Psalm 52: 1 – 9
God Is my strength
To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of David when Doeg the Edomite went and told Saul, and said to him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.”
1 Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually. 2 Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. 3 You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah 4 You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue. 5 God shall likewise destroy you forever; He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah 6 The righteous also shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, 7 “Here is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.” 8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. 9 I will praise You forever, because You have done it; And in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good.
Is the Lord your strength? This is a unique statement that I think if I asked you to explain what it means, you would have a hard time explaining it back to me. So, I want to give you some help from our Precious Holy Spirit’s teaching and insight. After you meditate on them then I think you will come to a satisfactory answer from our Precious Holy Spirit.
Psalm 27:1 “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Psalm 37:39 “But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in time of trouble.”
Psalm 138:3 “In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.”
Matthew 19:26 “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
2 Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
Psalm 8:2 “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.”
Psalm 18:1-2 “I will love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Psalm 18:32 “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.”
Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.”
Psalm 22:19 “But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me!”
Psalm 28:7-8 “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore, my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him. The LORD is their strength, and He is the saving refuge of His anointed.”
Psalm 29:11 “The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace.”
Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Psalm 54:1 “Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your strength.”
Psalm 65:6 “Who established the mountains by His strength, being clothed with power.”
Psalm 71:16 “I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.”
Psalm 73:26 “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 118:14 “The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.”
Exodus 15:2 “The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He Is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”
2 Samuel 22:3 “The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior, You save me from violence.”
1 Chronicles 16:11 “Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore!”
1 Chronicles 29:12 “Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.”
Nehemiah 8:10 “Then he said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.’”
Isaiah 12:2 “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.’”
Isaiah 25:4 “For You have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.”
Isaiah 40:29, 31 “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. … “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.”
Habakkuk 3:19 “The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.”
Zechariah 4:6 “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
Ephesians 3:16 “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.”
Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”
2 Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.”
To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of David when Doeg the Edomite went and told Saul, and said to him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.”
These headings as you have noticed in the book of Psalms were attached later and may well not be part of the inspired text (in the same way as we divide the original text into chapters and verses, divisions which are convenient but not inspired).
This is another Psalm dedicated to the choirmaster. It is the first of four Maschils of David in succession (Psalms 52-55). Thirteen Psalms are described as Maschils. It may be that Maschil signifies ‘making wise/skillful’. The word maschil means ‘understanding’, and has been variously interpreted as meaning, ‘a teaching Psalm’; ‘a meditation’, bringing understanding; or a ‘skillful Psalm’ indicating a complicated setting.
The occasion for the composition of the Psalm is seen as the time when Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, saw David visiting the high priest Ahimelech to obtain food for his men as he fled from Saul. Doeg reported this back to Saul which resulted in the massacre of all the priests at Nob (a priestly city). 1 Samuel 21.1-9; 22.9-23.
As Saul’s chief herdsman (a post of high distinction) Doeg would be seen as a ‘mighty man’ (verse 1), a man of wealth (verse 7), and verse 5 could well have in mind what happened to the priests of Nob. He certainly deceived Saul into thinking that Ahimelech had betrayed him (verse 3). It is probable that David found rest and recreation in writing Psalms, and his feelings of guilt when he learned from Abiathar what had happened might well have been medicine by writing this Psalm as a kind of curse on Doeg (verse 5), and a vindication of himself (verse 8). This would explain why the concentration is on the man rather than on the incident. He is drawing God’s attention to the kind of man that Doeg is. As a consequence, the Psalm has reference to all evil men.
The Psalm is divided up by ‘Selah’ into three parts:
. A description of man’s sinfulness (52.1-3).
. A description of the consequences to himself resulting from his sinfulness (52.4-5).
. A description of how the righteous see his fate and the personal vindication of each of the righteous concerning themselves (52.6-9).
In the first verse the ‘man of substance’ is asked why he boasts continually about mischief he has wrought in the light of the fact of the continually enduring covenant love of God. He is then described as a man who speaks wickedness and deceit, and who loves evil rather than good, and lying rather than honesty.
These opening lines sum up the message of the Psalm. Certain men of substance boast about their wrongdoing, failing to recognize that there is a God Who will call them to account. They see themselves as above the law but can be sure that God will finally deal with them as they deserve. And this is because His covenant love towards His own (His love which fulfils His responsibility to those who are within His covenant) is continuous. He will not overlook anything that is done against them. He does not overlook what men do to His true servants and will in time deal with them accordingly. They have thus no reason to boast. The implication is that they should rather hide themselves in shame.
We have in these words the assurance that those who truly respond to God from the heart, looking to Him as those who have committed themselves to Him on the basis of His declared promises (His covenant), can be sure that God will call to account any who seek to do them harm, because God’s love to His own never fails.
‘O mighty man’ refers to a man strong in either prowess on the field of battle, or in wealth and status as a consequence of his talents. There may be some sarcasm in the description, in that the so called mighty man is seen as opposing himself to the mighty God. He sees himself as ‘mighty’ but he pales into insignificance before ‘the Almighty’.
Doeg, holding a prominent position in Saul’s entourage, insidiously reported to him suggesting that Ahimelech, who was wholly innocent of wrongdoing, was a traitor. He could have enquired of Ahimelech and discovered the truth, but he preferred to go behind his back and spread insinuations. Ahimelech, the anointed High Priest, was seemingly a good man, and faithful to God’s covenant. Thus by attacking him Doeg was attacking God. And he no doubt did boast afterwards about what he had done. Such men always do. Thus the words are particularly apposite to his case. If he was still alive when David took the throne, we need not doubt that he would be called to account. Ahimelech’s son Abiathar, David’s High Priest, would see to that.
