สดุดี 14:1 วิจารณ์

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.

If we apply our hearts as Solomon did (Ecc 7:25) to search out the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness, these verses will assist us in the search and will show us that sin is exceedingly sinful. Sin is the disease of mankind, and it appears here to be malignant and epidemic. 1. See how malignant it is (Psa 14:1) in two things: - (1.) The contempt it puts upon the honour of God: for there is something of practical atheism at the bottom of all sin. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. We are sometimes tempted to think, "Surely there never was so much atheism and profaneness as there is in our days;" but we see the former days were no better; even in David's time there were those who had arrived at such a height of impiety as to deny the very being of a God and the first and self-evident principles of religion. Observe, [1.] The sinner here described. He is one that saith in his heart, There is no God; he is an atheist. "There is no Elohim, no Judge or governor of the world, no providence presiding over the affairs of men." They cannot doubt of the being of God, but will question his dominion. He says this in his heart; it is not his judgment, but his imagination. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but he wishes there were none, and pleases himself with the fancy that it is possible there may be none. He cannot be sure there is one, and therefore he is willing to think there is none. He dares not speak it out, lest he be confuted, and so undeceived, but he whispers it secretly in his heart, for the silencing of the clamours of his conscience and the emboldening of himself in his evil ways. [2.] The character of this sinner. He is a fool; he is simple and unwise, and this is an evidence of it; he is wicked and profane, and this is the cause of it. Note, Atheistical thoughts are very foolish wicked thoughts, and they are at the bottom of a great deal of the wickedness that is in this world. The word of God is a discerner of these thoughts, and puts a just brand on him that harbours them. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; for he thinks against the clearest light, against his own knowledge and convictions, and the common sentiments of all the wise and sober part of mankind. No man will say, There is no God till he is so hardened in sin that it has become his interest that there should be none to call him to an account. (2.) The disgrace and debasement it puts upon the nature of man. Sinners are corrupt, quite degenerated from what man was in his innocent estate: They have become filthy (Psa 14:3), putrid. All their faculties are so disordered that they have become odious to their Maker and utterly incapable of answering the ends of their creation. They are corrupt indeed; for, [1.] They do no good, but are the unprofitable burdens of the earth; they do God no service, bring him no honour, nor do themselves any real kindness. [2.] They do a great deal of hurt. They have done abominable works, for such all sinful works are. Sin is an abomination to God; it is that abominable thing which he hates (Jer 44:4), and, sooner or later, it will be so to the sinner; it will be found to be hateful (Psa 36:2), an abomination of desolation, that is, making desolate, Mat 24:15. This follows upon their saying, There is no God; for those that profess they know God, but in works deny him, are abominable, and to every good work reprobate, Tit 1:16. 2. See how epidemic this disease is; it has infected the whole race of mankind. To prove this, God himself is here brought in for a witness, and he is an eye-witness, Psa 14:2, Psa 14:3. Observe, (1.) His enquiry: The Lord looked down from heaven, a place of prospect, which commands this lower world; thence, with an all-seeing eye, he took a view of all the children of men, and the question was, Whether there were any among them that did understand themselves aright, their duty and interests, and did seek God and set him before them. He that made this search was not only one that could find out a good man if he was to be found, though ever so obscure, but one that would be glad to find out one, and would be sure to take notice of him, as of Noah in the old world. (2.) The result of this enquiry, Psa 14:3. Upon search, upon his search, it appeared, They have all gone aside, the apostasy is universal, there is none that doeth good, no, not one, till the free and mighty grace of God has wrought a change. Whatever good is in any of the children of men, or is done by them, it is not of themselves; it is God's work in them. When God had made the world he looked upon his own work, and all was very good (Gen 1:31); but, some time after, he looked upon man's work, and, behold, all was very bad (Gen 6:5), every operation of the thought of man's heart was evil, only evil, and that continually. They have gone aside from the right of their duty, the way that leads to happiness, and have turned into the paths of the destroyer. In singing this let us lament the corruption of our own nature, and see what need we have of the grace of God; and, since that which is born of the flesh is flesh, let us not marvel that we are told we must be born again.

