Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 36:1
To the chief Musician, [A Psalm] of David the servant of the LORD. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, [that there is] no fear of God before his eyes.
1. As the Psalmist reflects on the conduct of the wicked man, it becomes clear to him that practical atheism is the guiding principle of his life. So the reading of the Massoretic Text, followed in the A.V., may be explained. But it is unnatural to regard transgression as uttering its oracle in the Psalmist’s heart; and the reading of the LXX, Vulg., Syr., and Jerome, within his heart, is certainly preferable. The verse may then be rendered either (1), Saith Transgression to the wicked within his heart, (that) there is &c.; the second line giving the words of Transgression’s oracle: or (2) Transgression uttereth its oracle to the wicked within his heart; There is &c.; the second line being the statement of the Psalmist, and hinting at the substance of the oracle.
The word rendered saith, or, uttereth its oracle, is regularly used of solemn divine utterances in the phrase saith the Lord (Gen 22:16; and frequently in the prophets). Occasionally though rarely, it has a human speaker for its subject (Num 24:3 ff.; 2Sa 23:1; Pro 30:1). Transgression more precisely, rebellion or apostasy, is here personified (cp. Gen 4:7, R.V.; Zec 5:8; Rom 6:12-13, R.V.). The wicked man has made it his God, and it has become a lying spirit within him (1Ki 22:21 ff.; 2Th 2:11-12).
no fear of God ] Rather, no terror of God. The word pachad denotes terror inspired by God, not reverence for God (Isa 2:10; Isa 2:19; Isa 2:21, R.V.). Transgression persuades the wicked man that there is no need for him to dread God’s judgements. Cp. Psa 10:4-6; Psa 10:11, Psalms 13: Psa 14:1; and contrast Psa 18:22; Psa 119:120: Job 13:11; Job 31:23. With these words St Paul sums up his description of the character and condition of fallen man in Rom 3:18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1, 2. The ground of the godless man’s security in his sin.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The transgression of the wicked – There is considerable difficulty in respect to the grammatical construction of the Hebrew in this verse, though the general sense is plain. The main idea undoubtedly is, that the fair explanation of the conduct of the wicked, or the fair inference to be derived from that conduct was, that they had no fear of God before them; that they did in no proper way regard or fear God. The psalmist introduces himself as looking at the conduct or the acts of the wicked, and he says that their conduct can be explained, in his judgment, or in his heart, in no other way than on this supposition. The word transgression here refers to some open and public act. What the particular act was the psalmist does not state, though probably it had reference to something which had been done to himself. What is here said, however, with particular reference to his enemies, may be regarded as a general truth in regard to the wicked, to wit, that their conduct is such that the fair interpretation of what they do is, that there is no fear of God before their eyes, or that they have no regard for his will.
Saith – This word – ne‘um – is a participle from a verb, na’am, meaning to mutter; to murmur; to speak in a low voice; and is employed especially with reference to the divine voice in which the oracles of God were revealed to the prophets. Compare 1Ki 19:12. It is found most commonly in connection with the word Lord or Yahweh, expressed by the phrase Saith the Lord, as if the oracle were the voice of Yahweh. Gen 22:16; Num 14:28; Isa 1:24; Isa 3:15, et saepe. It is correctly rendered here saith; or, the saying of the transgression of the wicked is, etc. That is, this is what their conduct says; or, this is the fair interpretation of their conduct.
Within my heart – Hebrew: in the midst of my heart. Evidently this means in my judgment; in my apprehension; or, as we should say, So it seems or appears to me. My heart, or my judgment, puts this construction on their conduct, and can put no other on it.
That there is no fear of God – No reverence for God; no regard for his will. The sinner acts without any restraint derived from the law or the will of God.
Before his eyes – He does not see or apprehend God; he acts as if there were no God. This is the fair interpretation to be put upon the conduct of the wicked everywhere – that they have no regard for God or his law.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 36:1-12
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before hill eyes.
A sharp contrast of sin and holiness
I. the character of the wicked (Verses 1-4). Depravity is the sinners oracle. Its impulses come to him like those responses from superhuman sources which command the reverence and obedience of mankind. He yields to the seductive influence, and presses forward in the delusion that he will Hover be found out. And so, the fear of punishment being dispelled, he becomes thoroughly bad in heart, speech, and behaviour.
II. the divine excellence (Psa 36:5-9). The psalmist begins with Jehovahs loving-kindness and His faithfulness, His fulfilment of promises, even to the undeserving. These fill the earth and reach up to heaven. They transcend all human thought and desire (Eph 3:18). Jehovahs righteousness. His rectitude in general is compared to the mountains of God, mountains which, being produced by Almighty power, are a natural emblem of immensity. Judgments, on the other hand–that is, particular acts of righteousness–are likened to the great deep in its vastness and mystery. How unsearchable are His judgments! (Rom 11:33). The next clause shows one of the most touching characteristics of Hebrew poetry in the instantaneous transition from the consideration of Gods unapproachable excellence to that of His providential care, which extends to every living thing, rational or irrational (Psa 104:1-35; Psa 145:13-16). The thought of these things makes the singer burst forth in devout rapture: How precious is Thy loving-kindness! It is valuable beyond all treasures, since it affords such a sure and ample protection for all who take refuge beneath Jehovahs outstretched wings (Rth 2:12). God is represented as a gracious Host who provides for all who come to His house and His table (Psa 23:5; Psa 34:9). They are sated with the richest food, and drink of the stream of Gods pleasures or Edens (Gen 2:10). To believers, if they enjoy Gods presence and favour, a crust of bread and a glass of water are incomparably better than a royal banquet without such enjoyment. For with Him is the fountain of all life, animal and spiritual. What matters it that all the streams are cut off when one stands near the fountain-head, and has direct access to it? But just as God is the fountain of life, so is He also the fountain of light (Dan 2:22), and apart from Him all is darkness. The believing soul lives in an element of light which at once quickens and satisfies the spiritual faculty, by which heaven and heavenly things are apprehended.
III. The concluding prayer (Psa 36:10-12). To his glowing description of the blessedness resident in God and flowing forth to the objects of His favour, the psalmist appends a prayer that it may be extended or prolonged to the class to which he claims to belong. This class is described, first, as those who know God, and, as a necessary consequence, love Him, since genuine knowledge of the true God is inseparable from right affections toward Him; secondly, as the upright, not merely in appearance or outward demeanour, but in heart. Great as Gods loving-kindness is, it is not indiscriminate, nor lavished upon those who neither appreciate nor desire it. The last verse is a mighty triumph of faith. It is as if David said, There! they have fallen already. The wicked may be swollen with insolence, and the world applaud them, but he descries their destruction from afar as if from a watch-tower, and pronounces it as confidently as if it were an accomplished fact. The defeat is final and irretrievable. What is the carpenters son doing now? was the scoffing question of a heathen in the days of Julian, when the apostate emperor was off upon an expedition which seemed likely to end in triumph. He is making a coffin for the emperor, was the calm reply. Faith that is anchored upon the perfections of the Most High cannot waver, cannot be disappointed. (T. W. Chambers, D. D.)
A diagnosis of sin
The earlier verses of the psalm are concerned with an analysis of the method and destructiveness of sin. The first four verses describe the successful ravages which sin makes in human life. They give us a diagnosis of evil, from its earliest appearance in the germ to its complete and final triumph. Now how does sin begin? I must take some little liberty with the wording of the psalm before me. I suppose it is one of the most difficult of all the psalms to translate. You will find, if you will look at the marginal rendering in the R.V., that for almost every clause the translators have given us an alternative reading which greatly differs from the reading placed in the text. I choose the marginal reading of the first clause, which, I think, gives us the germ, the first appearances, the beginnings of sin in human life. Transgression uttereth its oracle, speaks within himself in tones of imperious authority, lays down certain assurances, interpolates certain suggestions, and clothes them with imperial authority. The devil begins his ministry by oracular suggestions, by mysterious whispers, subtle enticements to sin. That is the germinal work of the devil; a mystic, secret oracle seeking to entice the life into ways of sin. The secret enticement is followed by equally subtle stratagem. He (that is, the oracle) flattereth him in his eyes that his iniquity shall not be found out and be hated. Two things the oracle says, and he says them with imperial authority. First, that sin shall not be found out, and secondly, that therefore there is no fear of reprobation. It is only a repetition of a word with which we are very familiar in the earlier portion of the old Book. Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die? . . . Ye shall not surely die! Now pass to the third step in the great degeneracy. The man has been listening to the secret oracle. He has been flattered by its suggestiveness. He is now persuaded by the enticement, and the moral degradation begins apace. The words–the first things to be smitten–The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. The first thing that happens as soon as a man listens to the devil is that the bloom goes off the truthfulness of his life. He now enters the realm of equivocation and deceit, his seduction begins to show its fruit at the lips. He hath left off to be wise; then he loseth sense; he does not now exercise common sense; he shuts one eye! His intelligence is narrowed, contracted and curtailed. But still further: He hath left off to do good. The loss of brotherhood! He may continue to give money; but he has ceased to give self. The claims of philanthropic service no longer appeal to his spirit, they pass by unheeded and ignored. Arid now see what further happens in the stages of moral decay. He deviseth iniquity; his imagination becomes defiled. He setteth himself in a way that is not good. His will becomes enslaved. He adhorreth not evil. He has now reached the plain of moral benumbment; his moral palate has been defiled; the distinction between sweet and bitter is no longer apparent, sweet and bitter taste alike. He has no abhorrence of evil, and he has no sweet pleasure in the good. He has lost his power of moral discernment; he is morally indifferent, and almost morally dead. Such is the diagnosis of sin, beginning in the whispered oracle and proceeding to absolute enslavement, passing through the intermediate stages of deception and delight. That is the moral condition of thousands. It is all round about us, and when we are confronted with its widespread devastation, what can we do? The earlier verses of this psalm, which give what I have called a diagnosis of sin, were never more confirmed than they are in the literature of our own Lime. The literature of our time abounds in analysis of sin. If you turn to Tess of the DUrbervilles, or Jude the Obscure, you will find that Thomas Hardy is just carefully elaborating the first four verses of this psalm. But, then, my trouble is this: that when his mournful psalm comes to an end I close his book in limp and rayless bewilderment. That is where so much of our modern literature leaves me. It gives me a fine diagnosis, but no remedial power. But here is the psalmist contemplating a similar spectacle–the ravages of sin, and he himself is temporarily bewildered; he himself is bowed low in helpless and hopeless mood. What does he do? I am very glad that our Revised Version helps by the very manner in which the psalm is printed. After verse four there is a great space, as though the psalm must be almost cut in two, as though the psalmist had gone away from the contemplation of that spectacle, as indeed he has. And where has he gone? He has gone that he might quietly inquire whether the evil things he has seen are the biggest things he can find. When the psalm opens again after the pause, the psalmist is joyfully proclaiming the bigger things he has found. What are they? Thy loving-kindness, O Lord, is in the heavens. Mark the vastness of the figures in which he seeks to enshrine the vastness of his thought. Thy loving-kindness, O Lord, is in the heavens, bending like a mothers arms, the shining, cloudless sky! Most uncertain of all uncertainties, and yet Thy faithfulness reacheth even unto the clouds! Those apparent children of caprice, coming and going no one knows how, are in Gods loving control, and obey the behests of His most sovereign will. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains. How majestic the figure! The mountains, the symbols of the Eternal, abiding through the generations; looking down upon the habitations of men, undisturbed, unchanged, unmoved. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains! Not that everything becomes clear when a man talks like that; the mystery remains! Thy judgments, Thy ways of doing things, Thy judgments are a great deep, as immense and unfathomable as the incalculable sea. But then one may endure the mystery of the deep when one is sure about the mountain. When you know that His faithfulness even ruleth the clouds, you can trust the fickle sea, Where had he been to discover these wonderful things? He is not recounting a bald catalogue of Divine attributes; he is announcing a testimony born of a deep and real experience. Where has he been? He has been the guest of God. Under the shadow of Thy wings. The security of it! The absolute perfectness of the shelter! The warmth of it! The untroubled peace of it! He has been in Gods house, sheltering there as a chick under its mothers wings. And then he tells us what he received in the house, what he had when he was a guest, when he was hiding under the wings: They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house. Fatness is the top, it is the cream of all spiritual delicacies. It is the first, the prime thing! They shall be abundantly satisfied with the delicacies of Thy table! Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. It is not only what there is upon the table; it is the conversation and the fellowship at the board. Thy speech, Thy fellowship, Thy whispers, Thy promises, they just flow out into their souls like a river, and their joy shall be full. With Thee is the fountain of life! He was beginning to feel alive again; he was beginning to feel vitalized and renewed. I am getting inspired again. And then he added: In Thy light, my living God, in Thy light shall we see light to do our work away yonder in the fields of sin I The very two things he wanted: life and light I Inspiration and counsel! Encouragement and hope! As the psalmist turned from the Presence Chamber to confront again the spectacle of depravity, he offered a prayer, and this was his prayer: O continue Thy loving-kindness unto them that know Thee, and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart! And then, as though he was afraid that when he got back to the waste again, and to the sin again, he himself might be overcome, caught up in the terrible drift and carried along, he added this prayer: Let not the foot of pride come against me. Do not let me get into the general tendency of things, and by the general tendency be carried away! He offered a prayer that these cardinal things, the greatest things, might abide with him, and that when he went away into the worlds waste field he might be able to stand. And so this man came out of the secret chamber a knight of God! He goes back, like all men ought to go hack to their work when they have been in the presence chamber of God. We ought to turn to our work singing, always singing, and the songs ought to be, not songs of strife and warfare, but songs of victory. (J. H. Jowett, M.A.)
The character of the wicked and the prayer of the good
I. The character of the wicked.
1. Practical atheism.
2. Self-flattery.
3. Perverse speech.
4. Mischievous devices.
II. The glory of God. Here the Eternal is adored–
1. For what He is in Himself.
(1) His mercy is not a mere sentiment or passion, subject to change, but a principle settled as truth itself.
(2) His rectitude is as settled as the everlasting hills, and the dispensations of His providence are as a trackless, boundless ocean.
2. For what He is to His creatures.
(1) The Preserver of all.
(2) Their loving Guardian.
(3) Their Soul-satisfier. Mans happiness is participation in Gods own happiness.
III. The prayer of the good.
1. The subject of the prayer.
(1) The continuance of Divine favour.
(2) Protection from evil.
2. The answer (Psa 36:12). (Homilist)
The remedy for the worlds wickedness
Consider the estimate here made of mans character and its cause. The language of the text is not that of David only, but of Christ, concerning the world around us. Mans transgression possessed a language which spoke to his heart, and what it said was this, There is no fear of God before their eyes. Christ knew what the fear of God was, for He was heard in that he feared; not, indeed, with the selfish, slavish fear of punishment, which is incompatible with love, and impotent to secure obedience; but that holy, filial fear which is inseparable from love, and which is a comprehensive term for all that constitutes real religion in man. We know the power of this in mans character, its practical power in giving man victory over the world, and therefore when he saw the transgressions of men he knew that the cause was–There is no fear of God. Then he goes to the root of the disease; he puts forward none of the plausible excuses which men make for themselves on the ground of temperament, circumstances, and the like: but he goes to the root, for he knows also the real and only remedy. All others are vain: whether they be secular attempts to improve mans condition or to enlarge his knowledge, or to improve the institutions of civil government. Men believe in these things, and despise that vital religion which can alone help. What man calls wisdom, and wealth, and science, can do but little good, for they all terminate with creatures; they do not rise up to God. There is nothing in them to alter the real character of man. The reason is, that man, practically considered, is under the dominion, not of his intellect, but of his affections. There is no truth, connected with our composition, that requires and demands from wise men a more accurate and painstaking examination than this; because there is a theory of right in mens minds, and they deceive themselves into self-complacency by the admiration of the theory, at the moment that practically they are transgressing it. However strengthened the intellect by natural learning, it is still too weak for the conflict. The attracting object, soliciting the affections, gains the man; and he exhibits another specimen of the acknowledgment of the celebrated heathen, who Knew the best, and yet the worst pursued. What is to be done for him? His transgression saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. There is fear of man; there is a desire to obtain the good opinion of man; but all these are too weak for the conflict. He is still a transgressor, because he is devoid of the fear of God. The next verses of the psalm give a remarkable description of his transgression, and show that it is mainly characterized by self-deception. He flattereth himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful. It is not perceived to be hateful now, because he does as the world does. There are transgressions in which no man can flatter himself that he is right, but there are others for which he does not condemn himself, because society does not. It is concerning these, particularly, that he goes on flattering himself. And where is the remedy? The language of the psalmist, immediately after this, points out the remedy. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep; O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. Observe the transition. From this contemplation of mans wickedness, he does not pass to a better class of men, because he was not contemplating that peculiar character of wickedness, in which man differs from man, but he was contemplating the root of mans malady, in which there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In immediate contrast, therefore, he refers to the character of God. Here is the only remedy–the character of God as manifested in Jesus Christ. Mercy, . . . faithfulness, righteousness, judgment, . . . loving-kindness–how are these glorious perfections harmonized, but in the Cross of Christ? Here, then, we find the urgency for preaching the Gospel among men. Here we find our stronghold of demand for every effort to promulgate the Gospel amongst our fellow-creatures. They who know the human character best, who have watched most minutely the turning point of mans feelings and his consequent conduct, know full well that it is the manifestation of Gods love that wins the alienated heart and changes the alienated conduct. (Hugh MNeils, M. A.)
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity he found to he hateful.—
The deceitfulness of sin
The deceits by which the sinner thus imposes on himself may be very different and various, according to the circumstances and the dispositions of the persons by whom they are admitted, and it is not very easy to discover every one of them. There are, however, some capital and leading ones, pointed out in Scripture, or suggested by history and experience.
I. A studied infidelity, and an affected endeavour to despise the evidence on which the belief of the great and fundamental doctrines of religion stands; such as the existence and perfections of Almighty God, His moral government of this world, and a future judgment.
1. It is the height of folly, either to reject these doctrines of religion, or to treat them with contempt, until we can say we have examined the evidence on which they have been received, with the utmost exactness and candour in our power.
2. Without determining the degree of evidence, which is offered in support of the doctrines of religion, we may venture, nevertheless, to affirm, with strong assurance, that it is at least equal to the evidence upon which men constantly proceed, without the smallest hesitation, in all their other interests.
II. A fond imagination of their own innocence, even in the course of an irregular and sinful life. They artfully persuade themselves that there cannot be such malignity or guilt in what they do as that it should expose them to the displeasure of their Maker, or draw after it any great or lasting punishment: they presume, therefore, God will overlook the irregularities and errors of their lives, or find out some merciful expedient whereby they may escape with safety and success.
1. Notwithstanding the ignorance and corruption of our present state, so much of our original rectitude remains, that without any laboured cultivation, the consciences of men do still perceive a very odious deformity in some instances of wickedness; and lead, not only to a strong indignation against the criminal, but to a strong persuasion that Providence will some time or other interpose, and exert its justice, in his punishment.
2. The marks which God has already given, in the administration of His providence, of His displeasure with the sins of men. What extreme distress have some brought upon themselves by their intemperance; some by their dishonesty, and others by their immoderate ambition. It adds greatly to the weight of this consideration, that these expressions of Divine displeasure are made against such iniquities as are usually disguised in the thoughts of men, under the appearance of innocence, or weakness; as being only a compliance with the appetites implanted in our nature, and with the custom of the world, in which a man has no deliberate impiety and malice in his heart, no intention either to affront his Maker, or to hurt his fellow-men.
III. A groundless and presumptuous dependence on the mercy of almighty God.
1. Although the mercy of Almighty God be infinite, as all His other perfections are, yet it can extend only to those persons who are the proper objects of compassion, and to those cases to which it would be worthy of Him to extend mercy.
2. Let it be observed, that abstracting from the displeasure of Almighty God, and supposing that there was to be no positive exertion of His justice in the case, yet the future punishment of sinners will very probably proceed from the nature and influence of wickedness itself (Gal 6:7; Pro 1:31; Isa 3:10).
