Psalmen 37:12 Kommentar

This psalm is a sermon, and an excellent useful sermon it is, calculated not (as most of the psalms) for our devotion, but for our conversation; there is nothing in it of prayer or praise, but it is all instruction; it is "Maschil - a teaching psalm;" it is an exposition of some of the hardest chapters in the book of Providence, the advancement of the wicked and the disgrace of the righteous, a solution of the difficulties that arise thereupon, and an exhortation to conduct ourselves as becomes us under such dark dispensations. The work of the prophets (and David was one) was to explain the law. Now the law of Moses had promised temporal blessings to the obedient, and denounced temporal miseries against the disobedient, which principally referred to the body of the people, the nation as a nation; for, when they came to be applied to particular persons, many instances occurred of sinners in prosperity and saints in adversity; to reconcile those instances with the word that God had spoken is the scope of the prophet in this psalm, in which, I. He forbids us to fret at the prosperity of the wicked in their wicked ways (Psa 37:1, Psa 37:7, Psa 37:8). II. He gives very good reasons why we should not fret at it. 1. Because of the scandalous character of the wicked (Psa 37:12, Psa 37:14, Psa 37:21, Psa 37:32) notwithstanding their prosperity, and the honourable character of the righteous (Psa 37:21, Psa 37:26, Psa 37:30, Psa 37:31). 2. Because of the destruction and ruin which the wicked are nigh to (Psa 37:2, Psa 37:9, Psa 37:10, Psa 37:20, Psa 37:35, Psa 37:36, Psa 37:38) and the salvation and protection which the righteous are sure of from all the malicious designs of the wicked (Psa 37:13, Psa 37:15, Psa 37:17, Psa 37:28, Psa 37:33, Psa 37:39, Psa 37:40). 3. Because of the particular mercy God has in store for all good people and the favour he shows them (Psa 37:11, Psa 37:16, Psa 37:18, Psa 37:19, Psa 37:22-25, Psa 37:28, Psa 37:29, Psa 37:37). III. He prescribes very good remedies against this sin of envying the prosperity of the wicked, and great encouragement to use those remedies (Psa 37:3-6, Psa 37:27, Psa 37:34). In singing this psalm we must teach and admonish one another rightly to understand the providence of God and to accommodate ourselves to it, at all times carefully to do our duty and then patiently to leave the event with God and to believe that, how black soever things may look for the present, it shall be "well with those that fear God, that fear before him." A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 37 A Psalm of David. This psalm, it is very probable, was written at the same time, and upon the same occasion, with the former; and describes the different states of good and bad men; and is full of exhortations, instructions, and advice to the people of God; intermixed with various encouraging promises. A late learned writer (h) thinks it was written for Mephibosheth's consolation under Ziba's calumny. (h) Delaney's Life of King David, vol. 2. p. 219.

The Lord shall laugh at him,.... Have him and his plots in derision, confound his schemes, and disappoint him of his designs, bring him into calamity, and laugh at it; see Psa 2:4; for he seeth that his day is coming; either the day of the Lord, which he has appointed to judge the world in, and which comes suddenly, at unawares, as a thief in the night, and is known unto the Lord, though to none else; or the day of the wicked man's ruin and destruction, to which he is appointed, and which is the same; and so the Targum is, "the day of his calamity": which the Lord observes is hastening on, when he will be for ever miserable.

(Vers. 12, 13.) It follows: The sinner will observe the just and will gnash his teeth over him. But the Lord will deride him; for He sees that his day is coming. It is customary for one who is angry and seething to gnash his teeth: but the heart of the wicked also has its teeth, which are not accustomed to merely making noise, but to tearing. The sinner's traps, schemes, and wickedness are his teeth. Therefore, the sinner lies in wait for the just, because he envies him; for the life of the just rebukes the sinner, whom it silently condemns with greater authority than if it were to speak with a loud voice. But the righteous should not fear the clamor of the sinner, for wickedness cannot be everlasting. Temporary are the snares, but eternal are the fortresses of virtue. Death dissolves all power and deceit of the sinner.

Be careful, for daily the devil considers you and gnashes his teeth over you; but [as it says in the next verse] the Lord mocks him because he knows his day will come.

When the wicked person sees someone working on developing good character, he feels convinced that he is being indicted personally. He gnashes his teeth and becomes outraged. If he cannot corrupt someone’s character, then he immediately attempts to do away with his life.

The way in which consolation is offered to us is amazing, for who should delight himself in the pompous display of one whose audacity he knows will soon perish? If we would rather not be disturbed by jealousy, then let us follow what the Lord does. Let us laugh at him whose downfall we foresee; let us regard the unhappy things which we possess as things that will perish in time. Let us believe these things with all tenacity, since they have been promised to us in truth. It will happen in the way described, that the sinner will depart under derision, although he once boasted in a happiness that was not to last.

"He will watch." Above he set forth one reason why the men of God ought not be indignant over the sinner, namely because his prosperity is not stable; here he sets forth another, namely that sinners cannot harm the just. And regarding this he does two things. First, he proposes the malice that they devise in their heart against the just. Second, their outward effort, at "They have drawn the sword." Regarding the first, he does two things, inasmuch as their interior malice is twofold. First, he shows that the wicked lie in wait for the good. Second, that they are disturbed against them, at "And he will gnash." He says therefore, "The sinner will watch the just man," to see if perhaps he might find something against him: Lk. 14: "And they were watching him." So sinners watch the good, lying in wait for them and perverting their holy endeavors. Those who turn the goods of the Church into evils lie in wait, etc. But against this it is said, Prov. 24: "Do not lie in wait, and do not seek wickedness in the house of the just," etc. Second, they are disturbed against the just man. For they say, Wis. 2: "His life is unlike that of others," etc. Hence, "He will gnash his teeth at him," that is, they will be moved to anger. He speaks after the manner of boars: Ps. 111: "The sinner shall see, and shall be angry": Acts 7: "They gnashed their teeth at him."

A composed and uniform trust in God and a constant course of integrity are urged in view of the blessedness of the truly pious, contrasted in various aspects with the final ruin of the wicked. Thus the wisdom and justice of God's providence are vindicated, and its seeming inequalities, which excite the cavils of the wicked and the distrust of the pious, are explained. David's personal history abundantly illustrates the Psalm. (Psa. 37:1-40) The general sentiment of the whole Psalm is expressed. The righteous need not be vexed by the prosperity of the wicked; for it is transient, and their destiny undesirable.

gnasheth . . . teeth--in beastly rage.

The verb זמם is construed with ל of that which is the object at which the evil devices aim. To gnash the teeth (elsewhere also: with the teeth) is, as in Psa 35:16, cf. Job 16:9, a gesture of anger, not of mockery, although anger and mockery are usually found together. But the Lord, who regards an assault upon the righteous as an assault upon Himself, laughs (Psa 2:4) at the enraged schemer; for He, who orders the destinies of men, sees beforehand, with His omniscient insight into the future, his day, i.e., the day of his death (Sa1 26:10), of his visitation (Psa 137:7, Oba 1:12, Jer 50:27, Jer 50:31).