Psalmen 14:5 Kommentar

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.

There were they in great fear,.... This, shows that they had some knowledge of God, and consciousness of guilt, which they endeavoured to banish out of their minds by their fears of punishment; and these fears men of the most atheistic principles cannot get rid of. In Psa 53:5 it is added, "where no fear was": that is, any cause or reason for it: such men are often frightened at their own shadows, afraid to be in the dark alone, as Hobbes the atheist was. The wicked flee when no man pursues, and are chased by the sound of a shaken leaf; see Pro 28:1; or where there was no fear of God before their eyes, nor on their hearts, as well as no regard to men; or where before there were perfect peace and security, and no apprehension or dread of any calamity, ruin, and destruction; for God is in the generation of the righteous, or "of the righteous One" (b); which some understood of Jesus Christ the righteous: and though the age or generation in which he lived was a very wicked one, yet God was with him; as was seen by the doctrines he taught, and the miracles he wrought; and which filled the Jews with panic fears, lest the Romans should come and take away their place and nation: but rather this is to be understood of the generation of the saints, who are righteous through the righteousness of Christ, and have the new man in them, which is created in righteousness and true holiness, and live soberly and righteously; these are sometimes called the generation of the upright, and of the children of God, and of them that seek him, Psa 112:2; in the midst of these God is, among them he affords his gracious presence, and is with them, for their help and assistance against their enemies: and as this makes them fearless of them, it fills their enemies with dread and terror; see Jos 2:9. The Targum renders it, "the Word of the Lord is in the generation of the righteous.'' (b) "justi", Montanus, Gejerus.

"They have not called upon the Lord." For he does not really call upon Him, who longs for such things as are displeasing to Him. "There they trembled for fear, where no fear was" [Psalm 14:5]: that is, for the loss of things temporal. For they said, "If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe in Him; and the Romans will come, and take away both our place and nation." [John 11:48] They feared to lose an earthly kingdom, where no fear was; and they lost the kingdom of heaven, which they ought to have feared. And this must be understood of all temporal goods, the loss of which when men fear, they come not to things eternal.

Such people will never learn from experience what a harsh thing it is to do wrong to the Lord’s people, so bitter are they toward us as to wish to treat us like a meal of bread.… Since they are ready to swallow us raw, then, and do not have the Lord before their eyes, fear will overtake them from a quarter where they do not expect it.

"Shall they not." Here he treats of the hope of liberation. And first he shows that the wicked do not have hope, because "shall they not know." Second he shows what this hope is, at "Who shall give from Zion." Concerning the first, he does two things. First he shows that they will not know this hope. Second he sets forth a sign, at "The counsel of the poor man." First he raises a question, and interposes within it the fault of the wicked, and speaks thus. I say that they are an open sepulchre, and that God is not in their hearts: but shall they not know that the Lord is in the just generation? As if to say: they ought to know this, and that the Lord is in it: Jer. 14: "You are in our midst, O Lord, and your holy name," etc. Ps. 21: "But you dwell in the holy place, the praise of Israel." Therefore the Lord is in him as in a temple. "And all who work iniquity," namely against God, "who devour my people as the food of bread," as regards neighbors, whom they devour by taking away their goods: Zech. 11: "Let each one devour the flesh of his neighbor": Mic. 3: "They have eaten the flesh of my people and have flayed the skin from them": Sir. 34: "The bread of the needy is the life of the poor man: he who defrauds him of it is a man of blood." "They have not called upon God," that is, they have no hope in God: Is. 59: "They have not called upon God." And it follows from this that they have no security: therefore he says, "There they trembled," etc. Prov. 28: "The wicked man flees when no one pursues": Job 15: "The sound of terror is always in his ears, and when there is peace, he always suspects ambush." But those who call upon God are saved: Joel 2: "All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved": Prov. 18: "The name of the Lord is a most strong tower." Therefore such men will not know that the Lord is in the just generation.

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).

When Jahve thus bursts forth in scorn His word, which never fails in its working, smites down these brutish men, who are without knowledge and conscience. The local demonstrative שׁם is used as temporal in this passage just as in Psa 66:6; Hos 2:17; Zep 1:14; Job 23:7; Job 35:12, and is joined with the perfect of certainty, as in Job 36:13, where it has not so much a temporal as a local sense. It does not mean "there = at a future time," as pointing into the indefinite future, but "there = then," when God shall thus speak to them in His anger. Intensity is here given to the verb פּחד by the addition of a substantival object of the same root, just as is frequently the case in the more elevated style, e.g., Hab 3:9; and as is done in other cases by the addition of the adverbial infinitive. Then, when God's long-suffering changes into wrath, terror at His judgement seizes them and they tremble through and through. This judgment of wrath, however, is on the other hand a revelation of love. Jahve avenges and thus delivers those whom He calls עמּי (My people); and who are here called דּור צדּיק, the generation of the righteous, in opposition to the corrupted humanity of the time (Psa 12:8), as being conformed to the will of God and held together by a superior spirit to the prevailing spirit of the age. They are so called inasmuch as דּור passes over from the signification generatio to that of genus hominum here and also elsewhere, when it is not merely a temporal, but a moral notion; cf. Psa 24:6; Psa 83:15; Psa 112:2, where it uniformly denotes the whole of the children of God who are in bondage in the world and longing for deliverance, not Israel collectively in antithesis to the Scythians and the heathen in general (Hitzig).