IV. The sinners hoping, at the end of a guilty life, to be saved, by the merit of the Son of God, and the virtue of that great atonement which he made for the sins of men. If the sinner is not able to convince himself that the mercy of his Maker is sufficient, by itself, to ensure his future safety, he trusts, at least, to the all-sufficient sacrifice and merit of his well-beloved Son. But, according to Scripture, they only can be saved by the sacrifice and intercession of the Son of God, who are persuaded by Him to repent of their iniquities, to believe and obey the Gospel (Act 5:31; Act 3:19; Heb 5:9; Rom 2:6). Were the matter otherwise, were sinners, continuing in their wickedness, permitted to expect salvation through the merits of our Saviour, Jesus would become the minister of sin, an establisher rather than a destroyer of the works of Satan; than which, a more blasphemous reproach could not be thrown upon His character.
V. A precipitant contempt of religion, on account of the weak and wrong representations which have been made of it by some of its mistaken friends. This instance of deceit unhappily prevails, even among those who pretend to superior discernment. But the weakness of it may appear upon a very small attention. Does a wise man conduct himself in this manner in any corer action of his life? Does he despise the truth and usefulness of real science, because of the impertinence and pedantry of mere pretenders to it? Does he despise the useful schemes of commerce, accompanied with the solidest effects, because of the chimerical and idle schemes of mere projectors.
VI. Their hoping and resolving to repent, and turn to God, at some future and more convenient opportunity; at the farthest, in the last period of their lives, or at the approach of death. It is not proposed, at present, to show the extreme absurdity and folly of this conduct, by arguments drawn from the shortness and uncertainty of human life; the hardening influence of a sinful course, which gradually destroys the sensibility of the human conscience. I would only desire ,your attention to the prodigious presumption of the sinner who defers his repentance and return to God to the last period of his life, hoping then to obtain forgiveness from God by his penitence and prayers. What the Creator can do, or what He may have done, independent of the established laws of providence, no man reckons it of importance to inquire; and any person would be deemed a madman or a fool, who directed the measures of his conduct by a regard to such unusual departures from these laws, as the history of the world may possibly furnish some few examples of. That man seems equally foolish and absurd who seeks admission to eternal life otherwise than according to the measures of His mercy, declared and established by the Gospel. (W. Craig, D.D.)
On the deceitfulness of the heart, with regard to the commission of sin
I. Preliminary observations.
1. That all the proofs of the deceitfulness of the heart, which we mean to offer with regard to sin, may not be found in every person, especially in those who are under its power.
2. Many of those things, which are evidences of the deceitfulness of the heart, may be used as temptations by Satan. The wind of Satans temptation commonly blows along with the tide of corruption within, whether by deceit, or by violence. Were not this the case, Satan would be divided against himself, and opposing the interests of his own kingdom.
II. How the deceitfulness of the heart appears.
1. In raising doubts in the mind, with respect to what One is inclined to, whether it really be sin.
2. In trying to persuade him that it is a little sin. If the understanding will not be betrayed into a belief that the matter proposed is no sin at all, the heart will strenuously plead that it scarcely deserves the name.
3. By representing the mortification of sin as affording far less pleasure than the gratification of it. Nay, it will presume to urge, not only the difficulty, but the unreasonableness, the cruelty of attempting totally to subdue sin.
4. Sin is exhibited as far more pleasant than it is really found in the commission. The enjoyments of sin are like the apples of Sodom, which, how fair soever they appear to the eye, when grasped by the hand are said to fall to ashes (Pro 22:8; Rom 6:21).
5. It represents a renewed opportunity of sin, as promising far greater satisfaction than was ever found before.
6. It pleads that one may indulge sin a little, without altogether yielding to the sin particularly in view.
7. It throws a veil of forgetfulness over the whole soul, with respect to all the painful consequences of sin, formerly felt. That loathsomeness of sin, hatred of self on account of it, or fear of Wrath, which the person experienced after a former indulgence, are entirely vanished; and he now appears to himself as one who feared where no fear was.
8. It entices the imagination into its service. This is not only Satans workhouse in the soul; but it may be viewed as a purveyor, which the heart engages in making provision for its lusts.
9. It engages the senses on its side. These are volunteers to the corrupt heart, which it arms in its service, and by which it accomplishes its wicked purposes, when enticing to outward acts of sin. For the voice of the senses will always overpower that of the understanding; if they be not brought into subjection, or presently restrained by grace.
10. In representing sin as properly ones own, as something belonging to ones self.
11. By insinuating that committing such a sin once more cannot greatly increase our guilt.
12. By urging the vanity of attempting to resist the temptation. It will plead for yielding to the present assault, from former instances of insufficiency In opposing one of the came nature.
13. It may sometimes endeavour to persuade a man that the present commission of sin will be an antidote for the future, because he will see more of its hatefulness.
14. The heart sometimes urges the commission of sin, as immediately clearing the way to the performance of some necessary duty (Rom 3:8; Gen 20:11; Gen 27:19; 1Sa 13:11; 1Sa 15:22).
15. By persuading a person to lay the commission of sin to the charge of the flesh, and solacing him with the idea that, although he fall into it, he does not really love it.
16. It dissuades him from prayer. Perhaps it reminds him that he has often tried this exercise before, in like circumstances, when he found an inclination to sin, or was assaulted by a temptation; and that it was attended with no success. Or, it may reason that if God hath determined to permit his fall at this time, prayer will not prevent it.
17. It strives to banish a sense of the presence and omniscience of God.
18. The deceitfulness of the heart about sin eminently appears in its self-hardening influence. Sin is the instrument which it uses in this work (Heb 13:8). The strength of every lust is commensurate with the power of deceit.
19. The heart will even urge Gods readiness to pardon as an excitement to the commission of sin. This is indeed a dreadful abuse of pardoning mercy.
20. By endeavouring to drive one to despair, after the commission of sin, as being beyond the reach of mercy.
III. Means for obtaining victory over the deceits of the heart with respect to sin.
1. In a dependence on the Spirit, resist the first motions of sin within you.
2. Beware of entertaining doubts with regard to what Scripture and conscience declare to be sin. To doubt is to begin to fall, for it implies unbelief of Gods testimony.
3. Carefully avoid light notions of any sin. To think lightly of sin is to think lightly of God.
4. Guard against the solicitations of your hearts. If these promise you honour, profit, or pleasure in the service of sin, believe them not.
5. Beware of tampering or dallying with sin. Temptation is, to the corrupt heart, sharper than a two-edged sword, and if the point once enter, you may be pierced through with many sorrows.
6. Try to get all your senses armed against sin, or rather barred against it; for this is the best mode of defence. Like Job, make a covenant with your eyes. Endeavour to stop your ears against it. Strive for the mastery over your taste. Put a knife to thy throat, lest thou be given to appetite.
7. Seek a constant sense of the Majesty and Omniscience of God.
8. Pray without ceasing against the deceitfulness of the heart.
9. Improve the strength of Christ, and the grace of His Spirit, for the mortification of sin. (John Jamieson, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PSALM XXXVI
The miserable state of the wicked, 1-4.
The excellence of God’s mercy in itself, and to his followers,
5-9.
He prays for the upright, 10;
for himself that he may be saved from pride and violence, 11;
and shows the end of the workers of iniquity, 12.
NOTES ON PSALM XXXVI
The title in the Hebrew is, To the conqueror, to the servant of Jehovah, to David. The Syriac and Arabic suppose it to have been composed on occasion of Saul’s persecution of David. Calmet supposes, on good grounds, that it was written during the Babylonish captivity. It is one of the finest Psalms in the whole collection.
Verse 1. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart] It is difficult to make any sense of this line as it now stands. How can the transgression of the wicked speak within my heart? But instead of libbi, MY heart, four of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. have libbo, HIS heart. “The speech of transgression to the wicked is in the midst of his heart.” “There is no fear of God before his eyes.” It is not by example that such a person sins; the fountain that sends forth the impure streams is in his own heart. There the spirit of transgression lives and reigns; and, as he has no knowledge of God, so he has no fear of God; therefore, there is no check to his wicked propensities: all come to full effect. Lust is conceived, sin is brought forth vigorously, and transgression is multiplied. The reading above proposed, and which should be adopted, is supported by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, AEthiopic, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon. This latter reads the sentence thus: [Anglo-Saxon]; which I shall give as nearly as possible in the order of the original. “Quoth the unrightwise, that he do guilt in himself: is not fear God’s at fore eyes his.” That is, The unrighteous man saith in himself that he will sin: God’s fear is not before his eyes. The old Psalter, in language as well as meaning, comes very near to the Anglo-Saxon: The unrightwis saide that he trespas in hym self: the drede of God es noght before his een. And thus it paraphrases the passage: The unryghtwis, that es the kynde [the whole generation] of wyked men; saide in hym self, qwar man sees noght; that he trespas, that es, he synne at his wil, als [as if] God roght noght [did not care] qwat he did; and so it es sene, that the drede of God es noght by fore his een; for if he dred God, he durst noght so say.”
I believe these versions give the true sense of the passage. The psalmist here paints the true state of the Babylonians: they were idolaters of the grossest kind, and worked iniquity with greediness. The account we have in the book of Daniel of this people, exhibits them in the worst light; and profane history confirms the account. Bishop Horsley thinks that the word pesha, which we render transgression, signifies the apostate or devil. The devil says to the wicked, within his heart, There is no fear; i.e., no cause of fear: “God is not before his eyes.” Placing the colon after fear takes away all ambiguity in connection with the reading HIS heart, already contended for. The principle of transgression, sin in the heart, says, or suggests to every sinner, there is no cause for fear: go on, do not fear, for there is no danger. He obeys this suggestion, goes on, and acts wickedly, as “God is not before his eyes.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When I consider the great and manifold transgressions of ungodly men, I conclude within myself that they have cast off all fear, and sense, and serious belief of the Divine Majesty.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. The general sense of thisdifficult verse is, “that the wicked have no fear of God.”The first clause may be rendered, “Saith transgression in myheart, in respect to the wicked, there is no fear,” &c.,that is, such is my reflection on men’s transgressions.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,…. Which is represented as a person speaking within him; not that the transgression of the wicked was really in him; sin was in him, and sin of the same kind and nature with the wicked man’s; but he taking notice of and considering the wicked man’s sinful course of life, and his daring impieties, conceived in his own mind, and concluded from hence,
[that there is] no fear of God before his eyes; no reverential affection for him, but enmity to him; no godly filial fear, but at most only a slavish fear, a fear of punishment; no holy and humble fear of him, but pride and wickedness; no fiducial and obediential fear, but all the reverse; true worship of him, either internally or externally: there can be no fear of God in any unregenerate man’s, heart, because it is not of nature, but of grace, and is, what is implanted at first conversion; there is in some an appearance of it, where it is not really, whose fear is taught by the precept of men; and in others there may be some awe of the divine Being, and trembling at the thought of a future judgment, arising from the dictates of nature, the light of revelation, and the enjoyment of a religious education; but in some there is no fear of God at all, and they are bold and daring enough to assert it themselves, as the unjust judge did, Lu 18:4. Such as the atheist, the common swearer, the debauchee and epicure, who give up themselves to all manner of wickedness, contemn revelation, despise the word of God, and regard no day nor manner of worship; and this notwithstanding the majesty of God, at whose presence they tremble not, and notwithstanding the goodness of God, which should induce them to fear him, and notwithstanding the judgment of God on others, and even on themselves; see Jer 3:8; and notwithstanding the future awful judgment, which they put far away or disbelieve. The Targum is, “transgression saith to the wicked within my heart”; and Jarchi’s note upon the text is this,
“this text is to be transposed thus, it is in my heart, that transgression, which is the evil imagination, says to the wicked man, that there should be no fear of God before his eyes; and the phrase, “in the midst of my heart”, is as if a man should say, so it seems to me.”
The Septuagint version, and those that follow it, render the words thus, “the transgressor said, that he might sin in himself, there is no fear of God before his eyes”. Gussetius b interprets “before his eyes”, before the eyes of God himself, who is so good a Being, that the sinner fears no punishment from him, but will pardon all his sins.
b Ebr. Comment. p. 488.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 36:1-4) At the outset the poet discovers to us the wickedness of the children of the world, which has its roots in alienation from God. Supposing it were admissible to render Psa 36:2: “A divine word concerning the evil-doing of the ungodly is in the inward parts of my heart” ( with a genitive of the object, like , which is compared by Hofmann), then the difficulty of this word, so much complained of, might find the desired relief in some much more easy way than by means of the conjecture proposed by Diestel, ( ), “Pleasant is transgression to the evil-doer,” etc. But the genitive after (which in Psa 110:1; Num 24:3., 15f., 2Sa 23:1; Pro 30:1, just as here, stands at the head of the clause) always denotes the speaker, not the thing spoken. Even in Isa 5:1 is not a song concerning my beloved in relation to His vineyard, but a song of my beloved (such a song as my beloved has to sing) touching His vineyard. Thus, therefore, must denote the speaker, and , as in Psa 110:1 , the person or thing addressed; transgression is personified, and an oracular utterance is attributed to it. But the predicate , which is intelligible enough in connection with the first rendering of as genit. obj., is difficulty and harsh with the latter rendering of as gen. subj., whatever way it may be understood: whether, that it is intended to say that the utterance of transgression to the evil-doer is inwardly known to him (the poet), or it occupies and affects him in his inmost parts. It is very natural to read , as the lxx, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and Jerome do. In accordance therewith, while with Von Lengerke he takes as part of the inscription, Thenius renders it: “Sin is to the ungodly in the midst of his heart,” i.e., it is the inmost motive or impulse of all that he thinks and does. But this isolation of is altogether at variance with the usage of the language and custom. The rendering given by Hupfeld, Hitzig, and at last also by Bttcher, is better: “The suggestion of sin dwells in the ungodly in the inward part of his heart;” or rather, since the idea of is not central, but circumferential, in the realm of (within) his heart, altogether filling up and absorbing it. And in connection with this explanation, it must be observed that this combination (instead of , or , ) occurs only here, where, together with a personification of sin, an incident belonging to the province of the soul’s life, which is the outgrowth of sin, is intended to be described. It is true this application of does not admit of being further substantiated; but (cognate , ), as an onomatopoetic designation of a dull, hollow sound, is a suitable word for secret communication (cf. Arabic nemmam , a tale-bearer), or even – since the genius of the language does not combine with it the idea of that which is significantly secretly, and solemnly silently communicated, but spoken out – a suitable word for that which transgression says to the ungodly with all the solemn mien of the prophet or the philosopher, inasmuch as it has set itself within his heart in the place of God and of the voice of his conscience. does not, however, denote the person addressed, but, as in Psa 32:10, the possessor. He possesses this inspiration of iniquity as the contents of his heart, so that the fear of God has no place therein, and to him God has no existence (objectivity), that He should command his adoration.
Since after this we expect to hear further what and how transgression speaks to him, so before all else the most probable thing is, that transgression is the subject to . We do not interpret: He flatters God in His eyes (with eye-service), for this rendering is contrary both to what precedes and to what follows; nor with Hupfeld (who follows Hofmann): “God deals smoothly (gently) with him according to his delusions,” for the assumption that must, on account of , have some other subject that the evil-doer himself, is indeed correct. It does not, however, necessarily point to God as the subject, but, after the solemn opening of Psa 36:2, to transgression, which is personified. This addresses flattering words to him ( like in Pro 29:5) in his eyes, i.e., such as are pleasing to him; and to what end? For the finding out, i.e., establishing ( , as in Gen 44:16; Hos 12:9), or, – since this is not exactly suited to as the subject, and where it is a purpose that is spoken of, the meaning assequi , originally proper to the verb , is still more natural – to the attainment of his culpability, i.e., in order that he may inculpate himself, to hating, i.e., that he may hate God and man instead of loving them. is designedly used without an object just as in Ecc 3:8, in order to imply that the flattering words of incite him to turn into an object of hatred everything that he ought to love, and to live and move in hatred as in his own proper element. Thenius endeavours to get rid of the harshness of the expression by the following easy alteration of the text: ; and interprets it: Yea, it flatters him in his own eyes (it tickles his pride) to discover faults in others and to make them suffer for them. But there is no support in the general usage of the language for the impersonal rendering of the ; and the , which in this case is not only pleonastic, but out of place, demands a distinction between the flatterer and the person who feels himself flattered. The expression in Psa 36:3, in whatever way it may be explained, is harsh; but David’s language, whenever he describes the corruption of sin with deep-seated indignation, is wont to envelope itself in such clouds, which, to our difficult comprehension, look like corruptions of the text. In the second strophe the whole language is more easy. is just such another asyndeton as . A man who has thus fallen a prey to the dominion of sin, and is alienated from God, has ceased ( , as in 1Sa 23:13) to act wisely and well (things which essentially accompany one another). His words when awake, and even his thoughts in the night-time, run upon (Isa 59:7), evil, wickedness, the absolute opposite of that which alone is truly good. Most diligently does he take up his position in the way which leads in the opposite direction to that which is good (Pro 16:29; Isa 65:2); and his conscience is deadened against evil: there is not a trace of aversion to it to be found in him, he loves it with all his soul.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Character of the Wicked. | |
To the chief Musician. A psalm of David the servant of the Lord.
1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. 2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. 3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. 4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.
David, in the title of this psalm, is styled the servant of the Lord; why in this, and not in any other, except in Ps. xviii. (title), no reason can be given; but so he was, not only as every good man is God’s servant, but as a king, as a prophet, as one employed in serving the interests of God’s kingdom among men more immediately and more eminently than any other in his day. He glories in it, Ps. cxvi. 16. It is no disparagement, but an honour, to the greatest of men, to be the servants of the great God; it is the highest preferment a man is capable of in this world.
David, in these verses, describes the wickedness of the wicked; whether he means his persecutors in particular, or all notorious gross sinners in general, is not certain. But we have here sin in its causes and sin in its colours, in its root and in its branches.
I. Here is the root of bitterness, from which all the wickedness of the wicked comes. It takes rise, 1. From their contempt of God and the want of a due regard to him (v. 1): “The transgression of the wicked (as it is described afterwards, Psa 36:3; Psa 36:4) saith within my heart (makes me to conclude within myself) that there is no fear of God before his eyes; for, if there were, he would not talk and act so extravagantly as he does; he would not, he durst not, break the laws of God, and violate his covenants with him, if he had any awe of his majesty or dread of his wrath.” Fitly therefore is it brought into the form of indictments by our law that the criminal, not having the fear of God before his eyes, did so and so. The wicked did not openly renounce the fear of God, but their transgression whispered it secretly into the minds of all those that knew any thing of the nature of piety and impiety. David concluded concerning those who lived at large that they lived without God in the world. 2. From their conceit of themselves and a cheat they wilfully put upon their own souls (v. 2): He flattereth himself in his own eyes; that is, while he goes on in sin, he thinks he does wisely and well for himself, and either does not see or will not own the evil and danger of his wicked practices; he calls evil good and good evil; his licentiousness he pretends to be but his just liberty, his fraud passes for his prudence and policy, and his persecuting the people of God, he suggests to himself, is a piece of necessary justice. If his own conscience threaten him for what he does, he says, God will not require it; I shall have peace though I go on. Note, Sinners are self-destroyers by being self-flatterers. Satan could not deceive them if they did not deceive themselves. Buy will the cheat last always? No; the day is coming when the sinner will be undeceived, when his iniquity shall be found to be hateful. Iniquity is a hateful thing; it is that abominable thing which the Lord hates, and which his pure and jealous eye cannot endure to look upon. It is hurtful to the sinner himself, and therefore ought to be hateful to him; but it is not so; he rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel, because of the secular profit and sensual pleasure which may attend it; yet the meat in his bowels will be turned, it will be the gall of asps,Job 20:13; Job 20:14. When their consciences are convinced, and sin appears in its true colours and makes them a terror to themselves–when the cup of trembling is put into their hands and they are made to drink the dregs of it–then their iniquity will be found hateful, and their self-flattery their unspeakable folly, and an aggravation of their condemnation.
