Psalm 14:2 Komentář

It does not appear upon what occasion this psalm was penned nor whether upon any particular occasion. Some say David penned it when Saul persecuted him; others, when Absalom rebelled against him. But they are mere conjectures, which have not certainty enough to warrant us to expound the psalm by them. The apostle, in quoting part of this psalm (Rom 3:10, etc.) to prove that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin (Rom 3:9) and that all the world is guilty before God (Rom 3:19), leads us to understand it, in general, as a description of the depravity of human nature, the sinfulness of the sin we are conceived and born in, and the deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind, even of the world that lies in wickedness, Jo1 5:19. But as in those psalms which are designed to discover our remedy in Christ there is commonly an allusion to David himself, yea, and some passages that are to be understood primarily of him (as in Psa 2:1-12, Psa 16:1-11, 22, and others), so in this psalm, which is designed to discover our wound by sin, there is an allusion to David's enemies and persecutors, and other oppressors of good men at that time, to whom some passages have an immediate reference. In all the psalms from the 3rd to this (except the 8th) David had been complaining of those that hated and persecuted him, insulted him and abused him; now here he traces all those bitter streams to the fountain, the general corruption of nature, and sees that not his enemies only, but all the children of men, were thus corrupted. Here is, I. A charge exhibited against a wicked world (Psa 14:1). II. The proof of the charge (Psa 14:2, Psa 14:3). III. A serious expostulation with sinners, especially with persecutors, upon it (Psa 14:4-6). IV. A believing prayer for the salvation of Israel and a joyful expectation of it (Psa 14:7). To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 14 To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. The argument of this psalm, according to Theodoret, is Sennacherib's invasion of Judea, when he sent Rabshakeh to Hezekiah, with menaces and curses; upon which Hezekiah implored divine help, and obtained it, and the Assyrian army was destroyed by an angel; of all which he thinks this psalm was prophetic.

The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men,.... As he did when all flesh had corrupted its way, and before he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, Gen 6:12. This is said in direct opposition to the atheistic thoughts and reasonings of wicked men, in Psa 14:1. There is a God, and he takes notice of the children of men, and of what is done by them; though his throne is in the heavens, and his dwelling there, yet he looks down from thence, and takes cognizance of all human affairs. This must be understood consistent with the omniscience and omnipresence of God; it is an anthropopathy, or a speaking after the manner of men; and denotes the exact notice which God takes, and distinct observation he makes, and the perfect and accurate knowledge he has of men and their actions; see Gen 11:5; to see if there were any that did understand: not things natural, civil, and moral, but things spiritual as the Apostle Paul interprets the words, Rom 3:11. For though man has not lost the natural faculty of his understanding, and may have an understanding of the things of nature, yet not of the things of God, until a supernatural light is put into him; not any spiritual experimental knowledge of God in Christ, nor of the way of salvation by Christ, nor of the work of the Spirit of God upon the heart, nor of the doctrines of the Gospel, nor any true sight and sense of his own state and condition; and seek God; that is, "after God"; as the apostle in the same place explains it; after the knowledge of him and his ways, and communion with him; after the things of God, his interest and his glory: they do not seek after him in prayer, or by an attendance on his worship and ordinances; at least with their whole hearts, earnestly, diligently, constantly, and in the first place; nor do they seek after him in Christ, where he is only to be found; nor under the influence, and with the assistance of the blessed Spirit.

What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. [Psalms 14:1-3] Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

When you hear the Lord looks down from heaven, think not of his divine and incorporeal nature that he has bowed and bent down, or has bent his knee or nodded his head, but realize his visitation, forgiveness and kindness. Although he is said to have a head, ears, eyes, mouth and hands, and to sit and to rise, yet he is not altogether constituted of members and parts. So he does not literally look down but shows his own mercy. He looks down from heaven, not through fences and gates in the sky, but because from heaven he has visited humankind.… He sees them to serve them and to embrace them as a friend.… He appears to them who have faith in him in order that he may see who is sick and who needs the doctor and who is poor and who requires Christ, the storehouse of the Father.… Then after they see the Lord of the prophets has looked down from heaven so that he may see, … they say, “It is not enough, Lord, that you look down from heaven. Descend.… Come, … Son of the Father. Seek what is made in your image.”

"The Lord from heaven looked out upon the sons of men, to see if there be one understanding, or seeking after God" [Psalm 14:2]. It may be interpreted, upon the Jews; as he may have given them the more honourable name of the sons of men, by reason of their worship of the One God, in comparison with the Gentiles; of whom I suppose it was said above, "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God," etc. Now the Lord looks out, that He may see, by His holy souls: which is the meaning of, "from heaven." For by Himself nothing is hid from Him.

"The Lord." Here, first, he certifies the fault. Second, he expounds it, at "Their throat." Sin is certified through iniquity; and therefore here he sets forth God's investigation, saying: you say that there is no God; but this is false, because "the Lord has looked down from heaven upon the children of men": Prov. 16: "All the ways of man are open to his eyes." He looked down, therefore, by sending his Son -- the Lord the Father from heaven, that is, from the bosom of his loving-kindness: Is. 66: "Heaven is my throne." Or "from heaven," that is, Christ, through whom he will judge sinners. Or alternatively: some say that God does not know singulars and changeable things, because he is immaterial and simple and eternal. And so he does not know according to the movements of things, and according to the mode of his knowability. The response is: on the contrary, because he knows material things immaterially, as Dionysius concludes. And so also the intellect knows: and therefore he says "from heaven," that is, from the height of his dignity and nature. "He looked down upon the children of men." And he wishes to find in us -- by his antecedent will, by which he wills all to be saved -- that which pertains to salvation, namely that we may know God through the intellect and love him through the affections and desire him. And therefore he says, "that he may see," that is, "that he may make us see," because he himself always sees. "Whether there is one who understands," through the intellect: Deut. 32: "Would that they were wise and understood," etc. "Or seeks God," through the affections.

The practical atheism and total and universal depravity of the wicked, with their hatred to the good, are set forth. Yet, as they dread God's judgments when He vindicates His people, the Psalmist prays for His delivering power. (Psa 14:1-7) Sinners are termed "fools," because they think and act contrary to right reason (Gen 34:7; Jos 7:15; Psa 39:8; Psa 74:18, Psa 74:22). in his heart--to himself (Gen 6:12).

looked--in earnest enquiry. understand--as opposed to "fool" [Psa 14:1].

The second tristich appeals to the infallible decision of God Himself. The verb השׁקיף means to look forth, by bending one's self forward. It is the proper word for looking out of a window, Kg2 9:30 (cf. Niph. Jdg 5:28, and frequently), and for God's looking down from heaven upon the earth, Psa 102:20, and frequently; and it is cognate and synonymous with השׁגּיח, Psa 33:13, Psa 33:14; cf. moreover, Sol 2:9. The perf. is used in the sense of the perfect only insofar as the divine survey is antecedent to its result as given in Psa 14:3. Just as השׁהיתוּ reminds one of the history of the Flood, so does לראות of the history of the building of the tower of Babel, Gen 11:5, cf. Psa 18:21. God's judgment rests upon a knowledge of the matter of fact, which is represented in such passages after the manner of men. God's all-seeing, all-piercing eyes scrutinise the whole human race. Is there one who shows discernment in thought and act, one to whom fellowship with God is the highest good, and consequently that after which he strives? - this is God's question, and He delights in such persons, and certainly none such would escape His longing search. On את־אלהים, τὸν Θεόν, vid., Ges. 117, 2.