Psalms 51:1.

2. When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech. This is merely the beginning of the story, which is supposed to be familiar to the reader of the psalm, and which is given at length in 1 Sam. xxii. Doeg is mentioned only as the witness or informer, by whose means the matter came to Saul’s knowledge. When he came, literally in his coming, the same form of expression as in Psalms 51:2.

3. (Psalms 52:1). Why wilt thou boast thyself in evil, mighty (man)? The mercy of the Almighty (is) all the day. The future form of the verb suggests the dea of obstinate persistency. Boast thyself in evil, exult or triumph in the injury of others. The mighty man is not Doeg but Saul, who, of all the characters in sacred history, approaches nearest to the classical idea of a hero.

There is something, therefore, of respect and admiration implied in the address, as if he had said “How can one who might have been so, eminent in well-doing, glory in his shame or boast himself in evil?” In the last clause there is an obvious antithesis between the malice of this mighty man and the unfailing goodness of the mighty God. The particular divine name here used therefore is peculiarly significant. See above, on Psalms 5:5 (4), 1. 1. As if he had said, “Mighty and malicious as thou art, the might and mercy of Jehovah are still greater.” All the day, i.e. perpetual, unceasing. See above, on Psalms 42:11 (10).

4. (Psalms 52:2). Mischiefs will thy tongue devise, like a razor whetted, working deceitfully. The first word means calamitous events, brought on one man by the malice of another. See above, on Psalms 5:10 (9), Psalms 38:13 (12), and below, on Psalms 57:2 (1). The distinctive meaning of the future is the same as in Psalms 52:3 (1). The tongue is here said to meditate or devise mischief, because it is personified, or poetically substituted for the speaker.

The allusion is to Saul’s cutting words when he accused Ahimelech and David of conspiracy against him (1 Samuel 22:13). This false charge, or the tongue which uttered it, is likened to a razor, not merely sharp but sharpened, whetted, for the purpose or occasion. See above, on Psalms 45:6 (5). Similar comparisons occur in Psalms 57:5 (4), Psalms 59:8 (7), Psalms 64:4 (3), Jeremiah 9:2; Jeremiah 9:7 (3, 8). Working deceitfully, literally deceit or fraud. These words may be grammatically referred to the speaker or his tongue as practising deceit; but it yields a more striking sense to understand them of the razor, as working deceitfully, i.e. moving silently and smoothly, when it cuts most keenly.5. (Psalms 52:3).

Thou hast loved evil (more) than good, falsehood (more) than speaking righteousness. The past tense, like the futures in the foregoing verses, includes the idea of the present; but unlike them, it represents the love of sin as already long-continued and habitual. Compare the form of expresion with that in Psalms 45:8 (7). Righteousness includes truth or veracity, as the genus comprehends the species. The particular unrighteousness here meant is falsehood, as appears from the antithesis. The selah tacitly suggests the writer’s abhorrence of that which he describes.

6. (Psalms 52:4). Thou hast loved all devouring words, tongue of fraud. This is not so much a continuation of the foregoing discourse, as a resumption or recapitulation for the purpose of drawing a conclusion from it. In periodic style, the connection of the ideas might be thus exhibited: “Since then thou lovest, etc., therefore God will,” etc. Devouring words, literally words of swallowing or deglutition. The second noun occurs only here; but the verb to swallow up is continually used in Hebrew to express the idea of complete destruction.

See above, on Psalms 21:10 (9), Psalms 35:25. Tongue of deceit or deceitful tongue. This phrase may be governed by the verb, thou past loved all devouring words (and or even) a deceitful tongue. But it adds to the strength of the expression, and agrees better with the form of the context, to make it an apostrophe or direct, address to the deceitful tongue itself.

7. (Psalms 52:5). (So) likewise shall God destroy thee for ever; he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of (thy) tent, and root thee out of the land of life. Selah. The particle at the beginning, also, likewise, shows the dependence of this verse upon the one before it, which is really conditional though not in form. “As thou, on thy part, lovest all devouring words, so likewise God, on his part, will destroy thee.” No exact translation can convey the full force of the verbs in this verse, which suggests a variety of striking figures for destruction or extermination. The first denotes properly the act of pulling down or demolishing a house (Leviticus 14:45), and this would also seem to be the primary meaning of the third (Proverbs 15:25), although somesuppose it to denote the act of pulling up, and to be the opposite of plant, as the first verb is of build. The second verb, in every other place where it occurs, has reference to the handling and carrying of fire or coals. See Proverbs 6:27; Proverbs 25:22, Isaiah 30:14.

To a Hebrew reader, therefore, it would almost necessarily suggest, not the general idea of removal merely, but the specific one of removing or taking away like fire, i.e. as coals are swept out from a hearth, or otherwise extinguished. The remaining verb adds to these figures that of violent eradication, and is well represented by its English equivalent. The land of life, or, as it is commonly translated, and of the living, is a poetical description of life itself, or the present state of existence, under the figure of a country. See above, on Psalms 27:13. The quick recurrence of the pause implies excited feeling, and invites attention to the threatening which immediately precedes.