II. Here are the cursed branches which spring from this root of bitterness. The sinner defies God, and even deifies himself, and then what can be expected but that he should go all to naught? These two were the first inlets of sin. Men do not fear God, and therefore they flatter themselves, and then, 1. They make no conscience of what they say, true of false, right or wrong (v. 3): The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit, contrived to do wrong, and yet to cover it with specious and plausible pretences. It is no marvel if those that deceive themselves contrive how to deceive all mankind; for to whom will those be true who are false to their own souls? 2. What little good there has been in them is gone; the sparks of virtue are extinguished, their convictions baffled, their good beginnings come to nothing: They have left off to be wise and to do good. They seemed to be under the direction of wisdom and the government of religion, but they have broken these bonds asunder; they have shaken off their religion, and therewith their wisdom. Note, Those that leave off to do good leave off to be wise. 3. Having left off to do good, they contrive to do hurt and to be vexatious to those about them that are good and do good (v. 4): He devises mischief upon his bed. Note, (1.) Omissions make way for commissions. When men leave off doing good, leave off praying, leave off their attendance on God’s ordinances and their duty to him, the devil easily makes them his agents, his instruments to draw those that will be drawn into sin, and, with respect to those that will not, to draw them into trouble. Those that leave off to do good begin to do evil; the devil, being an apostate from his innocency, soon became a tempter to Eve and a persecutor of righteous Abel. (2.) It is bad to do mischief, but it is worse to devise it, to do it deliberately and with resolution, to set the wits on work to contrive to do it most effectually, to do it with plot and management, with the subtlety, as well as the malice, of the old serpent, to devise it upon the bed, where we should be meditating upon God and his word, Mic. ii. 1. This argues the sinner’s heart fully set in him to do evil. 4. Having entered into the way of sin, that way that is not good, that has good neither in it nor at the end of it, they persist and resolve to persevere in that way. He sets himself to execute the mischief he has devised, and nothing shall be withholden from him which he has purposed to do, though it be ever to contrary both to his duty and to his true interest. If sinners did not steel their hearts and brazen their faces with obstinacy and impudence, they could not go on in their evil ways, in such a direct opposition to all that is just and good. 5. Doing evil themselves, they have no dislike at all of it in others: He abhors not evil, but on the contrary, takes pleasure in it, and is glad to see others as bad as himself. Or this may denote his impenitency in sin. Those that have done evil, if God give them repentance, abhor the evil they have done and themselves because of it; it is bitter in the reflection, however sweet it was in the commission. But these hardened sinners have such seared stupefied consciences that they never reflect upon their sings afterwards with any regret or remorse, but stand to what they have done, as if they could justify it before God himself.
Some think that David, in all this, particularly means Saul, who had cast off the fear of God and left off all goodness, who pretended kindness to him when he gave him his daughter to wife, but at the same time was devising mischief against him. But we are under no necessity of limiting ourselves so in the exposition of it; there are too many among us to whom the description agrees, which is to be greatly lamented.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Psalms 36
THE FOUNDATION OF LIFE
Verses 1-12:
Verses 1-4 describe the devices, devilish resolves of the heart of the wicked who has never been saved or had experience of regeneration, the new birth, Jer 17:9-10. Their transgressions fill David’s heart with pain. The continued deeds of the wicked are blasphemous actions that say, “I have no fear of God,” tho fear of or reverence for Him is “the beginning of wisdom,” Pro 1:7; Pro 20:11; Mat 7:16. It is the fool who has said in his heart “there is or exists no God,” no living God, Psa 14:1. The sinner as a servant or slave to his own sins and transgression, is to fear God and keep or guard His commandments, as set forth Gen 20:11; Pro 8:13; Pro 16:6; Ecc 12:13-14; Rev 3:18; Psa 112:1.
Verse 2 asserts that the wicked God-defter “flatters himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful,” until his own sins find him out, till pay day comes, till “chickens come home to roost,” Gen 44:16; Num 32:23, asserts “be sure your sins will find you out,” or overtake you. Verse 3 declares that he has “deserted wisdom and doing good,” while the folly of his mouth spewed out “iniquity and deceit,” Isa 1:16; Jer 4:22; Psa 14:1-2.
Verse 4 adds that even upon his bed he meditated on and planned methods of doing wicked deeds in daylight hours, Mic 2:1. He set himself up in a way of life, deliberately, to go in the broad way that is not good, abhorring not evil, Isa 65:2-3; Rom 12:9.
Verses 5, 6 testify that the mercy of the Lord exists in the heavens and his faithfulness to His covenant pledges reaches to the clouds, so that he lives to reach out in mingled mercy and judgment to vindicate His righteousness in an holy manner among men, Psa 57:10; Psa 108:4-5.
Verse 6 adds that his righteousness is like the mighty mountains of God, and His judgment deeds are a great deep, in his judicial dealings in the moral government of the world, yet under His control, as described Job 11:7-8; Rom 11:33; Isa 28:29. His loving, compassionate care preserves men and beasts, so that He cares for all His creatures, especially His saints, Job 7:20; Php_1:6; Mat 10:28-30; Joh 10:28-30.
Verse 7 extols the “loving kindness” of God that justifies their putting their absolute trust under the shadow-care of His wings, as a mother hen or eagle protects her young with the power of her whole life, Psa 2:12; Deu 32:11; Mat 23:37; Psa 17:8. See also Rth 2:12; Psa 57:1; Luk 13:24.
Verse 8 affirms that those who put their trust in the Lord would be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of fullness of any need, from out of the house (store house) of the Lord, to drink of the river or fountain of the Lord’s pleasure, Job 20:17; Rev 22:1; Php_4:19; Mat 6:33. Such shall never hunger or thirst, Joh 6:35; Psa 65:4.
Verse 9 adds “for (because) with thee is (exists) the fountain of life; In thy light shall we see light; Blessed promise! Blessed assurance! How sublime! Isa 12:3; Jer 2:13; Jer 17:13; Jer 18:14-15; Zec 13:1; Rev 21:6.
Verse 10 appeals for the Lord to continue or draw out at length His loving kindness to all those who know Him, to those who were upright in heart, attitude or disposition, as expressed Psa 85:5; 1Jn 2:3; 1Jn 4:8; Jer 22:16; Tit 1:16. But tribulation was for his enemies, 2Th 1:5-6.
Verse 11 requests the Lord to prevent the foot of the proud, to tread him down, or come upon and entrap him suddenly, as one taken in a net, Psa 35:7-8. He asks further that the Lord not permit the hand of the enemy to remove him from Israel, his land, Jer 51:31-33. He too prayed not to be moved from his trust in the Lord, Psa 11:1; Pro 3:3-5.
Verse 12 concludes that “there are the workers of iniquity fallen, cast down, and shall not be able to rise,” from their judgment, as if it had already happened, Psa 9:17; Joh 3:18. In spirit David envisioned his foes already vanquished, Psa 18:38; Pro 24:16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Ungodliness saith to the wicked in the midst of my heart Commentators are not agreed as to the interpretation of the first verse. Literally it is, The saying [or speech ] of transgression, or rather, Transgression saith to the wicked As, however, the letter ל , lamed, is in Hebrew sometimes used for מן , min, some translate it thus, Ungodliness or transgression speaketh of the wicked in my heart; as if the prophet had said, I clearly perceive from the wickedness which the ungodly commit, that they are not influenced by the fear of God. But as there is no need to depart from the proper signification of the words, I rather agree with others in supposing that the language of the prophet is to this effect: The malice of the wicked, though seemingly hidden and unknown, speaks aloud in my heart, and I am a sure witness of what it says or suggests.
And, first, it is to be observed, that the prophet speaks not of outward faults, but penetrates even to the very source; as if he had said, Although the wicked cloak their malice with wily dissimulation, yet I know it so well that I seem to hear it speaking. It is indeed true, that as the ungodly and profane rush headlong into every kind of wickedness, as if they were never to be called to render up an account of it, the judgment which David here expresses may be formed even from their life; but his language is much more emphatic when he says, that the servants of God openly perceive the depravity of such persons hidden within the heart. Now David does not speak of the wicked generally, but of the abandoned despisers of God. There are many who indulge in their vices, who, notwithstanding, are not intoxicated by the wretched infatuation which David here censures. But when a man becomes hardened in committing sin, ungodliness at length reduces him to such a state of insensibility, that, despising the judgment of God, he indulges without fear in the practice of every sin to which his depraved appetite impels him. A reckless assurance, therefore, in the commission of sin, and especially where it is associated with a contempt and scorn of every holy admonition, is, as it were, an enchantment of Satan, which indicates that the condition of such a person is indeed hopeless. And although true religion has the effect of keeping the hearts of the godly in the fear of God, and drives wicked thoughts far from their minds, yet this does not prevent them from perceiving and understanding in their hearts how the ungodly are agitated with horrible fury when they neither regard God nor are afraid of his judgments.
There is no fear of God before his eyes David shows in these few words the end of all evil suggestions; and it is this, that the sense both of good and evil being destroyed or suppressed, men shrink from nothing, as if there were not seated in heaven a God, the Judge of all. The meaning therefore is, Ungodliness speaks in my heart to the wicked man, urging him to the extremity of madness, so that, laying aside all fear of God, he abandons himself to the practice of sin; that is to say, I know as well what the ungodly imagine in their hearts, as if God had set me as a witness or judge to unveil their hypocrisy, under the mask of which they think their detestable malice is hidden and deeply buried. When the wicked, therefore, are not restrained by the fear of God from committing sin, this proceeds from that secret discourse with themselves, to which we have referred, and by which their understanding is so depraved and blinded, that, like brute beasts, they run to every excess in rioting. Since the eyes are, as it were, the guides and conductors of man in this life, and by their influence move the other senses hither and thither, it is therefore said that men have the fear of God before their eyes when it regulates their lives, and by presenting itself to them on every side to which they may turn, serves like a bridle to restrain their appetites and passions. David, by using here a contrary form of expression, means that the ungodly run to every excess in licentiousness, without having any regard to God, because the depravity of their own hearts has completely blinded them.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
PRAISE, PRAYER AND PROCLAMATION
Psalms 34-36
AN OUTLINE.
PRAISE34.
The occasions of continual praise.
I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His Name together.
I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.
O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him.
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing (Psa 34:1-10).
The grounds of complacency vs. fear.
Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.
The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate (Psa 34:11-22).
PRAYER35.
An appeal for preservation against enemies.
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them.
Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the Lord persecute them.
For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in His salvation.
All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto Thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?
False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul (Psa 35:1-12).
A recounting that involves many contacts.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.
But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the objects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not.
With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
Lord, how long wilt Thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.
I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise Thee among much people.
Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.
This Thou hast seen, O Lord: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.
Stir up Thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
Judge me, O Lord my God, according to Thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.
Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.
And my tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day long (Psa 35:13-28).
PROCLAMATION36.
The transgressions of the wicked invite judgment.
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.
He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil (Psa 36:1-4).
The hopes of the saint are in Divine mercy.
Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast.
How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.
For with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light.
O continue Thy lovingkindness unto them that know Thee; and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise (Psa 36:5-12).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
INTRODUCTION
This psalm was written by David. From Psa. 36:1-4 he describes the rebellious; Psa. 36:5-9 he extols the various attributes of the Lord; and in Psa. 36:10-11 he add see the Lord in prayer.
THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF A WICKED LIFE
(Psa. 36:1-4.)
We have in these verses a graphic delineation of a wicked life, in every way true, yet abhorrent. The picture of an ungodly man ought to be enough to save others from an imitation of his profane conduct.
I. A wicked life is characterised by practical atheism. There is no fear of God before his eyes.
Wicked men are virtually atheistic. They do not in reality recognise the existence of the Supreme Being, and this is evident from the feeling of their inner nature, from their speech, and from their methods of activity. They are without God in the world. They may recognise Him in the form of a creed, but He has no real influence over them; they are entirely led by the impulse of the moment, by the speculation of the hour, or by the passion of the lower nature. They are not influenced by considerations that have reference to God and His government of the universe. Prayer forms no part of their lives. A wicked life is not consistent with a true belief in the Divine existence.
II. A wicked life is characterised by self-adulation. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes.
Wicked men are generally guilty of self-flattery, and in this way they endeavour to appease their conscience, and approve their plans. Their lives are sinful, and hence they have to cover them with artificial flowers, and with unreal decorations. They dare not admit the facts and experiences of their own heart even to themselves. Self-flattery is easy. It is common. It sometimes has to serve instead of flattery from others. A wicked life has no cause for self-flattery; it may pride itself upon its cunning, or upon its success, but that will not alter its guilt, or avert the unerring sentence of infinite Justice.
III. A wicked life is characterised by verbal profanity. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit.
Wicked men are recognised by their perverse and profane speech. They hallow not the great name of God, nor do they reverently allude to the solemn realities of the moral life of the race. But their language is not only profane, it is also deceitful. It is characterised by duplicity. It often gives a misrepresentation of moral character, of events and circumstances, and of the ordinary things of life. Speech is a good index to the soul.
IV. A wicked life is characterised by un-wisdom. He hath left off to be wise and to do good.
Wicked men are often gifted as far as secular knowledge and wisdom are concerned. But true wisdom cometh down from above, and of this they are sadly deficient. Hence they lack the wisdom that truly makes men wise. Sin is always evidence of the greatest ignorance and folly. The un-wisdom of a wicked life is seen in the pleasure it seeks, in the study it pursues, in the destiny it selects, and in its hatred of philanthropy.
V. A wicked life is characterised by cunning artifices. He deviseth mischief upon his bed.
The wicked man deliberately plans mischief. His late and early thoughts, which ought to be concentrated on God and His mercy, are fixed on schemes of fraud and cunning. Wicked men are generally cunning. For this they educate their faculties, and thus they hope to enrich themselves, to malign their neighbours, and to defeat the purposes of the good. Thus it is not difficult to know the ungodly man when we meet him.
LESSONS:
1. That a wicked life is hateful to God.
2. That a wicked life is despicable to men.
3. That a wicked life is injurious to society.
4. That a wicked life may be reformed by grace.
A WELCOME REVELATION OF THE CHARACTER OF GOD
(Psa. 36:5-12.)
The psalm commences with a description of the character of the wicked man, and, by way of sublime contrast, gives a glad revelation of the character of God. There are grand contrasts in nature; equally so in the inspired volume. Here we have a striking one:
I. The Divine Being is unspeakable in mercy. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens.
Mercy is a distinguishing attribute of God. He delighteth in mercy, and has ever proved this in His dealings with the human race. This is evident in the temporal gifts He bestows, in the spiritual good He communicates, and in the grand redemption He has provided for the soul, whereby it can be made free and pure. Nature speaks the mercy of God, as with a thousand tongues, and the Bible lends additional emphasis to her already loud voice. The greatest sinner may experience the mercy of God if he will only seek it prayerfully.
II. The Divine Being is immutable in rectitude. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.
And thus, while mercy is an attribute of God, rectitude may also be predicted of Him. The Divine mercy proceeds upon the principle of Divine equity. The mountains are immutable, they are firm, they are majestic, they are imposing and beautiful; and so is the rectitude of God. It is ever the same towards rich and poor; it is worthy the admiration of the intelligent universe, and under its shade men may safely repose. The Divine rectitude should be consoling to the good, and a terror to those who await the unknown tribunal of the future.
III. That the Divine Being invites the confidence of the soul. Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.
The mercy and rectitude of God, as seen in the principle of His government and in the preservation of the material universe, awaken men to confidence in Him. And God protects those who put their trust in Him. The figure of this verse is very beautiful and attractive. The soul of man can rest in God by trusting in Him. Faith is moral repose.
IV. That the Divine Being is the source of all life. For with Thee is the fountain of life.
God is the source of all life. The angels derive their existence from Him. Man lives in Him. All mental, moral, and spiritual life is the gift of the Eternal. Earth has no life to bestow; it is a grave. Life, full and free, is the gift of the Infinite Being. We should measure the gift by the Giver.
V. That the Divine Being is the protection of the good from the artifices of the wicked. And let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
The wicked often seek to injure the good by cunning artifice and sheer strength: at such a time God is their only protection and refuge. Hence we have here a very glad and welcome representation of the Divine character: full of mercy, firm in justice, inviting the confidence of the soul, the source of life, and the protection of the good. What more can we require?
LESSONS:
1. We ought to be grateful that God has given such a condescending revelation of Himself.
2. We ought to be consoled and strengthened by the thought that such a revelation is true to human experience.
3. Learn a lesson of trust in the Eternal God.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psalms 36
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
Oracles False and True, Prompting Prayer and Praise.
ANALYSIS
Stanza I., Psa. 36:1-4, Personified Transgression Deluding and Driving on its Victim. Stanza II., Psa. 36:5-6, Jehovahs Kindness with its Associated Divine Attributes. Stanza III., Psa. 36:7-9, Jehovahs Kindness Experienced by Men. Stanza IV., Psa. 36:10-12, Prayer for Protection, suddenly Giving Place to Triumph.
(Lm.) By the Servant of Jehovahby David.
1
An oracle of transgression[377] hath the lawless one in the midst of his heart,
[377] Graphic: Transgression deified, enthroned in the heart of the lawless one, uttering misleading oracles.
there is no dread of God[378] in the sight of his eyes;
[378] The lowest form of respect for Divine thingsabsent.
2
For it flattereth him as to finding out his hateful iniquity:[379]
[379] For various explanations of this verse, see Per.
3
the words of his mouth are trouble and deceit
he hath ceased to act circumspectly:
4
To make trouble thoroughly he deviseth on his bed;
he taketh his stand on a way not good
evil doth he not refuse.
5
Jehovah! in the heavens is thy kindness,
thy faithfulness reacheth as far as the clouds:
6
thy righteousness is like the mountains of GOD,
and thine act of justice are a great deep,
Man and beast thou savest Jehovah!
7
How precious is thy kindness O God!
and the sons of men in the shadow of thy wings take refuge:
8
They are satisfied[380] with the rich provisions of thy house,
[380] Ml.: saturated.
and of the full stream of thine own delights thou causest them to drink;
9
For with thee is the fountain of life.
when thou shinest[381] light appeareth.[382]
[381] Lettest the light shine from thy face, as Psa. 4:7; Psa. 44:4; Psa. 89:16Br.
[382] With Br., read (niphal) nirah, rather than (kal) nireh.
10
Prolong thy kindness to them who know thee,
and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
11
Do not suffer to invade me the foot of pride,
nor the hand of lawless ones to make me a fugitive.[383]
[383] Cp. Psa. 31:22.
12
There are fallen the workers of iniquity,[384]
[384] Or: trouble (naughtinessDr.).
thrust down and not able to rise!
(Nm.)
PARAPHRASE
Psalms 36
Sin lurks deep in the hearts of the wicked, forever urging them on to evil deeds. They have no fear of God to hold them back.
2 Instead, in their conceit, they think they can hide their evil deeds and not get caught.
3 Everything they say is crooked and deceitful; they are no longer wise and good.
4 They lie awake at night to hatch their evil plots, instead of planning how to keep away from wrong.
5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, is as great as all the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds!
6 Your justice is as solid as Gods mountains. Your decisions are as full of wisdom as the oceans are with water. You are as concerned[385] for men and animals alike!
[385] Literally, You preserve.
7 How precious is Your constant live, O God! All humanity takes refuge in the shadow of Your wings!
8 You feed them with blessings from Your own table and let them drink from Your rivers of delight.
9 For You are the Fountain of Life; our light is from Your Light.
10 Pour out Your unfailing love on those who know You! Never stop giving Your salvation[386] to those who long to do Your will.
[386] Literally, Your righteousness.
11 Dont let these proud men trample me. Dont let their wicked hands push me around.
12 Look! They have fallen. They are thrown down and will not rise again.
EXPOSITION
It is easy to assert that this is a composite psalm, and yet fail to grasp its life-history. Composite it manifestly is, in that its component parts undoubtedly came into existence on distinct and successive occasions, but none the less does it now stand before us as a living unit. Starting with David, as in duty bound by the superscript line exhibiting a palace-library tradition behind which we cannot go; and with Davidprobably in his strength of devotion to Jehovah, as if by reason of some signal service rendered by his heroic faith, and so with David as emphatically the servant of Jehovah;we awake to the perception that in Stanza I. we have such a startling picture of practical Atheism as could never have been sung alone. Acting as a moral tonic, this fragment prompts the mind that selected it, to appease Devotions hunger, by finding a fragrant antidote to the poison of Lawlessness to which for some reason it was desired to give currency. This antidote is discovered in the beautiful Song, probably equally Davidic, which now forms Stanzas II. and III. of our psalm: a song, first glowing with all the beauty of Jehovahs kindness, as sustained and strengthened by the associate attributes of faithfulness, righteousness and justice; and then eliciting the appreciation of the sons of men, as they are thereby drawn under the shadow of Jehovahs wings, emboldened to partake of the rich provisions of Jehovahs house, and even to drink of the full stream of Jehovahs delights. A notable song, indeed; well serving as an antidote to the deadly oracle of transgression which here precedes it. But who could find these fragments,who feel the need to risk the circulation of the poison, and yet lay ready hand on so effective a counter-active? We can conjecture who it was, as soon as we can discover among Davids sons a man who could see the chilling shadow of another Lawless One extending over the land; and yet, in the face of it, could still sing in faith the antidote Song: especially if, in this inheritor of the Sweet Singers mantle, we can discover a CO-AUTHOR, who has the gift to adapt these fragments to a new and urgent occasion, and the authority to get them sung. Thus prompted, we eagerly scan the final stanza of this psalm; and by the time we have read its first couplet and found all the previous praise turned into PRAYER, we bethink us of the man who knew Jehovah, who was undoubtedly upright in heart but still had urgent need to PRAY! the name of the man is on our lips! But before we pronounce it, we read another couplet; and since this couplet apprehends invasion and deprecates the flight of a fugitive, we hesitate no longer to pronounce the name: it is HEZEKIAH! But there is this more to be said. The entire life-history of this psalm is chequered. This final stanza, we must believe, at first only mounted a little higher in prayer, or concluded with trustful benediction. Soon was the prayer answered; soon, the trustful benediction vindicated; and the same hand that wrote it, gladly erased enough to make way for the thrilling announcement:
There are fallen the workers of trouble,
Thrust down, and not able to rise!