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 fool hath said in his heart,.... This is to be understood not of a single individual person, as Nabal, which is the word here used; nor of some Gentile king, as Sennacherib, or Rabshakeh his general, as Theodoret; nor of Nebuchadnezzar, nor of Titus, as some Jewish writers (y) interpret it, making one to be here intended, and the other in the fifty third psalm: the same with this; but of a body, a set of men, who justly bear this character; and design not such who are idiots, persons void of common sense and understanding; but such who are fools in their morals, without understanding in spiritual things; wicked profligate wretches, apostates from God, alienated from the life of God; and whose hearts are full of blindness and ignorance, and whose conversations are vile and impure, and they enemies of righteousness, though full of all wicked subtlety and mischief: these say in their hearts, which are desperately wicked, and out of which evil thoughts proceed, pregnant with atheism and impiety; these endeavour to work themselves into such a belief, and inwardly to conclude, at least to wish, there is no God; though they do not express it with their mouths, yet they would fain persuade their hearts to deny the being of God; that so having no superior to whom they are accountable, they may go on in sin with impunity; however, to consider him as altogether such an one as themselves, and to remove such perfections from him, as may render him unworthy to be regarded by them; such as omniscience, omnipresence, &c. and to conceive of him as entirely negligent of and unconcerned about affairs of this lower world, having nothing to do with the government of it: and thus to deny his perfections and providence, is all one as to deny his existence, or that there is a God: accordingly the Targum paraphrases it, "there is no "government" of God in the earth;'' so Kimchi interprets it, "there is no governor, nor judge in the world, to render to man according to his works;'' they are corrupt; that is, everyone of these fools; and it is owing to the corruption of their hearts they say such things: they are corrupt in themselves; they have corrupt natures, they are born in sin, and of the flesh, and must be carnal and corrupt: or "they do corrupt", or "have corrupted" (z): they corrupt themselves by their atheistic thoughts and wicked practices, Jde 1:10; or their works, as the Chaldee paraphrase adds; or their ways, their manner and course of life, Gen 6:12; and they corrupt others with their evil communications, their bad principles and practices, their ill examples and wicked lives; they have done abominable works: every sinful action is abominable in the sight of God; but there are some sins more abominable than others; there are abominable idolatries, and abominable lusts, such as were committed in Sodom; and it may be these are pointed at here, and which are usually committed by such who like not to retain God in their knowledge; see Rom 1:24; there is none that doeth good; anyone good work in a spiritual manner; not in faith, from love, in the name and strength of Christ, and with a view to the glory of God: nor can any man do a good work without the grace of God, and strength from Christ, and the assistance of the Spirit of God: hence, whatsoever a wicked man does, whether in a civil or in a religious way, is sin; see Pro 21:4. Arama takes these to be the words of the fool, or atheist, saying, there is no God that does good, like those in Zep 1:12. (y) Vid. Jarchi, Kimchi & Ben Melech in loc. (z) "corruperunt", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus; "corrumpunt", Junius & Tremellius; "corrumpunt se", Piscator.

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.

Some have denied that there is a divine spirit altogether. They have openly professed that God is not the ruler of everything, that his name is nothing but empty and that he is of no substance. Others worship gods who do not exist, denying him who is God alone. Some suggest that indeed there is a God in name, but they contend that he does not oversee earthly matters or look on human affairs. In summary, therefore, all these people have come together into the single position of atheism (godlessness), believing that there is no God. Since they are not bold enough to announce this openly, they persuade themselves in their hearts, being foolish and senseless in the matter of truth, that God does not exist. (A natural understanding about God and the innate seeds of the instinct drive all of them to confess a recognition of God; they are not so bold to deny this fact with their lips, so they pretend to recognize him not as the only God but as an innumerable plurality.) … Their godless position is brought to light from their works (as indeed a tree is judged by its fruit), with their villainy and a way of living like it. They have poisoned their own spirit, betraying it to their bodies with whatever corruption, and as men act in madness with men and through whatever other monstrous and abominable acts, they defile their own selves. In this way it was shown that even if they mustered ten thousand gods, even if they blared out with their lips and confessed God governs all things, in their hearts, and really in their minds, there is not the least recognition of God. Such, therefore, was the life of these people before the advent of our Savior.