8. (Psalms 52:6). And the righteous shall see, and they shall fear, and at him they shall laugh. The fear meant is that religious awe produced by any clear manifestation of God’s presence and his power. In Psalms 64:9-10 (8, 9), it is assumed to be compatible with joy, and here with laughter at the wicked, not a selfish exultation in his sufferings, which is explicitly condemned in the Old Testament (Proverbs 24:17, Job 31:29), but that sense of the absurdity of sin, which must be strongest in the purest minds, and cannot, therefore, be incompatible with pity, the rather as it is ascribed to God himself (Psalms 2:4). The paronomasia of the verbs translated see and fear is the same as in Psalms 40:4 (3). Shall see, i.e. the destruction threatened in Psalms 52:7 (6).

At him, the person thus destroyed, the same who is addressed directly in the foregoing context. The enallage personæ; may be avoided by exchanging at him for at it, i.e. the destruction itself; but this is not so agreeable to Hebrew usage, which always prefers personal to abstract forms of speech.

9. (Psalms 52:7). Behold the man (who) will not make God his strength, but will trust in the increase of his wealth, (and) will be strong in his wickedness. This may be regarded as the language of the laughers mentioned in Psalms 52:8 (6). Behold the man, see to what he is reduced. The effect of the behold is similar to that of the interrogation in Isaiah 14:16. The word translated man is not one of the usual terms, but one implying strength or power, so that its use here gives a kind of sarcastic import to the passage.

See the analogous use of an opposite expression in Psalms 8:5 (4), Psalms 10:18. The future expresses fixed determination and anticipated perseverance in refusing. Make, literally place or set. See above, on Psalms 40:5 (4). His strength, or more exactly, his stronghold or fortress. See above, on Psalms 27:1; Psalms 37:39; Psalms 43:2.

Increase, or simply abundance, greatness. See above, on Psalms 5:8 (7), Psalms 51:3 (1). The word translated wickedness is the singular of that translated mischiefs in Psalms 52:4 (2) above. It seems to signify particularly an inclination fo malicious mischief.

10. (Psalms 52:8). And I (am) like a green olive-tree in the house of God, I have-trusted in the mercy of God (to) eternity and perpetuity. He expects not only the destruction of the wicked but his own salvation. To express the connection of the verses clearly, our idiom would require an adversative particle at the beginning, but I. See above, on Psalms 2:6. A verdant fruitful tree is a favourite emblem of prosperity.

See above, on Psalms 1:3. The olive is here specified, as palms and cedars are in Psalms 92:13-14 (12, 13). The imagery of the verse before us is copied in Jeremiah 11:16. The house of God, the tabernacle, considered as his earthly residence, in which he entertains his friends and provides for his own household. See above, on Psalms 15:1; Psalms 22:6; Psalms 27:4-5; Psalms 36:9 (8). The mixed metaphors only show that the whole description is a figurative one, and should be so interpreted. have (already) trusted, which includes his present trust, but also includes more, to wit, that it is not a new or sudden impulse, but a settled habit of his soul.

The two nouns, eternity and perpetuity, are combined in the adverbial sense of for ever and ever. See above, on Psalms 10:16; Psalms 21:5 (4), Psalms 45:7 (6), Psalms 48:14 (13). This qualifying phrase relates, not to the act, but to the object, of his trust. His meaning is not, “I will trust for ever in God’s mercy,” which would have required a future verb; but, “I have already trusted, and do still trust, in his mercy, as a mercy that will last for ever.” 11. (Psalms 52:9). I will thank thee to eternity because thou hast done (it), and will hope (in) thy name— because it is good— before thy saints. The common version of the first verb (praise) is not sufficiently specific, as it properly denotes a particular kind of praise, namely, that for benefits received. See above, on Psalms 6:6 (5), Psalms 49:19 (18). The object of the verb hast done is to be supplied from the context. See above, on Psalms 37:5; Psalms 39:10 (9).

Thy name, the manifestation of thy nature. See above, on Psalms 5:12 (11), Psalms 20:2 (1), Psalms 23:3, Psalms 48:11 (10). To expect God’s name, or wait for it, is to trust in the future exercise and exhibition of the same divine perfections which have been exhibited already. 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. Here again, as in Psalms 52:9 (7), the epexegetical 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.” This is clear from the analogy of Psa 69:17 (16), Psalms 109:21, which also shews that the concluding words, before thy saints, are to be construed neither with what follows, it is good before thy saints, i. e. in their estimation, nor with the remoter antecedent, I will thank thee, but with the neare antecedent, I will wait for thy name before thy saints, i.e.

I will profess my trust in thy mercy, not in private merely, but in the presence of thy people, of the church. Compare Psalms 22:23 (22). For it is good must then be read as a parenthesis. Thy saints, the merciful objects of thy mercy. See above, on Psalms 4:4 (3). It is here used simply as a general designation or description of God’s people.