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Read Rom. 3:18 and consider the New Testament application of the first verse of this psalm. How does the fear of God relate to todays world?
2.
Isnt it possible that many men have hidden their evil deedsand died with the secrets untold? Discuss.
3.
What presses the evil man to so urgently to do wrong when doing right would be less trouble for everyone? Please do not answerSatan doeswe want the reasoning of Satan in our answer; give it!
4.
List the qualities of God which call forth admirationwhich one obtains from you the highest admiration? Why?
5.
Name and discuss at least two Rivers of delight from which all humanity drinks.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart . . .The literal rendering of the present Hebrew text is, An utterance of sin to the wicked within my heart. The common phrase rendered in our version, Thus saith Jehovah, is here imitated, Thus saith sin. To the wicked cannot, as some explain, mean concerning the wicked. The only possible meaning of the text as it stands is therefore, Thus saith sin to (me) the wicked man in my heart. But there can be no question that the psalmist wrote in his heart, since ail the ancient versions, with the exception of the Chaldee Paraphrase, followed this reading, and some MSS. still show it. This gives us a very fine sense. Sin is personified as the evil counsellor or prompter sitting in the heart of the wicked to suggest evil thoughts: Sin in the wicked mans heart is his oracle. Conscience is on the wrong side.
There is no fear . . .This is not the suggestion of sin just mentioned, but an explanation of the condition into which the wicked man has sunk. Impiety and irreverence have so corrupted his nature, that sin has become his oracle.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Saith within my heart Instead of the Hebrew suffix “my,” the Septuagint, Vulgate, Jerome, Syriac, and many other authorities, ancient and modern, have his, which, taking “saith,” , ( neum,) in the sense of revelation, oracle, would give, “The wicked hath an oracle of transgression in his heart;” that is, his evil disposition, which he consults rather than the word of God, counsels him wickedly. Others, retaining the present Hebrew form, suppose the theme of the psalm to be here announced, and read, “An oracle concerning the transgression of the wicked is within my heart.” But usage is against this, and the former is preferable. The words “within his heart” are very emphatic, denoting with certainty both the original seat and the force of corruption. Mat 15:18-19.
No fear of God Contrast with Psa 16:8. See, also, Rom 3:8
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Transgression of The Wicked Speaks To The Psalmist’s Heart Alerting Him To The Sinfulness Of Man ( Psa 36:1-4 ).
Psa 36:1-4
‘The oracle of the transgression of the wicked within my heart,
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes,
That his iniquity will not be found out and be hated.
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit,
He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
He devises iniquity upon his bed,
He sets himself in a way that is not good,
He abhors not evil.’
In these first four verses ‘the Transgression (rebellion) of the wicked’ speaks like a prophet to the Psalmist’s heart concerning the wicked. It declares that there is no ‘dread fear’ of God before the eyes of the wicked (compare the citation of these words in Rom 3:18 where it sums up man’s sinfulness). In other words the wicked are not moved by YHWH’s covenant requirements, or the need to obey Him, or the fear of judgment, because they dismiss Him from their thoughts. They treat His desires lightly. Indeed the wicked man convinces himself that his iniquity will not be found out. He convinces himself that, even though God hates his iniquity, it will not receive its deserts, for he has no recognition of a living God who sees and knows all things.
The behaviour of the wicked is then spelled out in detail;
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. They speak guile. And by his words he will be condemned (Mat 12:37). Compare Psa 5:5-6; Psa 10:7.
He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He has deliberately turned from goodness. Compare Jer 4:22, and contrast Isa 1:16-17.
He devises iniquity on his bed. Even when resting he still plans further sinfulness. While the righteous meditate on their beds, and repent (Psa 4:4) and bring God to their minds (Psa 63:6), the wicked simply plot sin and thus come under God’s Woe (Mic 2:1).
He sets himself in a way that is not good. He positively chooses the path that leads away from goodness (Isa 65:2). Not for him the Holy Way (Isa 35:8). He wants the way of self choosing and pleasure.
He does not abhor evil. This marks him off from all others. He has no hatred of what is evil.
It is clear from this that he loves the evil and hates the good. He does not necessarily declare this openly, but it is what lies within his heart. He lives his life without God, and chases after sin.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psalms 36
Structure – Psa 36:1-4 describe the character of the wicked. In contract, Psa 36:5-9 describe God’s character. The Psalm concludes with Psa 36:10-12 giving a plea for God to deliver him from the wicked.
Psa 36:1 (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD.) The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
Psa 36:1
Rom 3:18, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Psa 36:7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
Psa 36:7
Psa 91:1, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty .”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Curse of Estrangement from God and the Blessing of Fellowship with Him.
v. 1. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, v. 2. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful; v. 3. The words of his mouth, v. 4. He deviseth mischief upon his bed, v. 5. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, v. 6. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, v. 7. How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, v. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied, v. 9. For with Thee is the fountain of life, v. 10. O continue Thy loving-kindness unto them that know Thee, v. 11. Let not the foot of pride, v. 12. There are the workers of iniquity,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THIS short psalm is mainly didactic. It places in contrast the extreme wickedness of the wicked and the inexhaustible fulness of love, faithfulness, and righteousness which characterizes the God whom the wicked dare to offend. It ends with a brief but earnest intercessory prayer, that God will favour the righteous and protect them from the assaults of the ungodly, followed by an expression of confidence that the prayer will be granted.
The psalm divides itself into three strophes, corresponding to the division of the subject-matter.
Strophe 1. (Psa 36:1-4) gives the portrait of the wicked man.
Strophe 2. (Psa 36:5-9) paints the Divine goodness.
Strophe 3. (Psa 36:10-12) contains the prayer and the expression of confidence.
The title ascribes the psalm to David; and the critics generally acquiesce. Some of them point out special Davidical indications; but no one has ventured to assign it to any particular occasion in David’s life. The epithet given to David in the title, “servant of Jehovah,” would seem, however, to connect it with Psa 18:1-50.
Psa 36:1
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart. This is a difficult passage. In the first place, the text is uncertain, since some manuscripts have , “his heart,” in the place of , “my heart.” And further, whichever reading we prefer, the meaning is far from clear. Dr. Kay translates, “Transgression’s oracle to the wicked is, ‘In the interior of my own heart;'” and understands the meaning to be that the sinfulness of the wicked man deludes him into the belief that his wickedness is known to no one but himselfit is all safely locked up in the recesses of his own heart. Professor Alexander suggests as possible, “Thus saith depravity to the wicked man, ‘In the midst of my heart, there is no fear of God before his (i.e. God’s) eyes.'” Others, preferring to , render, “Transgression speaks to the wicked within his heart; There is no fear of God,” etc.; regarding the two clauses as perfectly independent the one of the ether. This is, perhaps, the best explanation. There is no fear of God before his eyes. Either he belongs to the class of “fools, who say in their heart, There is no God” (Psa 14:1), or he agrees with those who cry, “Tush, God hath forgotten: he hideth away his face; he will never see it” (Psa 10:11).
Psa 36:2
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. Another very obscure verse, explained in various ways. The rendering of Professor Alexander is to be preferred, “For he fiattereth himself in his own eyes, as to God‘s finding his sin and hating it;” i.e. he flatters himself that he will conceal his sin from God, so that God will not discover it to hate it (see also the comment of Dr. Kay, and the Revised Version)
Psa 36:3
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit (comp. Psa 12:2; Psa 28:3). He hath left off to be wise, and to do good. There was a time when he occasionally acted wisely, and did what was right. But that time is gone by. Now he is consistently wicked.
Psa 36:4
He deviseth mischief upon his bed; rather, he deviseth iniquitythe same word as in the preceding verse. In the night, when he should be looked in innocent slumber, he lies awake, devising wicked schemes against others (comp. Pro 4:16; Mic 2:1). He setteth himself in a way that is not good. More correct than the Prayer-book Version, “He hath set himself in no good way.” The wicked man is not merely negatively bad; he determinately chooses a path of life that is evil. He abhorroth not evil. He has no aversion to it, no horror of it, no shrinking from it. Whether a thing is right or wrong is to him a matter of complete indifference. So callous is he, so hardened.
Psa 36:5
Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. Instead of the usual contrast between the wicked man and the godly one (Psa 1:1-6; Psa 4:2, Psa 4:3; Psa 5:10, Psa 5:11, etc.), the psalmist here makes the startling contrast between the wicked man and God! The character of the wicked man is given in four verses (Psa 36:1-4), the portrait of God in five (Psa 36:5-9). God’s first and principal characteristic is “mercy”or rather, “loving-kindness” (). This quality is revealed, not on earth only, but also in heaven, towards the angels. Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Next to loving-kindness in God comes “faithfulness”fidelity to every promise that he has ever made, unswerving attachment to those whom he has once loved, undeviating maintenance of the truth (comp. Psa 57:10; Psa 108:4).
Psa 36:6
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; literally, like the mountains of God; and so Luther, Rosenmuller, Hengstenberg, Kay, Cheyne, and the Revised Version. According to the Hebrew idiom, this means “the very greatest mountains”those which seem to stand the strongest and the firmest. Thy judgments are a great deep; i.e. such as man cannot fathomunsearchablepast finding out. O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. The providential care of God for his creatures is another of his leading characteristics, and one especially deserving man’s attention and gratitude. It is a form of his loving-kindness.
Psa 36:7
How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! The psalmist, having made mention of the “loving-kindness of God” as his most characteristic quality (Psa 36:5), and again brought it into notice as causing him to provide so carefully for all his creatures (Psa 36:6), cannot refrain from glorifying the quality whereto he has called attention. “How excellent”or, how precious (Kay, Alexander, Cheyne, Revised Version)” is thy loving-kindness!” How does it exceed all that we could have anticipated! How far does it go beyond all that we deserve! Therefore the children of men put their trust (or, shall put their trust, or shall take refuge) under the shadow of thy wings (comp. Psa 17:8; Psa 57:1; Psa 63:7, etc.). Encouraged by the consideration of thy goodness, the beney Adam, the children of weak, frail, sinful man, shall take heart, and lay abide their natural timidity, and turn to thee, and put their trust in thee, gathering themselves under the shadow of thy protecting wings, and looking to thee, and thee only, for safety and defence (see Rth 2:12).
Psa 36:8
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. God will satisfy all who trust in him with “blessings out of his holy seat,” and will satisfy them abundantly. The blessings intended are spiritual blessings; and the “house” is, primarily, “the place where God set his name,” which at this time was the tabernacle. Faithful Israelites were to expect spiritual blessings through faithful attendance on the tabernacle worship, so far as it was accessible to them. The “house” typified heaven, whence, of course, the blessings really came. And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures; literally, the river of thy Edens. Thou shalt give them access to an exhaustless fountain of delight, a stream like that which watered Eden (comp. Isa 51:3; Isa 55:1; Joh 4:14; Joh 7:37, Joh 7:38).
Psa 36:9
For with thee is the fountain of life. The ultimate source of all life is God. Israel had been taught by Moses (Deu 30:20) that God was their Life; but this was not all; he is equally the Origin of life to everything that livesto angels, men, beasts, birds, fishes, zoophytes, plants (see Gen 1:11, Gen 1:20, Gen 1:24, Gen 1:27, etc.). And, as he is the sole Source of natural life, so is he also the one and only Origin of spiritual vitality (Psa 30:5; Psa 66:9; Joh 1:4; Joh 6:57; Joh 7:37-39, etc.). And in thy light shall we see light (comp. Joh 1:4, Joh 1:5, Joh 1:9; 1Jn 1:5-7). God is essentially Life and Light. He “has life in himself” (Joh 5:26). He “is Light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1Jn 1:5). The Son, who is “the Light of the world” (Joh 8:12), is hut “the Effulgence of his Father’s glory” (Heb 1:3, Revised Version), “Light of light,” the ray which streams from the Sun of the universe. Yet from him comes the light which enlighteneth all creatures (Joh 1:9). “In his light we see light.”
Psa 36:10
O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee. Here begins the third strophe. Having finished his” instruction,” the psalmist passes on to prayer; and is content to ask that God will be in the future such as he has been in the pastthat he will “lengthen out,” prolong, or “continue his loving-kindness” to his faithful servants, dealing with them as he has hitherto dealt with them (Psa 36:5, Psa 36:7), mercifully, graciously, and lovingly. His faithful servants are “those that know him,” because, as Hengstenberg observes, “the true and essential knowledge of God is to be found only in a sanctified mind.” And thy righteousness to the upright in heart. Continue, i.e; to deal justly with those whose heart is right with theewho, in spite of occasional lapses, are really in heart sincere.
Psa 36:11
Let not the foot of pride come against me. The mention of “the foot of pride” is noted as a mark of Davidical authorship. “Every psalm of David which speaks of danger points to the pride of his enemies as the source” (Canon Cook). And let not the hand of the wicked remove me; or, drive me away (Revised Version), i.e. force me into exile, as Absalom’s party succeeded for a time in doing (2Sa 15:13-30).
Psa 36:12
There are the workers of iniquity fallen; or, yonder (Kay). It is as if the psalmist suddenly saw a vision. “There”on a spot that presents itself to his eyesare the wicked actually “fallen;” they lie prostrate in the dust. They are cast down, and shall not be able to rise; or, to rise up again (comp. Psa 18:38). Whereas the righteous may fall into misfortune repeatedly, and recover themselves (Pro 24:16), the workers of iniquity, when their time comes to fail, usually perish. At any rate, this would be the result of the overthrow which the psalmist sees in a sort of vision.
HOMILETICS
Psa 36:4
The portrait of the godless man.
“He abhorreth not evil.” This dark trait is the crowning stroke in the portrait here drawn of the godless man. If a man does not hate evil, it is certain he loves not good. Those twin precepts are like stems from one root (Rom 12:9, “Abhor cleave”). What a man loves and follows shows what he will be; but what he hates shows what he is.
I. HATRED OF SIN IS A MORE SEARCHING MORAL TEST THAN ADMIRATION OF GOODNESS. True, any real love for goodness, desire after righteousness and holiness, shows a man not yet hopelessly bad. But there is a weak approval of good, with no earnest effort to follow it, which only amounts to self-condemnation. To recognize the right, true, good, kind, honourable path, and yet not choose it, is even a distinct step downward. Power to say “No” is the decisive test of strength of moral character. Good, if followed at all, must be pursued activelyuphill. But to go wrong you need hut yield, and drift with the stream. “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence” (Mat 11:12).
II. Hence HATRED OF SIN IS AN ESSENTIAL AND GLORIOUS FEATURE OF GOD‘S CHARACTER. (Hab 1:13; Jer 44:4; Pro 6:16.) If men had power to stop the mischief and suffering caused by sin, they would think lightly of sin itself. It is because God does not think lightly of sin that he does not interfere to prevent the misery. If the stream is to flow clean, the fountain must be cleansed. God will not make an evil tree bear good fruit. Suffering is the divinely ordained penalty, warning men off from sin, tracking men out in their sins, calling men to repent of sin, witnessing to God’s hatred of sin (Rom 6:23). But this is only one side. Misery, suffering, death, are no arbitrary infliction; no artificially contrived punishment. They are sin’s natural result. Want of love to God and to man, ripening into “enmity against God” (Rom 8:7); and that self-indulgence and self-worship which practically are enmity to men, cannot but bear the bitter fruit of misery and death (Rom 6:21; Gal 5:19-21). A world of perfect joy and lasting happiness must be a world from which sin is eternally shut out (Rev 21:27; Rev 22:15).
III. This note of warning is one SPECIALLY NEEDED BY THE TIMES WE LIVE IN. Modem society is strong (stronger than at any past epoch) in benevolence, kindliness; pity for the suffering, the fallen, even the guilty. It is weak on the sterner sideindignation against wrong, contempt of falsehood, stern zeal for justice, hatred of evil. We may see this in social life, in commercial life, in political life, in Church life, in theology. We like to “make things pleasant.” We persuade ourselves that sin is no such very great evil; that God will not he very hard on it. We forget that the most tremendous denunciations of sin and of sinners are from the loving lips of our Saviour himself. “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil!” (Psa 97:10).
Psa 36:9
The fountain of life.
This short but sublime psalm opens in a minor key. With a few powerful strokes the psalmist paints the blindness, untruthfulness, blasphemous presumption of an ungodly lifea life void of godly fear, and of that hatred of evil without which there is no true love of goodness. Then as with a sudden recoil from this hateful spectacle, the psalmist turns to God, pouring forth a noble strain of praise. He contemplates God’s mercy, truth, justice, bountiful providence, and loving-kindness to his children (Psa 36:9). May be looked at as the crowning point of this hymn of worship, at which praise turns to prayer.
I. GOD IS THE SOLE ORIGINAL POSSESSOR OF LIFEUNDERIVED, SELF–SUSTAINED, ETERNAL. “The Father hath life in himself” (Joh 5:26). “God draws existence from his own self. We possess but a borrowed existence; being is not native to us. As in our turn, one by one, we shall pass out of this life, and the world will go on its way without us; so, if God willed, we might pass out of being, and the universe would not miss us” (Saurin). But God “inhabiteth eternity” (Isa 57:15). This truth, the foundation of religion, is sublimely set forth in the Old Testament, especially in contrast with the vanity of idols; and is shadowed forth in the personal name by which God entered into covenant with his people (Exo 3:14; Exo 6:3; comp. Isa 43:10-13; Isa 44:6; so in the New Testament, Joh 17:3; Rev 4:9, Rev 4:10).
II. GOD IS THE AUTHOR AND SUSTAINER OF LIFE. The variety, beauty, activity, fruitfulness, joy, of the life of all living creatures are so many streams, whose inexhaustible fountain is in him (Act 17:25, Act 17:28). From the gigantic trees of California and Australia, four hundred or five hundred feet in height, to the all but invisible moss on Arctic snows; from the eagle, soaring above the mountain peaks, the elephant in his massive strength, the whale plunging deep in ocean, to those creatures revealed by our strongest-lenses, tens of thousands of which find ample space in a few drops of water;all draw life and being every moment from him. The least is as carefully designed and finished as the highest. Let us not forget how these two worlds of lifeplants and animalsare balanced and made mutually dependent: the plant feeding on the air which the animal breathes out, and which to itself is poison, and giving back that which the plant needs not, but which to the animal is the breath of life. Even death and decay are made to minister to life. The creatures appear and vanish, like waves on the great river of life; but the river flows on, for its fountain is in God (Psa 104:27-31). Shall we imagine that this is true only of our small world, and that all the suns and systems with which space teems are splendid deserts? Or is not Isa 45:18 true of many and many another world as of our own?
III. SPIRITUAL LIFEMAN‘S HIGHEST LIFELIKE BODILY LIFE, HAS ITS FOUNTAIN IN GOD. He alone bestows and sustains it. We share with the lower creatures the life of sensation and conscious activity. But we have also (whether we heed it or not) a higher life, or capacity of lifethe life of personal character, which may be cultivated and perfected in personal communion with God. Each one has in him germs of good and of happiness; germs, too, of evil and misery, for whose full development this life does not afford room. Each human spirit, a world in itself, has in it material for heaven or hell. This is so, whether we like to think so or no. More than this, Scripture reveals (what we could never have discovered, reasonable as it is) that the Spirit of God, personally bestowed and dwelling in us, creates and sustains this higher life (Joh 3:6). The most vigorous lifebright intellect, intense emotion, strenuous will, fruitful activityif destitute of living communion with God, and devoid of his Spirit, is pronounced in Scripture but a living death (Eph 2:1, Eph 2:4, Eph 2:5; 1Jn 5:12).
