12:1-2: Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
In this psalm David complains about the vicious words of his adversaries, and in contrast praises the pure and precious word of God.
• Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases: The exact circumstances under which David wrote this psalm are unknown, and it could have been during many different periods in his life. David knew what it was like to feel that the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. David was a warrior and a fierce soldier, but we see here that he also had to deal with the battles of gossip and the backbiting of idle and deceptive talkers. David knew what it was like to feel all alone in this kind of battle, where it seemed that no one would speak up and defend him. Instead, he took his case to the LORD. We sense that David probably would have preferred to battle with swords and shields than among the gossips and backbiters surrounding him.
• With flattering lips and a double heart they speak: Instead of the godly man, David saw around him those who spoke with idle chatter (they speak idly everyone with his neighbor), and who were two-faced liars (flattering lips…a double heart). The essence of flattering lips is that they say what people want to hear. There are many such talkers today, even within the church – those who know the right answer for every occasion but speak with no honesty or transparency of heart. They constantly speak what people hope to hear or what is assumed to be proper instead of their true thoughts, feelings, and deeds.
• “‘They speak with a double heart.’ The original is, ‘A heart and a heart’: one for the church, another for the change; one for Sundays, another for working-days; one for the king, another for the pope. A man without a heart is a wonder, but a man with two hearts is a monster.” (Thomas Adams, cited in Spurgeon)
12:3-5: May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, And the tongue that speaks proud things, Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is lord over us?” “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise,” says the LORD; “I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”
• May the LORD cut off all flattering lips: David felt somewhat helpless against these destructive chatterers; he found his refuge in the LORD, to whom he appealed to cut off…the tongue that speaks proud things.
• With our tongue we will prevail…Who is lord over us? David despised these destructive tongues, not only for what they said, but also for the pride that made them so difficult to stop. It was as if they freely said, “You can never make us stop talking as we please.”
• For the one who professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ, there is only one answer to this question, Who is lord over us? Jesus Christ is our Lord, and He owns us body, soul, and spirit. We are bought with a price and are therefore obligated to glorify God in our bodies, including our lips and tongue (1 Corinthians 6:20).
• Now I will arise: These destructive talkers spoke as they pleased, but they could not stop the LORD God from speaking as He pleased. In a wonderful and dramatic way, the LORD announced that He would act on behalf of the poor and needy victimized by these proud, unstoppable talkers.
• I will set him in the safety for which he yearns: David believed that this was God’s word for him. He was one of the poor and needy yearning for safety from these destructive critics and talkers.
12:6-7: The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. You shall keep them, O LORD, You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
• The words of the LORD are pure words: In contrast to the idle, two-faced, lying, and proud lips of David’s adversaries, God’s words are pure, as if they were fine silver…purified seven times.
• “The words of Jehovah are holy in his precepts, just in his laws, gracious in his promises, significant in his institutions, true in his narrations, and infallible in his predictions…” (Horne). This means that the word of God can be trusted in every sense. It is good, pure, and tested thoroughly. “The Bible has passed through the furnace of persecution, literary criticism, philosophic doubt, and scientific discovery, and has lost nothing…(Spurgeon)
• You shall keep them, O LORD, You shall preserve them: This was David’s declaration of confidence in God’s ability to preserve His own words. He did not only give His word to mankind; His providential hand has protected the existence and integrity of His word through the centuries.
12:8: The wicked prowl on every side, When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
• The wicked prowl on every side: David knew that the existence and exaltation of God’s pure word would not eliminate the wicked. They would still exist and prowl on every side as they could, but never with the assurance of final victory.
• When vileness is exalted among the sons of men: We might feel that this psalm ends on a sad, depressing note. Yet David was utterly realistic in his outlook. He knew that even with the precious and pure word of God available to men, many of the sons of men would still prefer that vileness is exalted.
• We might say that David almost left it as a challenge. Let the sons of men exalt vileness; he would exalt the pure and precious word of God. Eventually all would see the winner of this contest.