This statement [about fools] is directly followed by one pointing out that their actions correspond with their thoughts: “They are corrupt, and their behavior is evil.” The unrighteous person corrupts his body in every possible way: stealing, committing adultery, cursing, getting drunk, and doing similar things.… Count on it: those who are fools in their thoughts will do wicked deeds. As the Lord said [to the Pharisees], “How can you speak good things when you are evil?” And they truly were evil, because their thoughts were wicked.

“There is no God.” There is no foundation, then how does the building stand? There is no keel, then how does the ship stabilize? There is no captain, then how is the ship readied? There is no builder, then how is the house built? There is no architect, then who founded the city? There is no farmer, then how do the fields bear their bundles? There is no music, then how can there be the harmony on the lyre of the world? There is no one to foresee, then how does foreknowledge permeate everything? There is no charioteer, then how is the chariot of the four elements driven? There is no sculptor, then how are statues of people in the world crafted? There are no builders of arches, then who has built the arch of heaven for you? There is no gold worker, then who has placed the golden disc sun in heaven as on a table? There is none who brings a torch, then who gave the moon of the night to you as a silver torch? There is none who brings light, and who has given to you a light with clear splendor? There is none who alone makes great lights, then who has put the ascending lamps of the stars in the sky for you?… Is there no Creator about whom the creature testifies?

It was the fool who said through Pharoah, “I have not known this God”; and the depth of the sea became a tomb for him. The fool said through Sennecharib, “God is not able to snatch Hezekiah from my hands,” and he was killed by his sons. The fool said through Nebuchadnezzar, “Who is this God who can snatch you from my hand? Who is the most powerful of men?” … Judas the denier of God was destroyed by a noose because he had deemed God as a man to be betrayed.

They are corrupt—wounded and rotten, smelling rank, seeping foulness and poison, not seeking medicine. They become abominable like pigs rolling in the mud of sin; like dogs returning to vomit, they run with rage.… Because they have despised the thinking of God, pious people despise them. They are corrupt like worm-infested garments, as rusted iron, as those who have touched death and the ashes of dead bones.… “There is no one who does good, not one.” Not Herod killing innocent babies, not the Jew who called Jesus Beelzebub when he cast out demons, not the one endeavoring to keep the law perfectly, not priests acting dishonorably, not scribes writing for naught, not Pharisees pressing and pushing rules, not Sadducees debating, not Judas selling him, not the master boxing the slave’s ear, not Pilate condemning him, not the people shouting.… “There is no one who speaks good,” when all the disciples fled as they abandoned him. John ran off naked. Peter denied him, the disciples fled, the spear of doubt pierced the soul of Mary. There was no one who showed the fruit of love in his suffering.… Even after his death, the soldier pierced his side.… Surely he has visited us and wants to save, but none desires to be shown the medicine.

"The fool has said in his heart, There is no God" [Psalm 14:1]. For not even have certain sacrilegious and abominable philosophers, who entertain perverse and false notions of God, dared to say, "There is no God." Therefore it is, has said "in his heart;" for that no one dares to say it, even if he has dared to think it. "They are corrupt, and become abominable in their affections:" that is, while they love this world and love not God; these are the affections which corrupt the soul, and so blind it, that the fool can even say, "in his heart, There is no God. For as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." [Romans 1:28] "There is none that does goodness, no not up to one." "Up to one," can be understood either with that one, so that no man be understood: or besides one, that the Lord Christ may be excepted. As we say, This field is up to the sea; we do not of course reckon the sea together with the field. And this is the better interpretation, so that none be understood to have done goodness up to Christ; for that no man can do goodness, except He shall have shown it. And that is true; for until a man know the one God, he cannot do goodness.

[Like the Assyrian army in the days of Hezekiah], all will come to know through experience the one fighting against them; fear will strike them from a source they did not expect. I mean, who would have thought they would be destroyed by an angel? That God cares for the Jews? Those who mocked the counsel of poor and lowly Hezekiah for trusting in God rather than arms will realize that the one who made himself dependent on God enjoyed a hope that was not disappointed.

“They are corrupt.” By turning away from the sound thinking found in the Scriptures, they show that they have fallen into corrupt patterns of thought. The punishment for sin comes next. Defiled by their despicable unbelief, they become abominable to the Lord by their errors.