LESSONS.
1. Worship. If we could rise to the height of these words, fathom their depth, read their full meaning, our souls would he bowed, yet uplifted in adorationfilled with the glorious sense of the majesty, the mystery, the infinite greatness and goodness of God (1Ti 1:17; 1Ti 6:15, 1Ti 6:16).
2. Submission. He with whom is the fountain of life must determine how and how long the stream shall flow. Our lives belong to him. When he withdraws life he is not taking away what we have any right or claim toonly what is his (Heb 9:27). But the Lord Jesus holds the key (Rev 1:18).
3. Faith in Jesus. Christ is the Possessor and Dispenser of spiritual life (Joh 5:26). All the streams of both physical and spiritual life flow through him (Col 1:15, Col 1:16; Joh 1:3). He came to give life (Joh 10:10). , But a man might die of thirst at the brink of a full-flowing fountain, if he would not drink. So, with infinite pathos, our Saviour says, “Ye will not come” (Joh 5:40). But all who will are freely bidden (Joh 7:37-39; Rev 22:17).
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE
Psa 36:1-4
God’s revelation of man to himself; or, the transgressors heart turned inside out.
It has been thought by some that this psalm was written about the time when Saul gave his daughter Michal to David with a treacherous design (see Walford, in loc.); by others, that it is a general description of some of the wicked mensuch as Saul, Absalom, Ahithophel, etc.with whom David was brought into contact (see Fausset hereon). But there is no clue in the psalm itself to any such specific historical reference. We see a special significance in the title of the psalm, which tells us that it was written by David as a servant of Jehovah, and banded by him to the choirmaster for use in the songs of the sanctuary. We may regard it as a description of the heart of the ungodly, written in the piercing light of Divine revelation (see Psa 36:9), affording us a striking illustration of Heb 4:12, showing us that “the Word of God is” indeed “living and strong, sharper than any two-bladed sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,” being “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” We find, too, that the Apostle Paul regards the words, “There is no fear of God before his eyes,” as a part of the Divine indictment against a sinful race, whether of Jew or of Gentile origin (cf. Rom 3:18). Hence the inspection of the human heart, the results of which are here stated, is one that has been carried on under the searching light of Heaven. And a terribly painful discovery it is, to find how much iniquity God sees hidden in the nooks and corners of the heart. For us to be always carrying on this introspection would be more than we could bear. Yet the wicked may well be asked to study their own hearts in the light of this description, that they may see how much they need deliverance from their dark and sinful selves; while the believer may well look into this description again and again, that he may see from how much he has been delivered by the grace of God.
I. LET US STUDY THIS SEARCHING INVESTIGATION OF THE SECRETS OF A HUMAN HEART. (Heb 4:1.)
1. The heart of an ungodly man has an oracle of its own. The Hebrew word translated “saith” is a noun, and means “oracle.” Some would regard the phrase as elliptical, and as meaning, “The oracle [of God, concerning] the transgression of the wicked in his heart, is,” etc. (so Cheyne and Olshausen). But it seems to us rather a satirical contrast. The righteous have their oracle, which is Divine. The wicked have their oracle, even transgression. The dislike of being governed by another is the governing principle of their lives. “Our tongues are our own: who is lord over us?” (Psa 12:1-8 :14; Psa 2:3). Hence their “oracle” is dictated, not by loyalty, but by rebellion against God.
2. There are terrible negations in the godless man‘s life. (Heb 4:1, “There is no fear of God before his eyes,”) There is no desire of the Divine approval, nor dread of the Divine displeasure. It was reserved for the nineteenth century, however, to develop the most impious forms of this denial of God. There are not wanting novels, such as George Eliot’s and others, which present model characters in social life on the basis of non-theism, and which depict it as a virtue to be without any fear of God whatsoever. This psalm deals with an evil which is by no means a thing of the past. It is developed to-day in frightful form, and puts on a guise of virtue to hide its ghastliness. There is a second negation (Heb 4:4): “He hath left off to be wise and to do good.” The absence of the fear of God will soon be followed by the loss of respect for man, and the deterioration of general intelligence and of social virtue. There is no sustaining impulse for the highest excellence when God ceases to be enthroned in the heart. For a third negation here specified shows clearly enough the drift of the godless man (Heb 4:5): “He abhorreth not evil.” The issue of a materialistic denial of God, and of a materialistic view of man, must be the denial of evil as evil. Evil cannot exist if atoms of matter be all. For molecules never break the ranks, and can never get out of harness. And he who first abhors not evil, out of senseless bravado, will come to deny evil altogether, and will let his passions hurry him whither they will, on the inward plea that he is “acting according to nature.”
3. There are equally terrible positive evils in the godless man‘s life. First, evils in thought (Heb 4:3). The psalmist means either that, in spite of his godlessness, he has a very good opinion of himself, or else that he flatters himself his sins will never come out to light, and be found out in all their naked ugliness. Nor is this all. But he positively deviseth mischief upon his bed (Heb 4:5). Even in the night he is pursuing schemes of serf-gratification, altogether regardless of righteousness or of the good of others. A second form of positive ill is found in his words (Heb 4:4). Truthlessness will soon follow godlessness. And when in his eye God ceases to be, it will not be long ere right ceases to be right, and truth to be truth. And a third form of ill will develop itself. “He setteth himself in a way that is not good.” He plants his feet, he takes a determined stand, in the direction of gratifying self rather than in the direction of pleasing Cod. And will aim at nothing but “utility,” in the narrow sense of hedonism. Right as right will have disappeared from the gaze of his eye, and will cease to govern either deed, word, or thought. How terrible a picture is this of unchecked human depravity!
II. WHAT PRACTICAL USE SHOULD BE MADE IN OUR DAY OF SUCH A TERRIBLE EXPOSURE OF THE SECRETS OF DEPRAVED HEARTS?
1. It is a very solemn thought that we are thus being inspected, at every moment, by an all-searching gaze. It is only where Divine revelation has been vouchsafed that sin is dealt with so very seriously, and that the heart is thus depicted so minutely.
2. How fearful the descent of sin, and how encroaching are its inroads on character! Yet, after all, we need hot fall into the error of supposing that the Word of God regards all as equally guilty or as equally corrupt. Yet, as the Apostle Paul shows in the second and third chapters of his Epistle to the Romans, where he is handling the indictment which stands in God’s Law against us, we are “all under sin.” If the Jew has sinned against a written Law, the Gentile has sinned against an unwritten law. Hence both are “guilty before God;” although the measure of each one’s guilt, and the depth of each one’s corruption, can be judged accurately by God alone.
3. Let us be devout/y thankful that we may know the worst of ourselves by comparing what we are with the pure and holy Law of God. To know the disease is an important step in seeking for a cure.
4. Even if we have not gone such lengths is guilt and maddened sin as are here described, let us thankfully acknowledge that we owe it to the restraining providence of God. For, alas! the germs of all ill are in each of us.
5. We need a deliverance from ourselves. We need forgiveness for guilt, and cleansing from corruption.
6. Since all are under sin, how righteous is the retirement of the gospel! “God commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” No man is as good as he ought to be, nor yet as good as be knows he ought to be. And for this he ought to be sorry and to mourn his guilt persistently before God. When he is thus ready to put sin away by repenting of it, God is ready to put it away by forgiving it.
7. It is the glory of the gospel that it takes into account all our needs, from every possible point of view. In Christ we have pardon for the penitent’s sin, and cleansing from the foulest corruption. Yea, through the Spirit of God we may be regenerated, and sanctified, and snatched from the power of darkness to the kingdom of God‘s dear Son.
8. It is only in that very Word which looks at sin most seriously that man is regarded most hopefully. Man and his sins are not inseparable They may be parted. And when this blessed effect is brought about, “being made free from sin, and become servants unto God,” they will “have their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”C.
Psa 36:5-12
God’s revelation of himself to man.
The reason for so sudden a transition in the theme of this psalm does not clearly appear. It is, indeed, possible that portions of two may be pieced together; but we have no proof of that. The remark of Calvin is very striking, “After having spoken of the great depravity of men, the prophet, afraid lest he should be infected by it, or be carried away by the example of the wicked, as by a flood, quits the subject, and recovers himself by reflecting on a different theme.” Whether this be precisely the correct account of the matter or no, certain it is that too prolonged a gaze into the desperate wickedness of man would unnerve us and would generate a spirit of misanthropic distrust. For our own balance of mind, and peace and rest, we must turn our gaze away from the haunts of sin to the abode of perfect righteousness and halcyon calm. And, thank God, we can do it. And if we turn the glass of the Word upward instead of downward, we shall find more to inspire with rapture than we have seen to create dismay. But neither the one description nor the other can be accounted for by the ordinary laws of the human mind. The psychology of the natural man will not serve us here. Only a “man whose eyes are open” could have written either the first or the second part of this psalm. And we here see the working, not of psychology, but of pneumatologyof the pneumatology of the spiritual man when receiving and transmitting a revelation from God and of him. What the Apostle Peter says of prophecy generally may be applied to this psalm: it “came not of old time by the will of man.” David spake as he was “moved by the Holy Ghost.” Having, then, spied into the abyss of depravity by the glass of the Word, let us peer into the boundless heights of glory by looking through the same glass when turned upward. Let us study
I. THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD IN THEIR SUBLIME AND PEERLESS GLORY. (Psa 36:5, et seq.) We have put before us the sphere in which the Divine Being dwells”in the heavens;” “unto the clouds.” The heavens, in the highest sense, are regarded as the dwelling-place of God; and, to the same intent, the word translated “clouds.” Since God is everywhere present, we must not confine his presence (in our thinking thereof) to one spot rather than another (Psa 139:7-12). Yet we are permitted to think of “heaven” as being a region where he specially manifests his glory” Our Father, which art in heaven;” “The Son of man’ “came down from heaven” (cf. Eze 1:26-28; Isa 6:1-4; Joh 17:5). High, high above this troublous scene of unrest and sin there is a throne of glory, there is a seat of power, there is a realm of unruffled, everlasting calm (Psa 97:1). But here we have revealed to us him who is on the throne, and the glorious attributes which mark his infinite Being.
1. “Mercy,” “goodness;” benignitas, misericordia. God has a heart. “He that formed the ear, doth he not hear? He that formed the eye, doth he not see? He that formed the heart, doeth he not feel?” Yea, verily. God is a Being of infinite tenderness, compassion, and love.
2. “Truth;” i.e. “faithfulness;” fides, veritas. “Hath he said, and shall he not do it?” “Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
“Firm as a rock his truth remains
To guard his promises”
Not one thing hath failed or snail fail of all that the Lord hath spoken.
3. Righteousness.” (Psa 36:6.) “Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.” Justitia. It is because the righteousness of God is so firm and unmovable that we can repose in him the most entire and absolute confidence. Even love, divorced from righteousness, would fail to win our hearts. The work of Christ commands our homage, love, and rest, because therein love and righteousness are seen in sublimest concord. Note: How intense the relief to turn our eyes away from this scene of sin and corruption to him “whose dominion extendeth over all” in righteousness, mercy, and truth!
II. THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD IN THEIR BEARING UPON US.
1. Perfect administration. (Psa 36:6.) “Thy judgments are a great deep;” a profound abyss (cf. Psa 77:19). They often present a depth of mystery which we have no plummet to sound. But they are judgments for all that; i.e. right-settingsthey are never at fault. And never is there any flaw in the Divine administration on this globe (Psa 97:2).
2. Loving–kindness. The same word as is rendered “mercy’ (Authorized Version) in Psa 36:5. But the translators saw the meaning of “mercy” per se becoming “loving-kindness” towards us. Blot only has the sun light, but we feel the warmth of his rays. Even so the tender mercy of God discloses itself to us in innumerable acts of kindness and love.
3. Protection. (Psa 36:7.) “The shadow of thy wings” (cf. Exo 19:4; Deu 32:9-12; Rth 2:12; Psa 17:8; Psa 91:4; Psa 57:4; Psa 63:7; Psa 61:4). Perhaps the most wonderful of God’s attributes is that patience with men, whereby he restrains the power that could crush, and puts it forth so gently as to guard. Had we not been sheltered by an invisible guardianship, we had been crushed ere now a thousand times over. Note, also, that the figure of “wings,” etc; indicates a marvellous tenderness of love.
4. Supply. (Psa 36:8.) “The fatness of thine house “the rich provisions of Divine love which are so largely enjoyed in the fellowship of worship in the courts of the Lord. “The river of thy pleasures;” literally, “of thine Eden.” Is there here an allusion to the river which flowed peacefully through the garden of Eden when sin had not as yet tainted its bowers? Or is this phrase a declension that of the pure joy which is in the heart of God he gives those to partake who are in communion with him? If so, hire is a wonderful anticipation of the truth, “My peace I give unto you.”
5. Life. (Psa 36:9.) “The fountain of life.” Here is a sublime expression of the doctrine which in modern phraseology is called “the origin of force”a sublime expression thereof, however, on its moral and spiritual side. Such a phrase as this may well have been borne in mind by the Apostle John, when he says of the Son of God, “In him was life.”
6. Light. (Verse 9.) “In thy light shall we see light.” In how many senses this is true, and how richly it is true in every sense, it would require many homilies to show. We can but hint. Without God we can see no light anywhere. We have no basis for thought, no account to give of existence. Without the light from God to illumine our souls, we cannot see the glory of his love in creation. Without the enlightening and regenerating power of his Spirit, we cannot see the kingdom of Cod. But with God above, around, within, in what a blaze of light and glory may we live! Note: What amazing bliss is ours, even now, when the fulness of God is made over to us in Christ through his Word and Spirit! Perfect judgment, loving-kindness, guardianship living food, life, light! What more can we have?
III. THE DIVINE PERFECTIONS AS LAID HOLD OF BY BELIEVING MEN. When our God reveals himself thus to us as our God, it is but fitting anti right that our hearts should respond to such revelation. A response we find here. It is fivefold.
1. Here is an exhilarating sense of being in the possession of a precious treasure. (Verse 7.) “How excellent,” etc. rather, “How precious is thy loving-kindness, O God!” Indeed, it is. Precious beyond thousands of gold and silver; yea,” better than life” (Psa 63:3; Psa 43:4). God is our “exceeding Joy“ Often and often may we muse with ever-increasing delight on the exhaustless stores of love which are ours in the heart of the infinite and eternal God (cf. Deu 33:26, Deu 33:27).
2. Here is a sense of safety and repose in fleeing for refuge to God. (Verse 7.) “Put their trust;” literally, “flee for refuge” (cf. Psa 91:2). How intense the repose when we make God our Refuge! From the plots of men, from the strife of tongues, from perils of every kind, we can hide in Godblessed and safe in his almighty keeping.
3. Here is a sense of satisfaction in the abundance of a Divine supply. God’s love is as meat and drink to us (of. Joh 6:1-71.). When all the fulness of God is made over to us in Christ, we are indeed well supplied. We often want more of Christ; we never want more than Christ.
4. The trust and love of the heart express themselves in prayer.
(1) For others (verse 10). We may bear all the saints on our heart as intercessors before God.
(2) For ourselves (verse 11). That God would so prove himself to us to be all that he has promised to be, that we may never be moved from the right and safe path by any of the plots and snares of designing men.
5. Already, in the anticipation of faith, we sing praise for delivering grace. (Verse 12.) “There are the workers of iniquity fallen.” “There!”emphatic. There they are! I look on far ahead, and know that I shall triumph in redeeming love, and that I shall yet see those that plotted my ruin brought to nought, as Israel saw their foes dead on the seashore (Exo 14:30, Exo 14:31; Psa 46:6; Psa 37:34-38; see Romans 64:7-10)..(For the application of all this in its highest and grandest form, see Rom 8:34-39.) Let us trust God, brothers, while danger is nigh, and we shalt shout in triumph when life’s storms are over.C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Psa 36:1-12
We have here a terrible picture of, the wicked man.
I. HIS HEART IS THE SEAT OF EVIL. It is there as an “oracle.’ It is enthroned. It speaks with authority. It gives forth its decrees for obedience. The true is opposed by the false. Righteousness gives place to unrighteousness. All counsels of reason and compunctions of conscience are hushed by the cry, “No God!” (2Th 2:3, 2Th 2:4).
II. HIS LIFE IS MARKED BY ABANDONMENT TO EVIL. The power that rules the heart rules the life. There is progress in depravity, as in goodness. Gradually the sway of sin extends, till at last it works without check, without remorse, without remedy. You know a servant by the livery he wears, so when you see a man who sins wilfully and habitually, whose words and actions and manner of life are manifestly regualted without any fear of God, you cannot but regard such a man as a servant of sin (Rom 6:16; Joh 8:34).
III. HIS CHARACTER IS FORMED UNDER THE POWER OF EVIL. Acts form habits, and habits character, The process is slow, but certain. What determines character is the power that worketh in us, be it good or be it evil (Gal 5:17, Gal 5:18). There is evil in all, but when the heart has been won back to God, the evil, though present, has lost its power. There is conflict, but the victory is Fare for good, and not for evil. On the other hand, where evil still rules supreme, the result is of necessitygreater and greater degradation and corruption.
IV. HIS FUTURE IS DARK WITH THE PROGNOSTICS OF EVIL. To those who are living without God, the prospect in this life is gloomy and painful, but there is still hope. The voice of mercy is ever sounding in their ears, “Why will ye die?” As time passes, things grow darker. Guilt increases, the heart is hardened, and reformation becomes more and more improbable (Jer 13:23). Again and again signs and warnings are givenprecursors of the end, foreshadowings of the doom that awaits the impenitent. But they are unheeded. There is a terrible retention of character, and the future has no star of hope to light the gloom. “The wicked is driven away in his wickedness.”W.F.
Psa 36:1-12
Aspice.
Look around, how distressing is the scene! Look back, it is the fame tale of human care and crime. Look before, little to encourage, or to lead us to believe that things will be better than they are. But look up, and we can take heart, and speak one to another of better times. Clod reigns. Christ is at the right hand of the Father, to carry out his gracious purposes. Though there be much that is dark and depressing, yet we are able still to pray to God as “our Father,” to say, a Thy kingdom come,” and to assure our hearts of the final victory of love, for “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.”
I. FROM THE FALSEHOOD OF MEN WE MAKE OUR COMPLAINT TO THE FAITHFUL NESS OF GOD. Though men lie and beguille, God is true. His Word is truth. “He is faithful who hath promised” We may trust him utterly. Like him, let us also be faithful.
II. FROM THE INJUSTICE OF MEN WE MAY APPEAL TO THE JUSTICE OF GOD. Conscience within and the Law without bear witness that God is righteous. Justice is justice everywhere. Whatever be our lot here, we shall get right yonder. However basely men-may behave to us, God will treat us fairly. The Judge of all the earth will do right. In this faith we can possess our souls in patience (1Co 4:3, 1Co 4:4; Jas 4:11, Jas 4:12). Come what will, let us ever do that which is just and good to all men.
III. FROM THE SELFISHNESS OF MEN WE CAN TAKE REFUGE IN THE LOVE AND MERCY OF GOD. In trade and commerce and all the various businesses of the world, selfishness prevails. The rule is, “Every man for himself;” and the royal law, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” is set at nought. Even in the Churches the leaven of selfishness is sadly operative. But “God is love.” He is the great Giver. His delight is to show mercy, to do good and to communicate. He has come nearer than ever in Christ Jesus, and under the strong and loving covert of his wings we find refuge from all the oppressions and ills of life (Psa 36:7). Let us make it our habit more and more to abide with God. Christ is in the bosom of the Father, and it is as we “live together with Christ” that we abide in the love of God, and are comforted in all our troubles, defended in all our dangers, and strengthened for every good word and work.
“Only, O Lord, in thy dear love,
Fit us for perfect rest above;
And help us, this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.”
W.F.
Psa 36:6, Psa 36:7
Righteousness; judgment; loving-kindness.
