Salmi 52:3 Commento

David, no doubt, was in very great grief when he said to Abiathar (Sa1 22:22), "I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house," who were put to death upon Doeg's malicious information; to give some vent to that grief, and to gain some relief to his mind under it, he penned this psalm, wherein, as a prophet, and therefore with as good an authority as if he had been now a prince upon the throne, I. He arraigns Doeg for what he had done (Psa 52:1). II. He accuses him, convicts him, and aggravates his crimes (Psa 52:2-4). III. He passes sentence upon him (Psa 52:5). IV. He foretels the triumphs of the righteous in the execution of the sentence (Psa 52:6, Psa 52:7). V. He comforts himself in the mercy of God and the assurance he had that he should yet praise him (Psa 52:8, Psa 52:9). In singing this psalm we should conceive a detestation of the sin of lying, foresee the ruin of those that persist in it, and please ourselves with the assurance of the preservation of God's church and people, in spite of all the malicious designs of the children of Satan, that father of lies. To the chief musician, Maschil. A psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 52 To the chief Musician, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech. Of the title "Maschil", See Gill on Psa 32:1, title. The occasion of this psalm is here related, the history of which is in Sa1 21:7. The sum of it is this; David having fled from Saul, came to Ahimelech the priest at Nob, and desired bread and a sword of him, which were given him, Doeg the Edomite being present at the same time. Sulpicius Severus (s) calls him a Syrian, following the Greek version of Sa1 21:7; and so does Josephus (t), through a mistake of the letter for an Aramite instead of an Edomite; See Gill on Sa1 21:7 and See Gill on Sa1 22:9; this man observed what was done for David by the priest; and when Saul complained to his captains that they all conspired against him, and no man was sorry for him, or showed him the intrigue between David and his son; Doeg stood up and related what, and more than what he had heard and seen pass between David and Ahimelech; upon which Saul sent for the priest, and all his father's house with him, and charged him with treasonable practices; and though he solemnly protested his innocency, Saul would not believe him, but ordered his footmen to fall upon him, and upon all the priests with him; but they refusing, he commanded Doeg to do it, who accordingly did, and slew eighty five priests, and destroyed all in the city of Nob, men, women, children, and sucklings, oxen, asses, and sheep; only Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, escaped, who fled to David, and reported the whole affair; upon which he penned this psalm: in which he has respect not only to the then present case, but to future times, Doeg being a type of antichrist, the man of sin; in his name, which signifies "anxious [and] solicitous" (u), as he was to gain the king's favour, and obtain wealth and honour; so is antichrist to grasp all power, civil and ecclesiastical, and to get worldly honour and riches: in the country he was of, being an Edomite; and it is easy to observe, that Edom is the name which the Jews commonly give to the Roman empire, in which antichrist has his seat and power: in his religion, being a proselyte of the Jews, and was at an act of devotion, detained before the Lord, when he saw and heard what passed between David and Ahimelech; so antichrist appeared with the mask of religion, rose up out of the church, and sat in the temple of God, showing himself as though he was God: in his office, the chiefest of the herdmen, or mightiest among the shepherds of Saul; so antichrist calls himself "princeps pastorum", that is, "the chief of pastors"; assuming to himself the title which belongs to Christ, the chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls: and, lastly, in his cruelty in slaying the priests of the Lord. Antichrist is notorious for shedding and drinking the blood of the saints, the faithful confessors and witnesses of Jesus Christ. In this psalm David upbraids him with his glorying in his wickedness, and checks it by observing that the grace and goodness of God to his people ever endures, Psa 52:4; charges him with devising mischief, and loving it, Psa 52:2; and foretells his everlasting ruin and destruction, Psa 52:5; which will be seen by the righteous with pleasure, who will have just reason to insult over him, Psa 52:6; and the psalm is concluded with an account of the happy condition and comfortable frame of soul the psalmist was in, in a view of all his troubles and enemies; he was flourishing in the church of God, trusted in the mercy of God for ever, and determined always to praise him and wait upon him, which is good for the saints to do, Psa 52:8. (s) Sacr. Hist. l. 1. p. 43. (t) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 12. s. 1. 4. (u) A rad. "solicitus, anxius fuit", Buxtorf.

