Works Volume 4, Book 2 · Psalm 52 – Psalm 53
The Fifty Second PSALM.
TO the chief Muſitian, 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.
Paraphrase. The fifty ſecond Pſalm was compoſed by David on occaſion of the wicked fact of Doeg, firſt in accuſing, then in ſlaying Ahimelech the High Prieſt with all his family, deſtroying the whole City of the Prieſts, called Nob. for no other crime but for a reſpect and charity performed by Ahimelech to David (ſee 1 Sam. 22.) It was ſet to the tune called Maſchil, and committed to the Praefect of his Muſick.
1. Why boaſteſt thou thy ſelf in miſchief, O mighty man? the goodneſs of God endureth continually.
Paraphrase. 1. It is a ſtrange matter of pleaſure and joy and boaſting to a perſon in power, to be able to miſchief thoſe that deſerve it leaſt: There is not any ſort of pride more irrational, than that of a Doeg, to have killed thoſe whom no body elſe would kill, 1 Sam. 22.17. This is moſt diametrally oppoſite to (that which alone is juſt matter of joy or boaſting to any) being like unto God; for he is moſt eminently good and bountiful, and ſo continues even to thoſe that provoke him and ſin againſt him.
2. Thy tongue deviſeth miſchief like a ſharp raſor, working deceitfully.
Paraphrase. 2. That relation of his to Saul of Ahimelech's civility to me was moſt malitiouſly deſigned, and the effect of it as bloody, as if the tongue that ſpake it had been a raſor ſharpened on purpoſe to cut the throats of a multitude of moſt innocent perſons.
3. Thou loveſt evil more than good, and lying rather than to ſpeak righteouſneſs. Selah.
Paraphrase. 3. Had it not been as eaſie for thee to have ſaid ſomewhat that might have aſſwaged the Kings diſpleaſure againſt his own ſon, and me his ſon in law? But ſome men are never pleaſed with thoſe things which alone yield true and durable pleaſure, (ſuch are all acts of juſtice, and charity, and obliging thoſe who deſerve it,) but on the contrary are tranſported with any opportunity of calumniating or ſupplanting any, be they never ſo innocent.
4. Thou loveſt all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
Paraphrase. 4. And ſuch is Doeg: No ſuch pleaſure to him, as to be able by one ſpeech, as by a poiſonous vapor, to blaſt a whole multitude, and bring ruine to the whole family and city of the pious high Prieſt of God.
5. God ſhall likewiſe deſtroy thee for ever; he ſhall take thee away, and ‖or remove thee from the Tabernacle.pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
Paraphrase. 5. As thou haſt dealt with the Prieſts of God, ſo ſhall God, their juſt avenger, deal with thee. Thou haſt calumniated Ahimelech, then fetcht him and his from their place of abode, then deſtroyed them from ſerving in the Tabernacle, ſwept away the Prieſts whole family, (none but Abiathar eſcaping thy bloody hands, and that much againſt thy will alſo) and let none of them return to their houſe; and not only ſo, but haſt fallen upon the whole city of Nob, without any pretence of fault of theirs, and put them all to the ſword. And God ſhall undoubtedly plead the cauſe of his innocent Prieſts, exclude thee from the priviledge of ſerving God in the Tabernacle, of receiving benefit by the Prieſtly Office, firſt excommunicate thee, then bring the ſame bloody deſolation upon thee and all thy family and people, which thou haſt executed upon thoſe.
6. The righteous alſo ſhall ſee and fear, and ſhall laugh at him.
Paraphrase. 6. And all that truly fear God ſhall take notice of this, as a judgment moſt juſt, for what he hath now done to the Prieſts: and as they ſhall make uſe of it to impreſs a due reverence of God, and all goodneſs on themſelves and others, and a dread of offending; ſo ſhall they make him a name of reproach to all poſterity, (by that alſo deterring all from the like practiſes) ſaying,
7. Loe this is the man that made not God his ſtrength, but truſted in the abundance of his riches, and ſtrengthened himſelf in his wickedneſs.
Paraphrase. 7. Behold the juſt vengeance of God upon a man that never thought of ſecuring his greatneſs by Gods protections, never applied himſelf to duties of piety or juſtice, never imagined that they would be uſeful to his preſent ſecurity, to which only he had an eye, but reſolved by wealth and by wicked enterpriſes to eſtabliſh and perpetuate his greatneſs. And now God hath refuted all his vain and falſe hopes, and brought utter deſtruction upon him.
8. But I am like a †flouriſhing foreigngreen Olive-tree in the houſe of God: I truſt in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
Paraphrase. 8. Whereas I, to whom his miſchief was originally deſigned, 1 Sam. 22.9. have been preſerved from ſuffering any hurt by his malice: from that time to this I have proſpered, and increaſed in ſtrength, and have not fallen into Sauls hands, when he is caſt out, v. 5. and ſhall, I doubt not, enjoy very happily the preſence of my God in the Sanctuary (which prediction was eminently fulfilled when the Ark was brought into the City of David, the place of his abode.) My condition hath been like that of the Olive-tree, which is full of green leaves all the year long; and ſo have I continued in a flouriſhing ſtate: whilſt he is withered and cut down and eradicated out of the land of the living, I am faſt ſetled and flouriſh by the good providence of God over me; and ſo through the ſame mercy I truſt I ſhall do to my lives end.
9. I will praiſe thee for ever, becauſe thou haſt done it; and I will wait on thy name, for it is good before thy Saints.