There are three great sayings here which deserve our deepest study. First, God’s “righteousness,” that perfection of his character which secures perfect justice in all his doings. It is like “the mountains,” so high that it is always above us, so fixed and stable that it cannot be moved. Then God’s “judgments”his ways, his dealings with menare called a “great deep,” as being in many respects beyond our sounding or measuring, unfathomable and full of mystery (Psa 77:19). Last, there is God’s providential care. It is said, “How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God!” (Psa 36:6, Psa 36:7). But while these sayings are very striking and beautiful, looked at by themselves, they become vastly more significant and consolatory when we regard them in their relationship. Suppose we take the second, and place it in the light of the first and then of the third. In the “great deep” there is much that is awful and perplexing. But if there be mystery, this should not surprise us. We are but children. How can the finite comprehend the Infinite! But this mystery has its uses: it teaches us humility; it inspires us with reverence; it prepares the way for faith and hope and love. But much depends on our standpoint. See how different things become when we look at “the great deep” from the sure ground of the everlasting hills. It is significant that the psalmist speaks of the “mountains” before the “great deep,” of the “righteousness” of God before his “judgments.” Here is a lesson for us. Let us first make sure as to God’s righteousness. Then when our hearts are established in this truth, we can look abroad without fear of the great deep of God’s judgments. Even if, like Paul, tossed up and down “in Adria,” the assurance of God’s righteousness will give us peace, and sustain our hopes; and when we reach the shore again, we can look back, as from Melita, with thankful love and praise to God’s ways and wonders in the deep. Then, further, when we take up the third great saying here, the light increases, and the sense of God’s gracious presence and care becomes stronger and stronger. How often is it so in God’s Word and works! Side by side with some grand manifestation of his greatness and majesty, we have some tender touch that speaks of his fatherly love and care. Whensoever, then, we are oppressed and appalled by the sight of the “great deep,” let us call to mind, on the one hand, God’s “righteousness;” and, on the other, God’s lovethat we may be comforted. Before us is the “great deep,” with many things that are terrible and distressingthe shipwreck of dear hopes, the burying out of sight of beloved ones, the mystery of trial and of deathbut, standing on the sure ground of God’s righteousness, we may possess our souls in patience; and, contemplating the manifold and increasing proofs of God’s love and goodness in our daily life, we may take heart, and say, “He cannot will me aught but good; I trust him utterly.” Let us learn to take the right order in considering God’s works. We should begin with what is plain and certain. We should study the dark things in the light of what is clear, the mysteries by what is revealed. Further, mark the importance of making much of common mercies, that we may be the better prepared for uncommon emergencies. God is educating us. When we know him as caring for us in little things, we can trust him to care for us in greater things (Mat 6:30-34). If we have learned to run with the footmen without being weary, we can better contend with horses. If we do our duty and serve God in the land of peace, then we shall be the fitter to face the swelling of Jordan (Jer 12:5). Above all, let us remember that only in God can we find a sure Refuge from all trouble (Psa 36:7).
Though griefs unnumbered throng thee round,
Still in thy God confide;
Whose finger marks the seas their bound,
And curbs the headlong tide.”
W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 36:1-12
The curse of wickedness and the blessedness of fellowship with God.
The psalmist complains of the moral corruption of his generation, and points the character of the time rather than any particular occurrenceunless “the foot of pride” in the eleventh verse may possibly refer to some invader that he dreaded. We have here a vivid description of the cursed state of ingrained, deliberate wickedness, and of the supreme blessedness of fellowship with God.
I. THE CURSE OF INGRAINED, DELIBERATE WICKEDNESS. (Psa 36:1-4.) Represented under two main aspects.
1. The utter degeneracy of his thoughts. (Psa 36:1, Psa 36:2.) Translate, “The oracle, or voice, of transgression is in the heart of the wicked;” i.e. evil is the sovereign voice that speaks to or commands him. It is the only imperative voice that he hearsnot the voice of conscience or duty. As a consequence, he does not see or hear God, and, therefore, does not fear to transgress. More than this, he becomes complacent (“flatters himself”) in devising evil things as a sign of superior cleverness, and glories in hating rather than in loving. He is a fearful example of the total inversion of the moral order in all his thoughts. As a consequence, we have:
2. The utter degeneracy of his conduct. (Psa 36:3, Psa 36:4.) His words are the image of his thoughtsmischief and deceit. He has left off, turned from, every wise and good gay of living, as a thing gone out of his esteem, forming no part of his purpose in life. fie meditates only mischief on his bed, where other men remember the evil of the day, and repent; but he sinks to sleep or awakes from it in forming evil designs, setting himself into the direction of no good way, nor abhorring any evil.
II. THE SUPREME BLESSEDNESS OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. (Psa 36:5-10.)
1. God‘s goodness makes him infinitely worthy of our trust. (Psa 36:5-7.) His mercy. faithfulness, righteousness, judgments, preserving providence, are all infinite and perfect, and those who trust in him live in the holiest, safest shelterunder the shadow of his wings overspreading the “mercy-seat.”
2. God will abundantly satisfy all their greatest needs. (Psa 36:8.) They shall partake of the Divine satisfaction and joyeat of the fatness of his house, and drink of the river of his pleasures. Because he is the Fountain of all life and the Substance of all light, and they who dwell with him shall draw his life into themselves, and see all things in the light of his presence.
3. They became confident of the downfall of those who are unrighteously opposed to them. (Psa 36:11, Psa 36:12.) “There!”pointing as if to the scene of the ruin of his foes and the foes of God. Those who enjoy fellowship with God and Christ are assured that they too will at length conquer their spiritual foes, and enter fully into the kingdom that awaits them.S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 36.
The grievous estate of the wicked. The excellency of God’s mercy. David prayeth for favour to God’s children.
To the chief musician. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord.
Title. lamnatseach This Psalm is supposed to have been written by David at the beginning of Saul’s persecution; whilst he outwardly professed kindness towards him, but yet he could not help discovering that he desired and intended his ruin. David here opposes the faithfulness and goodness of God, to the malice and treachery of Saul; though without mentioning him by name: and, as Theodoret well observes, David’s delicacy in this respect is very remarkable; for, although the chief of his most bitter complaints were levelled against Saul, yet throughout his Psalms, he never once mentions him by name. This Psalm, Mudge observes, has three states: the first, in which the author describes the treacherous and false contrivances of wicked men; the second is the address of the good man to God; in which he acknowledges all those attributes, that are the support of righteous men, to be infinite and boundless; and from thence draws his assurance of being supported. The last, as the consequence of this, represents the downfall of the wicked.
Psa 36:1. The transgression of the wicked saith, &c. The wicked man hath an oracle of rebellion within his heart. “The wicked man has no regard to the oracles of God: he has one of his own heart, which dictates nothing but rebellion.” Mudge.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psalms 36
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD
1The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,
That there is no fear of God before his eyes.
2For he flattereth himself in his own eyes.
Until his iniquity be found to be hateful.
3The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit:
He hath left off to be wise, and to do good.
4He deviseth mischief upon his bed;
He setteth himself in a way that is not good;
He abhorreth not evil.
5Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens;
And thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
6Thy righteousness is like the great mountains;
Thy judgments are a great deep:
O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.
7How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
8They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house;
And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
9For with thee is the fountain of life:
In thy light shall we see light.
10O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee,
And thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
11Let not the foot of pride come against me,
And let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
12There are the workers of iniquity fallen:
They are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents and Title. Respecting the designation of David as servant of Jehovah vid.Psalms 18. By this reference to the position of the speaker as well towards God as the congregation, the readers attention is directly called to the meaning of this song as one to be well pondered. It is certainly not a Psalm of lamentation (De Wette), but a didactic Psalm (Luther). First there is a striking description of the wicked man, in which all moral relations and regulations have been perverted into their opposites (Psa 36:1-4): then follows in the tone of a hymn (Psa 36:5-9) the praise of the immeasurable grace, faithfulness and righteousness of God; and the Psalm concludes with a prayer (Psa 36:10-11), for further exhibitions of these attributes towards all upright servants of God and towards the Psalmist with a reference to the ruin of the wicked (Psa 36:12). It is uncertain whether the preterites in this closing clause refer to historical facts which have recently transpired (Hitzig), or are to be taken as prophetical (most interpreters). In favor of the latter view is the absence of any other historical references. The house of God (Psa 36:8) certainly is not used figuratively in order to designate God as a father of a family (De Wette), but refers to the places of worship, yet without giving any reason to suppose that the author was a priest (Paulus). It is moreover entirely unnecessary to think of the temple of Solomon and descend to the period immediately before the exile (Ewald, Olsh., Hitzig). The conjecture of those who put the origin of this Psalm in the period in which Saul still pretended to be the friend of David (Amyrald, et al.), is likewise groundless. We have before us in this and similar Psalms, reflections from the circumstances of the time and not from particular events (Delitzsch). This Psalm has its present position in the order of Psalms from the use of servant of Jehovah comp. Psa 35:27, the rare word dachah Psa 36:12, comp. Psa 35:5, and many correspondences with Psalms 37.
Str. I. Psa 36:1. The wicked (hath) a prompting of ungodliness within his heart.All attempts to retain the tex. recept. (my heart) have hitherto failed. For the turn which has been given to the clause by Gesen., De Wette, Stier, Von Hofm., after Symmach., and Luther, in taking the first line as a kind of title as an announcement of the contents, although only of the next verse (=A saying concerning the wickedness of the wicked is in my heart), is inadmissible, because on the one side there follows, not a saying respecting wickedness, but a description of it, on the other side usage does not admit of connecting (stat. const. of the part. pass. of = inspiratum, oraculum) with a gen. obj. The following genitive always designates the person which either imparts the prompting, or utters it as a prophet (Num 24:3), or as an inspired poet (2Sa 23:1; Pro 30:1). That it is entirely different with makes no difference. If this is admitted, then the attempt might be made to regard the wicked man himself as speaking, as he in ironical imitation of the well-known tone of the prophet, sounds forth the Divine word of wickedness to the wicked man. If then, in order to get the contents of this word, the words in the interior of my heart are connected with the following line (Venema), there arises a clause, whose absurdity can be removed only by inadmissible explanations. If this is not done (Hengst.), the following details do not agree with the expectations awakened by such an announcement; and the thought, very proper in itself, that the wicked listen to the promptings of sin as Divine utterances, would be clothed in such an obscure and misleading form, that it could not be understood at all without explanation, as then even Hengst. can not but insert for this purpose the personal pronoun in his translation, to me the wicked man. All these difficulties however are set aside by the simple change of into , which is likewise in the ancient versions, and even in some manuscripts. The personification of sin is not strange either to the Old Testament or the New Testament (Gen 4:7; Romans 7.); and the unusual idea of an inspiring power is meditated by the wicked spirit which takes the place of the Spirit of God, 1Ki 22:21 sq. and by the lying spirit which inspired the false prophets, Isa 9:14; Jeremiah 23; Mic 2:11 (Hupfeld. Hitzig. Delitzsch, now likewise Bttcher). There is therefore no occasion for the conjecture in order to get the sense: Vice is pleasant (Diestel). And the proposition to transpose the to the proper title after, by David (Maurer, formerly likewise Bttcher in part, Tholuck, G. Baur, Thenius), does not agree with the grammatical construction and the place of the word in the syntax, which elsewhere prevail. The Vulgate has literally after the Sept. dixit injustus ut delinquat in semet ipso, which is explained by Schegg: The ungodly speaks to himself, persuades himself to sin.
Psa 36:2. For he flattereth himself in his eyes with reference to the finding of his guilt,literally he has made smooth towards himself. The is reflexive, as Gen 8:9; 1Sa 14:52. For the subject is not ungodliness (the Rabbins, Olsh., Camph., Delitzsch), but the wicked man, because the entire section speaks of him and the translation towards him would lead to a flattery towards God (most ancient versions, Kster, Maurer, Tholuck), which explanation again would give an entirely different meaning to the clause from that allowed by the following words. For finding of sin never denotes the theoretical knowledge of it. Consequently the thought cannot be here, that the wicked man merely lied to God, that he possessed knowledge and hatred of his sins, and that he imagined that he could deceive God. No more does that expression denote the accomplishment of sin, as if the wicked man esteemed himself highly on account of his sins and his hatred of God and Divine things (Kimchi, Geier, J. H. Mich., Kster, Stier) in his flattering imagination against God and in contrast with his guilty fear of God (Rosenm.). It designates only the finding of sin by the avenger, who pursues and reaches it with the design of punishing it, Gen 44:16; Hos 12:9; comp. 1Sa 29:3-6; Psa 17:3. This design of punishing cannot be lost sight of. Accordingly, although the original meaning may be given by assequi, yet the interpretation, that ungodliness directs flattering words to the wicked man in his eyes ( = well pleasing to him) in order to accomplish his guilt, that is in order to obtain, that he may become guilty and hate God and man instead of loving (Delitzsch), is indeed ingenious but not entirely in harmony with usage, according to which the discovery, that is the disclosing of the guilt of anothers sin, has the design of punishment, which in this interpretation disappears entirely behind that of being guilty. For it cannot be said that it is taught here, that personified ungodliness has in view, with its suggestions, the attainment of the purpose, that the wicked man shall constantly become more guilty in order that he may more certainly meet his punishment. Still less can any one be authorized to make Elohim the subject of the entire clause [Perowne]. For first, the interpretation God has made it smooth, acted softly towards him in his eyes, that is according to his fancy, gives indeed a good sense and is correct according to the language; but it makes the following clause still more difficult of comprehension. For the translation to find the corrupt things of the unrighteous so that he must hate them (find worthy of hatred) (Hofm.), corresponds neither with usage nor the context. And the proposition to put ver 2b in a parenthesis as an explanation of the fancy (Hupf.), is as much a desperate expedient as the ingenious conjecture of Hupfeld, that perhaps the (he has left off), which precedes the two infinitives with in the following verse, has here fallen away. Under these circumstances it is most advisable to find the thought expressed, that the wicked man flatters himself with the foolish imagination that he will escape punishment. That it is an imagination or fancy is expressed by the words in his eyes. A corresponding expression in the previous line makes it necessary to think of the eyes of the wicked, not those of God, in connection with which interpretation many more ancient interpreters thought of a merely external service, works lying before the eyes, which the wicked man performed hypocritically, without internal reverence of God. But such an interpretation, not to speak of other objections, is not at all suitable to the mention of the eyes of God, which designate above all His Omniscience and Infallibility. Psa 36:2 b refers (Hengst.) to the sphere, in which this self-deception of the audacious villain moves (comp. Deu 29:18; Isa 28:15). Yet it must be conceded, that even this interpretation is not free from the objection that the expression is yet somewhat hard, forced and unusual, especially when it is compared with the other verses, which with all their sublimity and meaning, yet have a clear and flowing style. It is very natural therefore to think of a corruption of the text (Olsh., Hupf.). But although only a slight change in the text would be necessary in order to the ingenious conjecture mentioned above, of a verb which has been omitted (Hupf.), or to gain the sense; it flatters him in his eyes (it tickles his pride), to discover missteps in others and to make them suffer for them (Thenius), these proposals have partly objections in themselves, partly they lead to the unbounded field of mere conjecture. The ancient translators already differed, partly from the Hebrew text, partly from one another, and rendered it in a way which is in part unintelligible. The interpretation of Symmachus has been renewed in part by Clauss, in the interpretation: he acts slippery towards God in his eyes, in order to slip away from the finding out of his misdeed. Here the making smooth is changed into a meaning which cannot be proved for the word in question. On the other hand it might be taken in the sense of coquetting towards God, and be used in the sense of , so that Psa 36:3, forms the conclusion. (Hitzig). But if then this coquetting is taken as the hypocritical confession, he has found=become sensible of his sin and hates it, this meaning cannot be regarded as proved by the remark, that where as here the guilty man himself finds the guilt, means knowing, becoming sensible of what was previously obscure or uncertain. The passages cited in favor of this, Eccl. 7:29; 24:27; Job 32:13, have not this connection of finding with sin on which all depends. Moreover the entire description is not that of the sanctimonious hypocrite, but the real villain (Sachs) who comforts himself by his experience in sinning (Hengst.).The impersonal interpretation: it flatters him (Ewald, Thenius) is likewise contrary to the usual use of the verb. Bttcher maintains (Neue exeget. krit. hrenlese Nr. 1092) his previous (Theol. Stud, und Krit. 1850. 609) interpretation: for he flattereth himself, when he directs his eyes upon himself; to discover his guilt must be odious to him.1
[Str. II. Psa 36:3-4. Perowne: Psa 36:1-4 describe generally the character of the ungodly: first the sin of his heart (Psa 36:1-2); then the sin of his lips (Psa 36:3); lastly the sin of his hands, the evil schemes which he devises and executes (Psa 36:4). As there is a climax in the whole description of the evil man, so especially is there a progress from bad to worse in Psa 36:3-4. (1) He hath left off to do good; (2) on his bed he meditates evil (Psa 4:4; Mic 2:1); (3) he resolutely sets himself to do evil; (4) his very conscience is hardened, so that he does evil without repugnance or misgivingC. A. B.]
Str. III. [Psa 36:5.2Thy mercy Jehovah (reacheth) to the heavens; Thy faithfulness unto the skies.Most interpreters regard in the first clause as equivalent to and interpret it by supplying as in the second clause reacheth. In favor of this is the parallel passage, Psa 57:11, comp. Psa 71:19; Psa 103:11; Job 11:8; Job 22:12; Job 35:5. Hengstenberg refers to the pillar of cloud and of fire reaching from earth to heaven and yet prefers the rendering in the heavens which includes the reaching to the heavens. The idea of the passage is to measure the mercy and faithfulness of God as in the passages cited above, and therefore it is better to regard the clauses as parallel as in Psa 57:11. The mercy of God is heaven-high. In the second clause is the vault of heaven, the expanse beaten out like fine dust, best rendered in English by the sky, or plural skies.C. A. B.]
Psa 36:6. Mountains of God.These are not as it were the highest mountains, because all that is best in nature or of its kind is distinguished by the addition of the words, of God (the Rabbins, Calvin, Geier, J. H. Mich. et al.). This supposition does not accord with the sharp distinction between the natural and the Divine, which prevails in the Biblical view of the world. This designation is used not only where there is an emphatic reference to that which has been produced by God (Hupf.), but likewise that which testifies to the glory of God (His power, goodness, and holiness) and serves to reveal Him. Thus the prophets are frequently called men of God, and Mount Sinai and Zion, mountains of God; so likewise Paradise is called the garden of God, Gen 13:10, comp. Psa 2:8, and the rain in contrast to artificial irrigation is called the brook of God, Psa 65:9; and the cedars of Lebanon are called cedars of God, Psa 80:10; and trees of God, Psa 104:16, not only because He planted them as the aloes (Num 24:6), but because they testify to His creative power, and their consideration gives occasion to worship Him. The tert. compar. in the comparison of righteousness with the mountains of God is therefore, their firmness and unmoveableness (Luther and most interpreters], whether with or without the subordinate idea of the safety of those who seek refuge in them (Stier), rather than their greatness and height (Hengst., Hupf.).Thy judgments a great flood.The effects of righteousness, the judgments of God are directly compared with the great flood, not with reference to their depth as contrasted with the height of the mountains (Hupf.), or on account of their unfathomableness and unsearchableness (Aben Ezra Geier, Rosenm., Stier, Delitzsch), or with respect to their unmeasurableness (Hengst.) and comprehensive extent (Calvin), but with reference to their power which none can escape and the certainty with which they reach their ends. For the expression occurs only in Gen 7:11, and therefore points, not to the unfathomable depth or the unmeasurable ocean, but to the flood which overflows all things, which pours over the world judging and delivering according to Gods will. Accordingly the allusion to the deliverance of the animal kingdom with Noahs family (Venema, Hengst.) in the following clause is not a strange historical reference mixed with the general clause (Hupf.), although it is correct, that the cattle, that is, the animal kingdom, in their needs appear frequently as an object of Divine care and mercy in connection with men. It is likewise to be noticed, that the reference is not directly historical; but is merely an allusion to that historical event, in which the judgments of God actually presented themselves as a great flood (Psa 29:10). So much the easier is the idea of Divine judgments or indeed of severe afflictions in general, from which God delivers the pious, explained under the figure of great overflowings, (Psa 32:6), which yet would have otherwise been far from the mind of the Hebrew owing to the physical character of his land.There is not the least reference in this Psalm to a victorious war in which men and beasts were delivered from the danger incurred by the inroad of heathen nations (Hitzig), which had broken treaties (Hab 2:17; Hab 3:17).