Thou lovest evil more than good,.... Indeed not good at all; such comparatives being strong negatives; see Psa 118:8; a wicked man loves evil, and nothing else; his carnal mind being enmity to all that is good and lying rather than to speak righteousness; as appears by his affirming that Ahimelech inquired of the Lord for David, when he did not, Sa1 22:10; and by suffering some things to pass for truths which were falsehoods, when it lay in his power to have disproved them: and such a lover of lies is antichrist; see Ti1 4:2. Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psa 3:2. The Targum renders the word "Selah" here "for ever", as in Psa 52:5.

There follows then what? All your might and all your thought of iniquity all the day, and meditation of malignity in your tongue without intermission, has performed what, done what? "As with a sharp razor you have done deceit" [Psalm 52:3]. See what do evil men to Saints, they scrape their hair. What is it that I have said? If there be such citizens of Jerusalem, that hear the voice of their Lord, of their King, saying, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:" that hear the voice which but now from the Gospel has been read, "What does it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and of himself make wreck:" [Matthew 16:26] they despise all present good things, and above all life itself. And what is Doeg's razor to do to a man on this earth meditating on the kingdom of heaven, and about to be in the kingdom of heaven, having with him God, and about to abide with God? What is that razor to do? Hair it is to scrape, it is to make a man bald. And this belongs to Christ, who in the Place of a Skull was crucified. [Matthew 27:33] It makes also the son of Core, which is interpreted baldness. [1 Chronicles 6:22] For this hair signifies a superfluity of things temporal. Which hairs indeed are not made by God superfluously on the body of men, but for a sort of ornament: yet because without feeling they are cut off, they that cleave to the Lord with their heart, so have these earthly things as they have hair. But sometimes even something of good with "hair" is wrought, when you break bread to the hungry, the poor without roof you bring into your house; if you shall have seen one naked, you cover him: [Isaiah 58:7] lastly, the Martyrs themselves also imitating the Lord, blood for the Church shedding, hearing that voice, "As Christ laid down His life for us, so also ought we also to lay down for the brethren," [1 John 3:16] in a certain way with their hair did good to us, that is, with those things which that razor can lop off or scrape. But that therefore even with the very hair some good can be done, even that woman a sinner intimated, who, when she had wept over the feet of the Lord, with her hair wiped what with tears she wetted. [Luke 7:38] Signifying what? That when you shall have pitied any one, you ought to relieve him also if you can. For when you have pity, you shed as it were tears: when you relieve, you wipe with hair. And if this to any one, how much more to the feet of the Lord. The feet of the Lord are what? The holy Evangelists, whereof is said, "How beautiful are the feet of them that tell of peace, that tell of good things!" Therefore like a razor let Doeg whet his tongue, let him whet deceit as much as he may: he will take away superfluous temporal things; will he necessary things everlasting?

"You have loved." Here he treats of the affection of the wicked, or of the sinner, for harming his neighbor. And this affection consists in two things: namely, in external and internal matters. First, therefore, in external matters he shows the withdrawal of justice. He says, therefore, "You have loved malice more than benignity." Benignity, that is, "good fire-quality": and so it makes the soul of a man melt toward sharing good things; malice, on the contrary, drives a man's impulse to harm. And those wicked sinners have loved malice more than goodness, that is, benignity, because they are more prompt to evil than to good, since they are cold and lax: Job 20: "When evil is sweet in his mouth, he hides it under his tongue." As to the withdrawal of justice, he says, "You have loved speaking iniquity more than speaking equity": Ps. 10: "He who loves iniquity hates his own soul."

Compare Sa1 21:1-10; Sa1 22:1-10, for the history of the title. Psa 52:1 gives the theme; the boast of the wicked over the righteous is vain, for God constantly cares for His people. This is expanded by describing the malice and deceit, and then the ruin, of the wicked, and the happy state of the pious. (Psa 52:1-9) mighty man--literally, "hero." Doeg may be thus addressed, ironically, in respect of his might in slander.