Paraphrase. 9. This juſt vengeance of God I am obliged to remember and celebrate as long as I live, and what ever my diſtreſſes or dangers ſhall prove, repoſe my full truſt and confidence in God, wait and depend on him for deliverance in his good time. And indeed thus to live by faith, and not by ſenſe, to keep cloſe to this one guard, and ſecure our tenure in Gods protections, by never attempting or admitting ought which may betray and forfeit that hold, but for ever conſtantly to depend on God in his own way, is that which all pious men have experimented to be the wiſeſt and ſafeſt courſe, and that which will ſtand in more ſtead, than all the power aſſiſted alſo by all the wickedneſs of men.
Annotations on Pſal. LII.
V. 1. Goodneſs] The firſt verſe is very diſtantly rendred by the LXXII. Inſtead of foreign O mighty man, the benignity of God, as the Chaldee rightly render it, they read, foreign, mighty for wickedneſs; and the Syriack and Latine, &c. follow them in it. To this they ſeem to have been lead by a ſecond notion of foreign (quite contrary to mercy by way of foreign) for impiety, foreignmercileſsneſs, and alſo reproach, Lev. 20.17. it is a wicked or abominable thing. By analogy with which, foreign might be thought to ſignifie that which is to the reproach of God, as indeed the killing of the Prieſts was, and ſo not amiſs expreſt by foreign. But the ordinary acception of foreign is very fit for this place, where the great mercy and benignity of God, and the continuation or conſtancy thereof in deſpight of our greateſt provocations, Gods bounty even to enemies, is very fitly oppoſed to Doegs unprovoked cruelty and impiety.
V. 4. Deceitful tongue] The reading of the LXXII. here foreign, is reſiſted by the context; and 'tis not improbable to have been the error of ſome ſcribe, the change being ſo eaſie from foreign, in the vocative caſe, to which it may be fitly ſaid in the firſt word, foreign, thou haſt loved—And thus ſurely the Latine read it, who have lingua doloſa, in that caſe: but the Syriack took it in that other, and ſo read foreign in conjunction with the antecedents, and deceitful tongues; and ſo the Arabick and Aethiopick alſo.
V. 5. foreignDwelling place] foreign is literally from the Tabernacle, not from thy dwelling place; and ſo the LXXII. render it, foreign, from the Tabernacle: and though the Latine and Syriack and Arabick have added [tuo, thy] yet neither will the Hebrew bear, nor do the Chaldee acknowledge it, who read by way of paraphraſe, he ſhall cauſe thee to depart foreign from inhabiting in the place of the Schechina, or Tabernacle, the place of Gods preſence. And thus Aben-Ezra expounds the Tabernacle of the place where the Ark was. And then the removing from that (ſo foreign ſignifies from foreign tranſtulit) will be beſt underſtood of the cenſure of Excommunication, foreignwhich in the laſt and higheſt degree was Schammatha, delivering up the offender to the hand of heaven, to be cut off, himſelf and his poſterity; according to that of the Jewiſh Doctors, who aſſign this difference between foreign death, and foreign exciſion, that he that is guilty of death, only himſelf ſuffers, not his ſeed, but exciſion reacheth both the ſinner himſelf and his poſterity, as here it doth.
The Fifty Third Pſalm.
TO the chief Muſitian upon ‖the hollow inſtrument.Mahalath, Maſchil, A Pſalm of David.
Paraphrase. The fifty third Pſalm is very little varied from the Fourteen firſt compoſed by David, on occaſion of the general revolt in Abſoloms rebellion, but now new ſet to the tune called Maſchil, (which probably was the cauſe of the variations) and accommodated to ſome other occaſion, perhaps the firſt captivity, mentioned v. 6. and committed to the Praefect of his Muſick, to be ſung to a Flute, or ſome other ſuch hollow inſtrument.
1. The fool hath ſaid in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity; there is none that doth good.
Paraphrase. 1. See Pſal. 14.1.
2. God looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to ſee if there were any that did underſtand, that did ſeek God.
Paraphrase. 2. See Pſal. 14.2.
3. Every one of them is gone back, they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doth good, no not one.
Paraphrase. 3. See Pſal. 14.3.
4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
Paraphrase. 4. See Pſal. 14.4.
5. There were they in great fear where no fear was: for God hath ſcattered the bones of them that incamped againſt thee; thou haſt put them to ſhame becauſe God hath deſpiſed them.
Paraphrase. 5. God ſtruck them with a ſudden conſternation, for which there was no viſible cauſe, and ſo they fled, and were killed in the flight; God being thus pleaſed ſignally to interpoſe his hand for the ſecuring of David, and his diſappointing and diſcomfiting his enemies.
6. †Who ſhall give from Sion the ſalvation of Iſrael?O that the ſalvation of Iſrael were come out of Sion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob ſhall rejoyce, and Iſrael ſhall be glad.
Paraphrase. 6. See Pſal. 14.7.
Annotations on Pſal. LIII.
foreignTit. Mahalath] What foreign ſignifies in the title of this and the 88 Pſalm muſt be uncertain, the word being not elſewhere found. 'Tis moſt probably the name of an Inſtrument, on which the Pſalm was to be ſung; and it may fitly be deduced from foreign perforavit, or i…cidit, either from the hollowneſs of the inſtrument, or farther from the holes cut in it, in which reſpect foreign is ordinarily uſed for fiſtula, or tibia, a pipe.