Psa 36:7. Shadow of Thy wings.It follows from Psa 61:4, that the shelter under the shadow of the wings of God is connected with dwelling in the tent. It is more natural here to think not of the cherubim but of the hen or the eagle, as Deu 32:11; Psa 17:8; Psa 57:1; Psa 63:7; Psa 91:4; Psa 91:2.
Psa 36:8. Fatness of Thy house.This is not the gift of the paternal goodness of God abundantly bestowed in the world (De Wette), but first of all the sacrificial meals (Isa 43:24; Jer 31:14), and if we may understand by them thank offerings and peace offerings, the reference is to reconciliation with God, and not to victory over earthly enemies (Psa 65:4). Since however there is no reference to the use of sacrifices as such, but these serve as figurative designations of the enjoyment which those have, who are placed near to God in communion with Him, as Jer 31:14, we may likewise, yet always only on this foundation, think of rich goods (Luther) in a wider sense, the spiritual joy and blessings of the entire sphere of the Divine grace.Stream of Thy pleasures.In this connection the Hebrew word for pleasures reminds us of Paradise (Eden), but the stream (literally brook) is merely the usual figure of fulness and of blessing. (Hupf.). Further references to the common source of the four arms of that stream or to the stream going forth from Eden to water the garden Gen 2:10 (Hengst., Delitzsch), are not in the text. The figure of receiving drink from a flowing water originates from the idea, that God is the fountain of life and light (Jer 2:13; Jer 17:13; Pro 16:22).
Psa 36:9. For with Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light we see light.The frequent connection of life and light (Ps. 56:14; Job 3:20; Pro 16:15) and the entire context of the present passage show, that here the reference is not to a knowledge of religious truth in the light of revelation (most interpreters), but to an experience which joyously shines through men, when they retain the light of grace (Psa 4:6; Psa 44:3), the light of life proceeding from the face of God; and with this the light of success and of salvation, which threatened to be put out, rises again. Comp. Bttcher de inferis 96.
[Str. IV. Psa 36:10. Loving-kindness.Perowne: For the third time he dwells on this attribute of God, and again associates it as in Psa 36:5-6, with the righteousness of God,loving-kindness (or mercy) and righteousness.
Psa 36:11. Neither let the hand of the wicked drive me away.Hupfeld: Foot and hand are the instruments and figures of violence: the former of treading under foot, of crushing; the latter of thrusting away, hunting away, driving away, namely from the possession of land, thus of banishment.C. A. B.]
Str. V. Psa 36:12. There have the evildoers fallen.Some interpret the preterites in this verse as future and translate, then will fall: this is to be entirely rejected. does not refer to time, but to place=there; and there is no more reference to a promise than to a prayer (Luther). The thought is most natural, that David here refers to a well known historical example (Venema, Clericus, Olsh., Hitzig, Hupf.) as Psa 14:5, in order to instruct and to comfort, or indeed to strengthen the confidence in the certainty of the Divine judgment. This would be expressed by translating them as perfects (Sept., Chald., Jerome). Yet it is admissible to use the present (Syr., Symmach.) and to take the preterite as prophetic (Calvin, Hengst., Delitzsch), because in the prophetic view that which is mentioned previously as sure, may be treated as something that has already happened.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. If a man hardens himself in his sins by impenitence, so that he becomes a wanton and a villain, it goes so far with him, that the entire interior of his heart is taken possession of by wickedness, and a total perversion of true relations occurs. The place of the voice of God in the conscience is taken by wickedness with its suggestions, as the supernatural power determining the man in his religious and moral relations, and it blinds him to such an extent that God has for him no objectivity inspiring respect (Delitzsch); and no thought at all of Divine punishment, especially with reference to himself, comes into his conceited soul, but rather defiance of Gods variance with him is so closely connected with the flattering imaginations of his own security from punishment that he not only speaks wickedly, and devises mischief, but he consciously has departed from rational and good actions, and in bold opposition to the Divine commands, with fearful resoluteness, has taken his position in the way which is not good, because he has killed at once all love to the good with a dead conscience and recognises no longer the blamableness of evil.
2. But if the wicked man is no longer to be terrified by Divine judgments and can be prevented by terror from no wicked act, yet the pious man is not utterly lost. God provides still that the trees should not grow into the heavens. Thither the grace of the Eternal extends, as it comes from thence and the acts of His faithfulness correspond with it. Therefore as the heavens cannot be stormed by the ungodly, no more can they make Him inaccessible to the pious, or prevent the coming of the kingdom of heaven. And still less can they cast down the Divine ordinances in the world. The righteousness of God is as inviolable as the mountains established by Him and His judgments are executed as inevitably as the great flood. But the same God who takes away the wicked in His time, shows Himself to be the Saviour in such a comprehensive sense, that even the irrational beasts, how much more men, stand under His care and Providence.
3. But if the goodness of God is such a precious possession, worth more than all the treasures of the world, the members of the congregation particularly have reason to celebrate it; for although they are indeed poor children of Adam, yet they are not only objects of His care, as all creatures, but they have access to the good things, blessings and joys of His house. The God, who takes His children everywhere with paternal love into the truest protection, and spreads wings over them, the shadow of which protects them against the heat of affliction, here takes His people of priests to His table and provides them with all that they need, not only according to their necessities, but richly and beyond all their prayer and understanding. For in communion with God alone is the true and inexhaustible fountain of life and light. God has not only both in Himself alone in inseparable union, but He alone is at the same time life and light in the highest sense and in everlasting perfection; and from free grace He imparts both in holy interchange in the most blissful perfection (Joh 1:4).
4. He, therefore who desires that the joyful light of everlasting redemption, and a blissful life should rise for him and never be put out, and still further craves that he may be filled more and more with this life and its light, and that it may shine through him to such an extent that he may be glorified by it, must take and keep such a position, that the gracious light of the Divine countenance may shine upon him and the work of grace in imparting life to him from God may be a constant one. The believer may and must pray constantly for the continuance of this work of grace. For it is certain that to be estranged from God is like the darkness of death, and includes loss of salvation and ruin of life. But he who knows God, doubts not of the readiness of God to continue to extend His grace; and he who is of upright heart and just mind, relies upon the work of the Divine righteousness. He may reckon upon it with the confidence of faith, that proud wicked men are yet not supreme and cannot crush him or drive him from the kingdom, house, and inheritance given him by God. But the righteous man with prophetic glance sees them already as lost people, and beholds in spirit their irreparable ruin. They are changed into a field of corpses without the hope of resurrection (Delitzsch) Isa 26:14.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The defiance of the ungodly: 1) whence it originates; 2) in what it asserts itself; 3) how it ends.Gods judgments may be denied but not avoided; it is well for those who have no reason to fear them.Ungodliness a) in its power, b) in its enormity, c) in its weakness.What the righteous have to expect from the ungodly and what they have to expect from God.He who would not fear the defiance of the ungodly must be able a) to conceal himself in the love of God; b) to trust in Gods faithfulness; c) to reckon upon Gods righteousness.The ungodly may threaten to perplex and overturn the whole world by their doings, but he who knows God, traces in the whole world the testimonies of the Divine government.The wicked are ruined forever on account of their wickedness, but the pious have in God an inexhaustible fountain of life, whose light never expires.The refreshments in the house and at the table of God help the pious to overcome all need and anguish in the world.The wicked doings of the ungodly and the blessed gracious condition of the pious.
Starke: Since believers are servants of God on account of their common and their special calling, they should be the more cheerful and willing to faithfully fulfil their duties; the reward of grace will surely follow.The purer and more tender the love to God and His honor, the more sensitive the pain where they must see and hear that which is opposed to this.When men are first brought by the devil to such a state that they put away from them the fear of God; there is no blasphemy too great but that they should be drawn into it.The two employments which worldlings have learned are to do evil, and speak evil and scorn those who do good.No sin is too horrid for a godless mind, that he should abhor itit is all sport to him.Many men are so hardened, that, although others give them good advice, yet they from evil custom reject the best and choose the worst. We should oppose the wrath of Satan and the enmity of the world with the goodness of God, just as we use Gods truth against Satans lies.Wherever we may be, we are yet surrounded by the goodness of God, as the heavens encompass us.There is nothing more precious and valuable to the Christian in heaven or on earth, than the goodness and grace of God, whence all his salvation in time and eternity springs.True Christianity is not a disagreeable thing, but has more joy in it, than can be found in the whole world, although this joy is concealed from the eyes of the world.God can lift up again the poor man who has been cast down to the ground by the proud man; but who can help that man up again, whom God has cast down into the abyss?If we are in the way of life, the hand of God must keep us there, and for this, constant prayer is necessary.
Osiander: As we should pray for our adversaries, as long as there is any hope that they may be brought to repentance, so likewise we may pray against them when they give good evidence that they are entirely and utterly hardened and will never come to repentance and conversion; we should yet take care lest we judge too rashly and too soon and not regard our own revengeful feelings as a holy zeal.Schnepf: The mercy of God is greater than all his works:Menzel: When Gods word is let go, there is no fear of God left.Dauderstadt: Not only the ungodly have falls, but likewise the pious; but the latter arise again, the former not.Bake: When a man leaves off to fear God; no sin is too great for him.Dietelmair: If God is the fountain whence all our joy springs, nothing can prevent our joy.Arndt: In all troubles however high or deep or broad or long they may be, Gods grace and truth are still greater and higher.Tholuck: How gracious must the wing of Divine care be since it includes not only men but even irrational beasts in its broad shadow.Since all good things which men enjoy come from God, the children of God may in fact be sure that they will not be the last to receive them when they are distributed.No one has ever found God except through God.Guenther: When wickedness seems to prevail everywhere, it is only appearance. Gods love and righteousness will rule forever.Diedrich: Those are the true servants of God, to whom God gives the experience of the mysteries of His kingdom, that they may be able to impart them to others.He who has known his treasure in God, has no fear of ever losing it.Taube: The fourfold condition and advance of sin: 1) servitude to sin, 2) security in sin, 3) lying and hypocrisy, 4) hardness and obduracy of heart.
[Matth. Henry: Omissions make way for commissions. When men leave off doing good, leave off praying, leave off their attendance on Gods ordinances, and their duty to Him, the devil easily makes them his agents, his instruments to draw those that will be drawn into sin, and those that will not, to draw them into trouble.If sinners did not steel their hearts, and brazen their faces with obstinacy and impudence, they could not go on in their evil ways, in such a direct opposition to all that is just and good.If Gods mercies were not in the heavens, that is, infinitely above the mercies of any creature, He would long ere this have drowned the world again.Let us not wonder that God gives food to bad men, for He feeds the brute creatures; and let us not fear but that He will provide well for good men.A gracious soul, though still desiring more of God, never desires more than God.The pleasures of sense are stinking puddle water; those of faith are pure and pleasant, clear as crystal, Rev 22:1.Barnes: All away from God is dark; all near Him is light. If therefore we desire light on the subjects which pertain to our salvation, it must be sought by a direct and near approach to Him; and the more we can lose ourselves in the splendors of His throne, the more we shall understand of truth.Faith often converts the promises into reality; and in the bright anticipations and the certain hopes of heaven sings and rejoices as if it were already in our possession,anticipating only by a few short days, weeks, or years, what will certainly be ours.Spurgeon: He hath the devil for his bed-fellow who lies abed and schemes how to sin.Faith derives both light and life from God, and hence she neither dies nor darkens.C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[1][It is better to regard personified ungodliness as the subject of this clause, yet not with the explanation of Delitzsch with regard to the finding, but combined rather with the authors view of the force of and . The translation would then be: He (ungodliness suggesting to him and prompting him) flatters him in his eyes with reference to finding his guilt, to hating (it). That is, ungodliness flatters him that his guilt will not be detected, hated and visited upon him.C. A. B.]
[2][Perowne: The transition from this description of the wicked to the praise of Gods goodness and faithfulness, is certainly very abrupt; and we can feel no surprise that Hupfeld should be inclined to doubt an original connection between the two portions of the Psalm. Yet may we not account for the abruptness by a very natural recoil of feeling? No good man can ever delight to portray the workings of a heart al enated from God. If the evil he sees around him force him for a time to trace it to its hidden source or watch its outward development, with the more joy and thankfulness will he find refuge (see Psa 36:7), from its hideous shadow in the faithfulness and goodness of God.C. A. B.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 557
AWFUL STATE OF UNGODLY MEN
Psa 36:1. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
WHEN we speak of the wickedness of mankind, that command of our Lord is frequently cast in our teeth, Judge not, that ye be not judged. But this command refers to an uncharitable ascribing of good actions to a bad principle; which, as we cannot see the heart, we are by no means authorized to do. But, if it do not authorize us to call good evil, it assuredly does not require us to call evil good. If we see sin, it is no uncharitableness to pronounce it sin: and, if the sin be habitual, it is no uncharitableness to say, that the heart from which it proceeds is bad and depraved. We are told by our Lord, that the tree is to be judged of by its fruit; and that as a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, so neither can a good tree habitually bring forth evil fruit [Note: Mat 7:16-18.]. An error, and even a fault may be committed, without detracting from a persons general character: but a sinful course of life involves in it, of necessity, a corruption of heart, and carries with it, to any dispassionate mind, a conviction that the person who pursues that course has not within him the fear of God. This was the impression made on Davids mind, when he said, The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
In confirmation of this sentiment, I will shew,
I.
How God interprets sin
God views sin not merely as contained in overt acts, but as existing in the soul: and he judges of its malignity, not according to its aspect upon social happiness, but as it bears on himself, and affects his honour. Throughout the whole Sacred Volume, God speaks of it in this view. He represents sin as striking at the relation which subsists between him and his creatures:
1.
As adultery
[He is the Husband of his Church [Note: Isa 54:5.], and claims our entire and exclusive regards [Note: Hos 3:3.]. When these are alienated from him, and fixed on the creature, he calls it adultery [Note: Eze 16:37.]: and hence St. James, speaking of those who sought the friendship of the world, addresses them as adulterers and adulteresses [Note: Jam 4:4.]; because, as the Spouse of Christ, they have placed on another the affections due to him alone.]
2.
As rebellion
[God, as the Governor of the universe, requires us to obey his laws. But sin is an opposition to his will, and a violation of his laws: and therefore God says respecting it, The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be [Note: Rom 8:7.]. Here, let it be observed, it is not the overt act, but the disposition only, that is so characterised: and, consequently, if the very disposition as existing in the soul is an equivocal proof of the wickedness of the heart, much more must the outward act, and especially the constant habit of the life, be considered as a decisive evidence that the soul itself is corrupt.]
3.
As idolatry
[God alone is to be worshipped: and to put any thing in competition with him is to make it an idol. Hence the love of money is called idolatry [Note: Col 3:5.]: and the indulgence of a sensual appetite is to make our belly our god [Note: Php 3:19.]. And hence St. John, having set forth the Lord Jesus as the true God and eternal life, guards us against any alienation of our hearts from him, in these memorable words: Little children, keep yourselves from idols [Note: 1Jn 5:20-21.]. And here let me again observe, it is the disposition, and not any outward act, that has this construction put upon it.]
4.
As downright atheism
[It is represented as a denial of all Gods attributes and perfections. It denies his omnipresence and omniscience; since men, in committing it, say, How doth God know? Can he judge through the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of the heaven [Note: Job 22:13-14. See also Psa 73:11; Psa 94:7.], and is at no leisure to attend to what is done on earth. It denies his justice and his holiness: it says, I shall have peace, though I walk after the imaginations of my heart [Note: Deu 29:19.]. God will never require at my hands what I do [Note: Psa 10:13.]. He will not do good; neither will he do evil [Note: Zep 1:12.]. So far from having any thing to fear from God, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them [Note: Mal 2:17.]. Sin denies yet further the right of God to control us: We are Lords; we will come no more to thee [Note: Jer 2:31.]: Our lips are our own; who is Lord over us [Note: Psa 12:4.]? What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit is there, that we should pray unto him [Note: Job 21:14-15.]? It even denies the very existence of God: The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God [Note: Psa 14:1.]. Hence St. Paul calls us Atheists in the world [Note: Eph 2:12. .]. Men will not say all this with their lips; but it is the language of their lives, and therefore of their hearts.]
Having seen how God interprets sin, and what construction he puts upon it, we are prepared to see,
II.
What interpretation we also should put upon it
No inference was ever more legitimately drawn from the plainest premises, than that which forced itself upon Davids mind, from a view of the ungodly world. And the same conclusion must we also arrive at, from all that we see around us: The transgression of the wicked saith within our hearts that there is no fear of God before their eyes.
1.
There is no sense of Gods presence
[A thief would not steal, if he knew that the eyes of the proprietor were fastened on him: yea, even the presence of a child would be sufficient to keep the adulterer from the perpetration of his intended crimes. But he regards not the presence of Almighty God. If he be out of the sight of any fellow-creature, he saith in his heart, No eye seeth me [Note: Job 24:15.]: never reflecting, that the darkness is no darkness with God, but the night is as clear as the day; the darkness and light to him are both alike [Note: Psa 139:11-12.].]
2.
There is no regard to his authority
[Men will stand in awe of the civil magistrate, who he knows to be an avenger of evil, and that he does not bear the sword in vain. To see to what an extent men stand in awe of earthly governors, conceive in what a state of confusion even this Christian land would be, if only for one single week the laws were suspended, and no restraint were imposed on men beyond that which they feel from a regard to the authority of God: we should not dare to venture out of our houses, or scarcely be safe in our houses, by reason of the flood of iniquity which would deluge the land. And though it is true that every one would not avail himself of the licence to commit all manner of abominations, it is equally true, that it is not Gods authority that would restrain them: for the same authority that says, Do not kill or commit adultery, says, Thou shalt live not unto thyself, but unto Him that died for thee and rose again. And if we be not influenced by it in every thing, we regard it truly in nothing [Note: Jam 2:10-11.].]
3.
There is no concern about his approbation
[If we be lowered in the estimation of our fellow-creatures, how mortified are we, insomuch that we can scarcely bear to abide in the place where we are so degraded. An exile to the remotest solitude would be preferable to the presence or those whose good opinion we have forfeited, But who inquires whether God be pleased or displeased? Who lays to heart the disapprobation which he has excited in his mind, or the record that is kept concerning him in the book of his remembrance? If we preserve our outward conduct correct, so as to secure the approbation of our fellow-creatures, we are satisfied, and care little what God sees within, or what estimate he forms of our character.]
4.
There is no fear of his displeasure
[One would think it impossible that men should believe in a future state of retribution, and yet be altogether careless about the doom that shall be awarded to them. They think that God is merciful, too merciful to punish any one, unless it be, perhaps, some extraordinarily flagrant transgressor. Hence, though they know they are sinners, they never think of repenting, or of changing that course of life which, if the Scriptures be true, must lead them to perdition. Only see the state of the first converts, or of any who have felt their danger of Gods wrath; and then tell me whether that be the experience of the world at large? Where do we see the weeping penitents smiting on their breast, and crying for mercy? Where do we see persons flying to Christ for refuge, as the manslayer fled from the sword of the avenger, that was pursuing him? In the world at large we see nothing of this; nothing, in fact, but supineness and security: so true is the judgment of the Psalmist respecting them, that there is no fear of God before their eyes. The same testimony St. Paul also bears [Note: Rom 3:18.]: and we know that his record is true.]
If, then, Davids views be indeed correct, see,
1.
How marvellous is the forbearance of our God!
[He sees the state of every living man: he sees, not our actions only, but our very thoughts: for he trieth the heart and reins. What evils, then, does he behold in every quarter of the globe! Not a country, a town, a village, a family, no, nor a single soul, exempt from the common malady! all fallen; all enemies in their hearts to God by wicked works! Take but a single city, our own metropolis for instance, and what a mass of iniquity does God behold in it, even in the short space of twenty-four hours! Is it not astonishing that Gods wrath does not break forth against us, even as against Sodom and Gomorrha, to consume us by fire; or that another deluge does not come, to sweep us away from the face of the earth? Dear Brethren, account this long-suffering of our God to be salvation [Note: 2Pe 3:15.], and let it lead every one of you to repentance [Note: Rom 2:4.].]
2.
How unbounded is the love of God, that has provided a Saviour for us!