We cannot do good unless we have come to Christ through God’s mercy. For when we approach him and do not turn away from him, without a doubt every good is performed. This is the end that was promised in the heading of the psalm.

The fact that God exists is not doubted by those who accept the sacred Scriptures—both the Old and New Testaments, I mean—or by the majority of the Greeks, for, as we have said, the knowledge of God’s existence has been revealed to us through nature. However, since the wickedness of the evil one has so prevailed over people’s nature as even to drag some of them down to the most unspeakable and extremely wicked abyss of perdition and to make them say that there is no God, … then the Lord’s disciples and apostles, made wise by the all-Holy Spirit, did by his power and grace show signs from God and draw up those people alive in the net of their miracles from the depths of the ignorance of God to the light of his knowledge.

Above, the Psalmist reproached the deceitfulness of his enemies; here he sets forth their malice. The title is: "Unto the end, a Psalm of David." And concerning this he does two things. First he manifests their malice. Second he sets forth the hope of his liberation from them, at "Shall they not know," etc. And concerning the first he does two things. First he proposes their malice. Second he certifies that this malice is in them, at "The Lord from heaven," etc. The first is divided into two. First he proposes the root of their malice. Second the progress of their malice: "They are corrupt," etc. As it is said in Sir. 10: "The beginning of all sin is pride, and the beginning of man's pride is to fall away from God." That a man, therefore, does not have God in his heart is the principle of malice; and therefore he says, "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God": Wis. 1: "Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins." But can he say this? To say in one's heart is to think. But can one think that God does not exist? Anselm says that no one can. Likewise Damascene. The knowledge of God is naturally implanted in all: no one can think that what is naturally known does not exist. But it should be known that we can speak about the knowledge of God in two ways: namely, according to himself, or as regards us. If in the first way, then without doubt it cannot be thought that he does not exist: for no proposition can by its nature be thought false whose predicate is included in the definition of the subject. It should be noted, however, that existence in God is different from existence in other things, because the existence of God is his substance. Therefore, whoever speaks of God according to himself, speaks of his existence; and therefore according to himself it cannot be thought that he does not exist. And the statement of Damascene is resolved: because what is naturally implanted is known indeterminately, namely that God exists, but not what God is; but this is held through faith. "God" is said from "Theos," which means "to burn away all malice." Therefore someone says that God does not exist when he thinks that he is not omnipotent, and that he does not have care of human affairs: Job 21: "Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?" This can be referred to the Jews who said that Christ was a mere man, not God. Jn. 10: "You, being a man, make yourself God." These Jews, not believing in him who was promised in the law, say "there is no God" -- this one, namely, who preaches to us. And the fool said this, because they were unwilling to receive the wisdom of God, having the eyes of their mind blinded; Ps. 81: "They have not known, nor have they understood." Wis. 2: "For their own malice has blinded them." Or here the sinner is rebuked. First for the sin of the heart in consent, at "The fool has said." Second for the sin of action, at "They are corrupt." Third for the sin of habit, at "And they have become abominable." First he calls the sinner a fool; because he does not have wisdom, so that he says, etc. Likewise, because spiritual things have no savor for him; 1 Cor. 2: "The natural man does not perceive the things of God." Consequently, the progress of malice is set forth: "They are corrupt and have become abominable." Just as the two parts of justice are to do good and to avoid evil, so the two parts of injustice are to do evil and to avoid good. And first he sets forth the first part. Second, the second. Concerning the first, he sets forth two things. First, the perversity of vices. Second, their abomination. In bodies, corruption follows from the evaporation of natural heat expelled by an alien heat. For the natural heat of the soul is the love of God. When, therefore, the alien love of concupiscence and of other sins enters, God departs. And therefore, when he said "there is no God," he immediately adds "they are corrupt": Jer. 5: "They have denied God and said, It is not he," namely, the punisher of sinners, the rewarder of the just: Sir. 21: "The heart of the fool," namely of the sinner, "is like a broken vessel." They are corrupt, therefore -- sinners through evil action: Jn. 3: "Their works were evil" -- because after they lose gratuitous goods through consent, the natural goods in them are corrupted; and therefore punishment follows them: Ps. 96: "A fire shall go before him, and shall burn his enemies round about." Likewise, when a body putrefies, it becomes abominable. So the soul of a person, as long as the love of God is in it, is acceptable to God; but when it is corrupted through sin, it becomes abominable. What is abominable is that from which human appetite recoils: and therefore he says, "And they have become abominable," namely to God and men -- sinners through the habit of sinning: Jer. 2: "How exceedingly base have you become, repeating your ways." Hos. 9: "They were alienated in confusion, and became abominable like the things they loved." And he said "in their pursuits," because through these they arrive at abominable things. Or they do so studiously, according to Jerome. For God finds more abominable the studied willingness to sin than the sin itself: Job 34: "They have deliberately turned away from him, and would not understand any of his ways." Another reading has: "They have corrupted and made abominable their pursuit," namely of wisdom and discipline: Prov. 1: "They have held discipline hateful, and have not received the fear of the Lord": Ez. 8: "You shall see yet greater abominations." Consequently he treats of the avoidance of good. "There is none who does good," because "there is no just man on earth who does good and does not sin" (Eccl. 7). "Not even one," that is, except Christ, because he alone had neither contracted sin nor committed sin. The Blessed Virgin had contracted sin: Eccl. 7: "One man among a thousand I have found; a woman among all these I have not found." Or "not even one," because not even one person perfectly does good. This is true, given that they have said "there is no God," and "they are corrupt."