Another point I want to point out is that there are certain people who we might work for wind up believing the story of the first person who comes to him or her. You know the old saying that there is three parts to any story. What each person says and then there is the truth. Any person who only believes the first person who comes running to him or her to spill the gossip is usually the guilty one.
2 Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. 3 You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
The mischief of the mighty man in verse 1 is now defined. He is a man whose tongue devises many types of wickedness, cuts men and their reputations to shreds like a sharp razor and works deceitfully. Such men prefer evil to good (Isaiah 5.20) and lying to truthfulness. They reckon that to be successful in life goodness and truthfulness must be forfeited because they can be too much of a hindrance. And as men mature in sin they become more and more incapable of discerning right from wrong. Their consciences are ‘seared with a hot iron’ (1 Timothy 4.2).
Such a man sounds totally disreputable. But there is something of this in us all. Before we nod and pass on we should consider our own lives. We also may scheme to hurt people whom we do not like, may use our tongues like a sharp razor, may pass on rumors and insinuations, may at times act deceitfully and prefer evil to good. So, we need to do our own inventory and see if this man is just ourselves amplified. If so, then it is only the power of Christ that can root this out of us.
That it was true of Doeg is unquestionable. He was not concerned to find out the truth of the situation, (Ahimelech genuinely thought that David was on the king’s business), but preferred sneaking to Saul behind Ahimelech’s back, no doubt hoping for reward. Why discover the truth when you can turn what you know to such good account? It is a warning to us all to discover the truth before we pass information on. False information is deceit.
At the end of the three verses we find the word ‘selah’. This was saying, ‘think of that’.
The Psalmist now tells us that what a man sows he will reap. In the final analysis God will do to men what they have done to others. Those who devour with their words will themselves be devoured.
4 You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue. 5 God shall likewise destroy you forever; He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
‘Devouring words’ are literally ‘words which swallow up’. They cause harm, and even death. The deceiver loves such words, for they enable him to obtain his ends, at whatever cost to those whom he denigrates. Doeg’s words certainly ‘swallowed up’ Ahimelech and the priests of Nob. And they were certainly ‘plucked from their tents (homes) and rooted out of the land of the living’. The application to Doeg as a recompense for what he had done is very fitting.
The warning to all who love devouring words which ‘swallow people up’, is that they also will be ‘taken up’ by God, will be ‘plucked from their tents’, and will be ‘rooted out of the land of the living’. What they have done to others will be done to them. God will destroy them forever.
6 The righteous also shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying,
The righteous will see what happens to such a man and will be filled with awe. And ‘they will laugh at him’ unable to believe it. Being themselves filled with awe at the thought of the holiness of God they will be amazed that he could be so foolish. The laugh is not vindictive. Rather they are laughing at his folly. They cannot believe that he could be so foolish.
To laugh vindictively at what befalls an evil man is forbidden in Proverbs 24.17-18 with the warning that God will not be pleased.
The aim is to bring out the extreme foolishness of his ways as will now be described.
7 “Here is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
Like all men he had had a choice. He could have found his strength in God. He could have looked to Him for strength. But he rather trusted in his riches. He saw being wealthy as more important than pleasing God, for he was convinced that in riches he would find security and happiness. They would be his stay. But they would be of little use when disaster struck, and his wealth was taken from him, or when he became ill and died.
And because his trust had been in the abundance of his riches, striving to obtain more and more by any means, he became convinced that nothing else mattered. He felt that nothing could harm him, and this bolstered him up in the wrongdoing that he perpetrated. After all, it was through wrongdoing that his riches had been gained. And wrongdoing would make him richer.
Doeg had become wealthy. He was chief of all Saul’s herdsmen, which in those days, in a land where agriculture was its mainstay, was a very important position. And it was this that had persuaded him to act as he did in the hope of gaining favor and obtaining more wealth. His mind was fixed on ‘getting on’. He thus disregarded truth, while his wealth, and his desire for more, strengthened him in his wrongdoing.
Our Lord Jesus warned men of the deceitfulness of riches (Mark 4.19), and Paul pointed out that a desire for wealth was at the root of all evil and had brought on men many sorrows (1 Timothy 6.10). It is one thing to prosper. It is quite another to make it your goal in life.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
In contrast with the man who will be rooted up is the one who is firmly established like a green olive tree in the house of God. A green olive tree was so because its roots went deep and were well watered (Psalm 1.3). And being established as such in the house of God indicated his loyalty to God and to the covenant. It was this that made him fruitful. The covenant was the covenant established at Sinai, as partly reproduced and expanded on in Deuteronomy. It was the covenant of those who had been redeemed responding to their Redeemer. It was a covenant that constantly revealed God’s covenant love for his obedient people, a love that could be wholly relied on by those who walked with Him. It was a love in which they could trust forever.
‘The green olive tree’ is said elsewhere to be God’s designation of Israel (Jeremiah 11.16). Paul would later use it a picture of the remnant of Israel who received the Messiah, where it incorporated Gentiles who believed in the Messiah (Romans 11.17).
9 I will praise You forever, because You have done it; And in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good.
The Psalmist ends with thanksgiving and praise. He gives thanks for what God has done, rooting out the unrighteous, and establishing the righteous. And this causes him to have continual hope in YHWH’s Name, the Name which is ‘good’, revealing the love and holiness of God. He is confident that God will continue to cause the righteous to flourish, and the unrighteous to be rooted out.
