Psalm 12:8 Komentář

It is supposed that David penned this psalm in Saul's reign, when there was a general decay of honesty and piety both in court and country, which he here complains of to God, and very feelingly, for he himself suffered by the treachery of his false friends and the insolence of his sworn enemies. I. He begs help of God, because there were none among men whom he durst trust (Psa 12:1, Psa 12:2). II. He foretels the destruction of his proud and threatening enemies (Psa 12:3, Psa 12:4). III. He assures himself and others that, how ill soever things went now (Psa 12:8), God would preserve and secure to himself his own people (Psa 12:5, Psa 12:7), and would certainly make good his promises to them (Psa 12:6). Whether this psalm was penned in Saul's reign or no, it is certainly calculated for a bad reign; and perhaps David, in spirit foresaw that some of his successors would bring things to as bad a pass as is here described, and treasured up this psalm for the use of the church then. "O tempora, O mores! - Oh the times! Oh the manners!" To the chief musician upon Sheminith. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 12 To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, a Psalm of David. The word "sheminith" is used in the title of Psa 6:1, and signifies "eighth"; and intends either the eighth note, to which the psalm was sung, or rather the harp of eight chords, to which it was set, as the Targum and Jarchi interpret it. Some Jewish writers (y) understand it of the times of the Messiah; and the Syriac version entitles the psalm, "an accusation of the wicked, and a prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah:'' and the Arabic version says, it is concerning the end of the world, which shall be in the eighth day; and concerning the coming of the Messiah: but Arnobius interprets it of the Lord's day. (y) Sepher Lekach Shechachah apud Caphtor, fol. 64. 1. & Ceseph Misnah in Maimon. Hilch. Teshuvah, c. 9.

The wicked walk on every side,.... Of the poor and needy, of the righteous ones, to watch them, lay snares for them, and hurt them; therefore, Lord, keep and preserve them: the wicked are everywhere in great numbers, the whole world lies in wickedness; and the men of it are like their father the devil, they go about to do all the mischief they can to the saints; wherefore they stand in need continually of divine preservation; when the vilest men are exalted: either to great dignities and high offices, to be magistrates and rulers; see Pro 29:2; or are highly esteemed and caressed; which shows the sad degeneracy and badness of the times, and the unsafe and dangerous condition the people of God are in, unless kept by him; see Mal 3:15; or else these words may be considered as expressive of the judgment of God upon wicked men, and so confirm what the psalmist had said of God's regard to and preservation of his own people; and the sense be, that the wicked shall walk up and down here and there, as outcasts and vagabonds, in a most desolate, destitute, and miserable condition; and as the latter clause may be rendered, "according to their exaltation shall be the vileness", depression, or humiliation "of the children of men" (r); they shall be brought as low as they have been made high; by how much the more highly they have been exalted, by so much the more deeply they shall be humbled: or else the meaning is, they shall walk about here and there fretting and vexing, when they shall see such who in their opinion are the meanest and basest of men, of low degree, and of a mean extract, exalted to the highest posts of honour and dignity; as David, who was taken from the sheepfold, and placed on the throne of Israel; so Jarchi, who observes that the Haggadah explains it of the Israelites, who will be exalted in time to come. (r) "secundum superelevationem, vilitas (erit vel est)", Cocceius. Next: Psalms Chapter 13

"The ungodly walk in a circle round about" [Psalm 12:8]: that is, in the desire of things temporal, which revolves as a wheel in a repeated circle of seven days; and therefore they do not arrive at the eighth, that is, at eternity, for which this Psalm is entitled. So too it is said by Solomon, "For the wise king is the winnower of the ungodly, and he brings on them the wheel of the wicked.— After Your height You have multiplied the sons of men." For there is in temporal things too a multiplication, which turns away from the unity of God. Hence "the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthy tabernacle presses down the mind that muses upon many things." [Wisdom 9:15] But the righteous are multiplied "after the height of God," when "they shall go from strength to strength."

When you care for us, even if we are abandoned among those guilty of hostility and scheming, we emerge superior on account of the care of the Most High.

“The wicked walk in a circle” so that they are never able to arrive at the right path, since crooked paths are always associated with bad character.… For this reason, they are not able to attain the rest of the eighth day, for they are always turning backward like wheels.

"Therefore the wicked walk round about," so that they never reach the end of the journey they intend, namely to afflict others as they wish. Is. 59: "Their paths are crooked." And why? "Because according to your height you have multiplied the children of men"; because in my house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but wooden and earthen ones; and some indeed are sanctified unto honor, prepared for every good work. 2 Tim. 2. Or "round about," in the circuit of vices, "the wicked walk," not reaching the mean of virtue. 1 Sam. 25: "The soul of your enemies shall be whirled," etc.

On title, see Introduction and see on Psa 6:1. The Psalmist laments the decrease of good men. The pride and deceit of the wicked provokes God's wrath, whose promise to avenge the cause of pious sufferers will be verified even amidst prevailing iniquity. (Psa 12:1-8) the faithful--or literally, "faithfulness" (Psa 31:23).

The wicked roam undisturbed doing evil, when vileness and vile men are exalted. Next: Psalms Chapter 13