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).

The perfect אמר, as in Psa 1:1; Psa 10:3, is the so-called abstract present (Ges. 126, 3), expressing a fact of universal experience, inferred from a number of single instances. The Old Testament language is unusually rich in epithets for the unwise. The simple, פּתי, and the silly, כּסיל, for the lowest branches of this scale; the fool, אויל, and the madman, הולל, the uppermost. In the middle comes the notion of the simpleton or maniac, נבל - a word from the verbal stem נבל which, according as that which forms the centre of the group of consonants lies either in נב (Genesis S. 636), or in בל (comp. אבל, אול, אמל, קמל), signifies either to be extended, to relax, to become frail, to wither, or to be prominent, eminere, Arab. nabula; so that consequently נבל means the relaxed, powerless, expressed in New Testament language: πνεῦμα οὐκ ἔχοντα. Thus Isaiah (Isa 32:6) describes the נבל: "a simpleton speaks simpleness and his heart does godless things, to practice tricks and to say foolish things against Jahve, to leave the soul of the hungry empty, and to refuse drink to the thirsty." Accordingly נבל is the synonym of לץ the scoffer (vid., the definition in Pro 21:24). A free spirit of this class is reckoned according to the Scriptures among the empty, hollow, and devoid of mind. The thought, אין אלהים, which is the root of the thought and action of such a man, is the climax of imbecility. It is not merely practical atheism, that is intended by this maxim of the נבל. The heart according to Scripture language is not only the seat of volition, but also of thought. The נבל is not content with acting as though there were no God, but directly denies that there is a God, i.e., a personal God. The psalmist makes this prominent as the very extreme and depth of human depravity, that there can be among men those who deny the existence of a God. The subject of what follows are, then, not these atheists but men in general, among whom such characters are to be found: they make the mode of action, (their) doings, corrupt, they make it abominable. עלילה, a poetical brevity of expression for עלילותם, belongs to both verbs, which have Tarcha and Mercha (the two usual conjunctives of Mugrash) in correct texts; and is in fact not used as an adverbial accusative (Hengstenberg and others), but as an object, since השׁהית is just the word that is generally used in this combination with עלילה Zep 3:7 or, what is the same thing, דּרך Gen 6:12; and התעיב (cf. Kg1 21:26) is only added to give a superlative intensity to the expression. The negative: "there is none that doeth good" is just as unrestricted as in Psa 12:2. But further on the psalmist distinguishes between a דור צדיק, which experiences this corruption in the form of persecution, and the corrupt mass of mankind. He means what he says of mankind as κόσμος, in which, at first the few rescued by grace from the mass of corruption are lost sight of by him, just as in the words of God, Gen 6:5, Gen 6:12. Since it is only grace that frees any from the general corruption, it may also be said, that men are described just as they are by nature; although, be it admitted, it is not hereditary sin but actual sin, which springs up from it, and grows apace if grace do not interpose, that is here spoken of.