[Behold, instead of destroying the world by one stroke of his indignation, he has sent us his co-equal and co-eternal Son to effect a reconciliation between him and us, by the sacrifice of himself! Yes, he has so loved the world, as to have given his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life [Note: Joh 3:16.]. He sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, as we might rather have expected; but that the world through him might be saved [Note: Joh 3:17.]. What, then, my beloved Brethren, shall your transgressions say to you? Shall they not say, Avail yourselves of the proffered mercy? Delay not an hour to seek an interest in that Saviour, that so your sins may be blotted out, and your souls be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus? Let this love of God constrain you to surrender up yourselves to him as his redeemed people; and so to walk before him in newness of heart and life, that Christ may be magnified in you, whether by life or death [Note: Php 1:20.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
The Psalmist from his own knowledge here describes the sad state of a fallen nature. He extols the mercy of God. He prays for the continuance of God’s loving kindness, and foretells the ruin of the ungodly.
To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David the servant of the Lord.
Psa 36:1
I never read or saw a commentary upon this verse of scripture, but what referred this knowledge of the heart to anther’s conduct, and not to the Psalmist’s own. As if the transgression of my neighbour told me what the heart of another man saith, and not what passeth within. And it is strange that men should thus read the passage in terms the very reverse of what the passage saith. David saith that this transgression of the wicked speaks in his own heart. And how then should it be supposed to be another man’s? I venture to read the passage literally as it is; and I venture to believe that in doing this the passage describes every truly regenerated Christian’s experience. Reader! do you not think that in that body of sin and death we carry about with us, even the best and holiest of men (like Paul) feel the workings of sin and corruption within? And when this is the case doth it not show, by a believer’s experience in what passeth in his own heart, how plainly the fear of God is banished from the ungodly and unregenerate?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Mystery of Suffering (for Holy Week)
Psa 36:6
I have thought that it may lead up to that climax of all endurance which we shall soon be called upon to measure if, on the days of this Holy Week, we consider ‘Suffering’ under five aspects: ‘The Mystery of Suffering,’ ‘The Consecration of Suffering,’ ‘The Uses of Suffering,’ ‘The Joy of Suffering,’ and ‘The Dignity of Suffering’.
I. Mystery is:
( a ) A necessity. So long as the finite has to do with the Infinite, there must be mystery.
( b ) A boon. It cultivates the two high graces of patience and faith.
( c ) Joy in everything. Half the happiness of the world would be gone if we had not always to do with something beyond it.
II. What a Mystery the Present State of our World is.
( a ) Take a walk through the hospitals.
( b ) See some poor creature, in her wretched hovel, ill and without a friend.
( c ) See that man ready for heaven, yet left there, apparently useless, lying in his agony for years at the gate, before God lets him cross the threshold!
III. But Let us Take the Matter out of its Generalities and Deal with it more Personally.
( a ) There is not one who has not known, or who probably does not know at this moment, some dreadful trouble; or, if he has not any, he knows that he shall have some.
( b ) Now, when suffering of mind or body comes, perhaps the first cry of nature is ‘Why? Why all this for me? Am I worse than others?’
( c ) Mystery answers mystery. It is mystery, in great part, for this very end, that you may say ‘Why?’ and have no answer, no answer but ‘Sovereignty! God’s own absolute, rightful sovereignty!’ ‘What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.’
IV. In all your Home-suffering, Leave and Love the Mystery which gives you concord with Jesus, and all His saints. Do not wish to see all. Do not wish to explain all. It will not be half so useful, nor half so good for you, if you ask questions. Take it in the simplicity of its own magnificence. It is so grand to see only God to be lost in God!
God’s Goodness to Man (A Harvest Sermon)
Psa 36:7
We are here to celebrate our Harvest Festival.
I. First, let us think of the propriety of a Harvest Thanksgiving. Can it be that there are some who need to be reminded that these fruits of the earth, around us, of whatever kind, are emblems of the love and might of God; that they tell of God’s loving provision for the children of men? These things speak to us of the mysteries of growth. They tell us of the wonders of rain and sunshine, and air and soil. They testify to God’s majesty and beneficence.
II. Let us see what God’s Word says as to the celebration of a Harvest Thanksgiving. In plain and unmistakable terms we find there God’s direct command for keeping the Feast of Harvest. Not the least interesting fact in connexion with this feast is the fact that our Lord Himself we find present upon one occasion at the celebration as it was carried on in His day. The Bible plainly shows us, at all events, that Harvest rejoicings and the duty of giving thanks to God for the earth’s produce are as old as man’s sojourn in the world.
III. And what should be the tone of our rejoicings? If we present ourselves at services such as this in the same spirit as that in which we might attend a secular concert, or a secular show, merely to be interested and entertained, it is time that we left the Harvest Festival alone altogether. But if the effect is to lift our hearts in real thankfulness to God for His beneficence, or if the Festival is a true expression of our thanks, then we do well to be present.
IV. The harvest and the field offer an immense sphere for the preacher. There is not a phase of life which they, one or other of them, cannot be taken to illustrate. Our Lord frequently and plentifully drew lessons from both, and, as we have seen, drew out from the harvest rejoicings, two of the mightiest object-lessons that ever the world has listened to. All creation speaks of God’s goodness. If we receive God’s mercies and His bounty in the right spirit, we shall look to Him with loving thankfulness, and a rich sense of safety and security.
The Unlighted Lustre
Psa 36:9
In the life of Sir Walter Scott by Lockhart, there occurs a remark made by Sir Walter that has often come back to me in quiet moments. A reverend gentleman a Principal from St. Andrews was lamenting that he had never seen Byron, and Scott fell to talk on the beauty of Byron’s face. ‘Doctor,’ he said, ‘the prints give you no idea of it; the lustre is there, but it is not lighted up.’ I confess that I have been haunted by that sentence, The lustre is there, but it is not lighted up.
I. Think to begin with of this world we dwell in, with all its beauty of hill and stream and sea. From the lights and shadows of the highland moor down to the droop of the birch-tree at the door, there is such a lustre of glory on the world that to some hearts it is a joy for ever. But for centuries men had no eyes for that, the ancient world had little feeling for it all. Again I think of the Bible. It is the same book in every hand and home. Yet to one man the Bible is the Bible, a book of infinite comfort and power and healing, and to another it is just so many printed pages within two covers that are rarely opened. The lustre is there, but it is not lighted up.
II. So much then for the unlighted lustre, and now a few words on how the lustre is kindled; and here I shall confine myself to human life, for that practically embraces all the rest. ( a ) First then, that is one great gain of responsibility: it is one of God’s ways of lighting up the lustre. Responsibility develops a man’s power, and rouses him into the enthusiasm of activity; it is like the sunlight falling on the seed and making it quicken into leaf and flower. There is a great deal more in you than you give yourself credit for, and this is God’s way of lighting up the lustre. ( b ) Then again this is one of the chief offices of love. A love that is base may set a man afire, but a love that is heavenly sets a man ashining. Dante tells us that but for his love of Beatrice, and the illuminating of his whole nature which it brought him, he would never have been moved to write these poems which are the wonder and the warning of the ages. That then, is one of the great offices of love. It comes like a torch to light the lustre up. ( c ) And then this is one of the meanings of conversion that old and noble mismanaged word. Conversion is the lighting up of our lustre with the spark of God’s Holy Spirit out of heaven. G. H. Morrison, The Unlighted Lustre, p. 30.
References. XXXVI. 9. J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (10th Series), p. 28. P. Brooks, Sermons Preached in an English Church, p. 89. Archbishop Benson, Boy Life, p. 32. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, pp. 292, 311. S. Macnaughton, Real Religion and Real Life, p. 97. XXXVII. International Critical Commentary, vol. i. p. 322. XXXVII. 1. Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons (2nd Series), p. 267. XXXVII. 1, 2. H. Windross, The Life Victorious, p. 255. Parker, The Cavendish Pulpit, p. 193. XXXVII. 3. J. Thomas, Myrtle Street Pulpit, vol. iii. p. 257. J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p. 344. H. Alford, Sermons, p. 213. XXXVII. 3-8. H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii. p. 93.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
PSALMS
XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS
According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS
1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)
The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books
1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship
1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups
1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms
1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms
1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS
A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,
(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;
(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Psa 36:1 To the chief Musician, [A Psalm] of David the servant of the LORD. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, [that there is] no fear of God before his eyes.
A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord ] See Psa 18:1 , title. Then he had well nigh finished his rule, here he is about to begin it, and therefore assumeth this title. Servus est nomen officii, servant is a name of office or duty. Tertullian saith of Augustus (we may better of David), Gratius ei fuit nomen pietatis, quam potestatis, He took more pleasure in names of duty than of dignity; so those heavenly courtiers rejoice rather to be styled angels, that is, messengers, and ministering spirits, than thrones, principalities, powers, &c.
Ver. 1. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart ] Some say it is libbi for libbo, Jod for Vau, and render it within (or in the midst of) his own heart; and so make it the same in sense with Psa 14:1 , but these make too bold with the text (Jerome, Vulgate). David, that zealous servant of God, was fully persuaded of, and deeply affected with, the profligate wickedness of some graceless persons (such as were Saul, and his blood-sucking sycophants malicious accuser ), that they were stark atheists, and had not the least spark of common goodness left in them; that they had neither the fear of God nor shame of the world to rein them in from any outrage. This is mine opinion of them, saith David, I am strongly so conceited, and I will give you my grounds. “I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
This psalm follows up the last in the expression given to the enormous evil of the wicked, but with the comfort of the still richer, deeper, higher, blessedness of what Jehovah is for His own. Why then doubt or fear?
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 36:1-4
1Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart;
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
2For it flatters him in his own eyes
Concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.
3The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;
He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
4He plans wickedness upon his bed;
He sets himself on a path that is not good;
He does not despise evil.
Psa 36:1-4 These verses describe the ungodly (BDB 957).
1. Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his (LXX, MT, my) heart (BDB 833 calls this personified as evil spirit). The verb of transgression/rebellion is used in Psa 37:38; Psa 51:13; Isa 43:27; Isa 59:13; Isa 66:24; Jer 2:8; Jer 2:29; Jer 3:13; Jer 33:8, where it refers to transgression/rebellion among the covenant people. The psalmist lives among a people of unclean lips (cf. Isa 6:5; Isa 6:9-10).
2. There is no fear (i.e., terror, BDB 808) of God before their eyes. Fear of YHWH is admonished in Psa 34:9; Psa 55:19 d. This verse is the concluding text quoted in the list of OT texts which assert the universal sinfulness of all mankind in Rom 3:18.
3. Either personified transgression or the godless person himself lies (smooth talk, BDB 325, KB 322, Hiphil perfect) to himself about his own iniquity.
4. The words of his mouth (which reflects who he is) are
a. wickedness (BDB 19)
b. deceit (BDB 941)
5. He has ceased to
a. be wise (BDB 968, KB 1328, Hiphil infinitive construct)
b. do good (BDB 405, KB 408, Hiphil infinitive construct)
6. He plans wickedness upon his bed (all the verbs of Psa 36:4 are imperfects, denoting ongoing action), cf. Pro 4:16; Mic 2:1.
7. He set himself on a path that is not good. Remember life is characterized as a path, road, way. Each of us must choose which path, cf. Deu 30:15; Deu 30:19; Mat 7:13-14.
8. He does not despise evil.
Even covenant people are tested/tempted (i.e., personified rebellion) but they are still responsible for their choices and the consequences of those choices!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Title, of David = by David.
the servant of the Lord. In the Hebrew text these two words are reversed, and the title stands thus: “Relating to Jehovah’s servant, by David “. This is exactly what it is. His prayer and praise in view of Psalm 22 (see p. 721, and Isa 42:1, &c), in death and resurrection. Psalm 18 is the only other Psalm so entitled.
transgression = rebellion. Hebrew pasha’. App-44.
the wicked = a lawless one. Hebrew rasha’. App-44.
saith : declareth, as an oracle. Hebrew na’am. Compare Jer 23:31 = declareth. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. App-6.
within my heart = within me; “my heart” being put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Part), App-6, for the whole person: i.e. assureth or convinceth me that, &c. Not seeing the Figure of speech, or the force of the Hebrew na’am, many follow the hypothesis of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, and read “his heart”.
there is, &c. Quoted in Rom 3:18.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4. His relation, as Creator, to His creatures. This lawless one knows not Jehovah; and fears not Elohim.
his eyes. Answering to “his heart” in preceding clause.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 36:1-12
Psa 36:1-12 :
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise and to do good. He devises mischief upon his bed; he sets himself in the way that is not good; he does not hate evil. Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures ( Psa 36:1-8 ).
Can you foresee that, “Drinking of the rivers of God’s pleasure”?
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me. There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise ( Psa 36:9-12 ).
And so the psalm you’ll see in the first four verses, David is speaking again of the wicked and his enemies and the things that they were saying against him. And then in verse Psa 36:5 , he turns to God, and to the mercy of the Lord, and the faithfulness of the Lord, and the righteousness of the Lord, and the judgments of the Lord, and the loving-kindness of God. And how blessed are those people who experience God’s mercy and God’s faithfulness and God’s righteousness and His loving-kindness, but they shall be abundantly satisfied, drinking of the river of God’s pleasures. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 36:1-4
MAN’S WICKEDNESS AND GOD’S LOVINGKINDNESS CONTRASTED
There are three divisions in this psalm. “(1) Psa 36:1-4 give the portrait of the wicked man; (2) Psa 36:5-9 paint the Divine goodness; and (3) Psa 36:10-12 have the prayer and an expression of confidence.
There are representatives of some three types of Hebrew poetry in these few verses. “Each of the three parts of this psalm corresponds to a different psalm-type; but there is no need to doubt its unity. “The psalmist uses rough poetic form and language to describe evil, and smooth form and beautiful language for the description of God. However, as Ash pointed out, “Despite the diversity, Psa 36:10-12 tie it together by the inclusion of concepts from both preceding sections; and the unity of the psalm can be argued on this basis.
Nowhere else in the Psalms, “Only here is transgression (or rebellion) personified as an evil spirit who speaks in oracular fashion to the heart of wicked man, thereby filling him with evil.
This is a most interesting picture of a man’s sins speaking to the sinner and deceiving and corrupting him to the destruction of his soul.
The psalm stands, as stated in the superscription, as having been written by David; and there is no basis whatever in the psalm itself for formulating any kind of argument against the Davidic authorship. The exact time or era in which it might have been composed is unknown.
PORTRAIT OF THE WICKED MAN
Psa 36:1-4
“The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,
That his iniquity will not be found out and be hated.
The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit:
He hath ceased to be wise and to do good.
He deviseth iniquity upon his bed;
He setteth himself in a way that is not good;
He abhorreth not evil.”
This paragraph was understood by Delitzsch as, “The complaint of David regarding the moral corruption of his generation. These are reflections of the character of the times, and not of particular circumstances.
The Hebrew text of these four verses is said by many scholars to be damaged and rather ambiguous. Many efforts have been made to solve the translation; but it is probably still doubtful, as indicated by the several marginal alternatives that are suggested in most versions.
The general idea here, however, is certainly clear enough. Sin is personified, and whispers in the heart of the sinner all kinds of inducements for continuation in his evil way. “There is no use to fear God.” “There is no danger in disobeying him.” “Your sins are not going to be discovered and hated.” Such evil counsel is indeed the message of all sin. As DeHoff wrote, “The devil always suggests that there is no danger in disobeying the commandments of God.
“Saith within my heart” (Psa 36:1). The use of the word `my’ here has led some scholars to suppose that David himself was sorely tempted by sin; but this is another one of the difficult problems in the psalm. Paul evidently applied the passage to wicked men generally.
The result of this description of Sin’s (Personified) assault upon the human heart invariably produces in the sinner who allows himself thus to be deceived, a status described by the last half of Psa 36:1, “There is no fear of God before his eyes.” The apostle Paul quoted these words in Rom 3:18, applying them to the judicially hardened generations, both of Jews and Gentiles, who inhabited the earth at the First Advent of our Lord.
Kidner also thought that Paul’s quotation of this passage in the Romans context teaches us that, “We should see this portrait as that of Mankind, but for the Grace of God.
“He flattereth himself in his own eyes” (Psa 36:2). “The sinfulness of the wicked man deludes him into the belief that his wickedness is known to no one but himself. “This self-deception of the wicked is due to his deliberate blindness toward God: he shuts himself up within himself, and, by listening to the smooth words of his own oracle (Sin), persuades himself that he is immune from ultimate disgrace.
“He hath ceased to be wise and to do good” (Psa 36:3). The wicked man described here is not one who never knew the truth, but he is one who has departed from it; and this corresponds exactly with what Paul taught concerning the whole race of wicked men in Rom 1:28 ff.
Psa 36:3-4 describe the evil character of the deceived sinner: he is a liar; his words are evil; he is a deceiver; he is no longer wise; he no longer does good; even on his bed at night, he is scheming up more wickedness; and he no longer hates evil. Indeed, he loves evil.
“He setteth himself in a position that is not good” (Psa 36:4). “Most diligently he takes up his position in the way that leads in the opposite direction from that which is good; his conscience is deadened against evil; there is not a trace of aversion to it to be found in him; he loves it with all of his soul.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 36:1. The pronouns are a little indefinite as to person, but they both refer to the wicked. In their transgressions (which means rebellion), they deny having any fear of God in their hearts.
Psa 36:2. The wicked man coaxed himself into thinking that he was all right. That kind of conduct led him on until his iniquity became hateful.
Psa 36:3. It is significant that the wicked man left off both wisdom and doing good at the same time. The wisest man in this world is one who knows to do good.
Psa 36:4. The antecedent of he is the wicked man of Psa 36:1. In the hour when he is reclining he plans on the mischief he wishes to do on the morrow. Setteth himself in a way denotes that he becomes “set in his ways” of unrighteousness. Paul taught that we should “abhor that which is evil (Rom 12:9),” but the man whom David was considering did not do that. Of course such a man would not hesitate to devise evil plans.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The antithetical nature of this psalm is self-evident. In the first part (verses Psa 36:1-4), the reason and expression of the wickedness of the wicked are described. The one and only reason for transgression is that the fear of God is lost. All evil results therefrom.
In contrast to this the advantages of the remembrance of Jehovah are set forth, first, by a description of certain facts concerning Him. One can easily imagine that the psalm was written on some natural height from which the singer looked out on a far-stretching scene in which he saw symbols of truth concerning his God. Note the sweep of vision. The heavens, the skies or clouds, the mountains, the great deep, the river, and, over all, the light.
There is a fine fitness in the interpretation of suggestiveness. The encompassing blue speaks of lovingkindness; the passing clouds in the mystery of their orderliness, of His faithfulness; the mountains suggest His righteousness from which rivers of pleasure flow to mingle in the deep of His judgments. Of all the abundant and varying life He is the Source or Fountain and the sunshine of His face is the light on everything. All ends with a prayer for the continued safety of the divine care and protection.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
God the Fountain of Life
Psa 36:1-12
The servant of the Lord, as the superscription tells us, is speaking here. He is horror-stricken at the ways and thoughts of the ungodly. By a bold image, Psa 36:1, r.v., margin; Transgression is personified as speaking in the heart of the ungodly, as the Delphic oracle in her dark cave; and the answer from that secret oracle is full of smooth but beguiling words. So our first parents found it.
What a blessed thing it is to turn from man to God! Notice Gods attributes as here enumerated: thy lovingkindness (r.v.), thy faithfulness, thy righteousness, thy judgments. The golden bracelet begins and ends with love. All nature speaks, to the heart that loves, of the love of God. But they who fly to God find Him even better than nature can proclaim. He is better than banquets for hungry men. Let His life arise in thee as a fountain, and ask for the illumination of His light. Serenely sheltered under the wing, or in the house, of God, the soul may look out, unmoved, on the wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
The next Psalm seems to fit in so aptly immediately following the 35th. It is also a Psalm of David. I do not know when he wrote it or under what circumstances, but he evidently had been musing on the different conditions of the wicked and the righteous; and so he undertakes in this Psalm to depict the sad state of the one and the joyous condition of the other. It seems to divide into just three parts. From verse 1 to 4 we have the estate of the wicked: The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. That is the thing that makes for wickedness, when men have absolutely cast off the fear of God. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil. It is a very graphic description of the ungodly. Then in contrast to this we have the goodness of God toward the righteous. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.
While the wicked never find that for which they are seeking, never find peace, never find satisfaction, how different is the state of the righteous! They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. What is the river of Gods pleasures? I think it is really the Holy Spirits testimony to the preciousness of Christ. Did you ever drink of that river? Did you not get a wonderful draught?
Let us trace that river a bit through the Psalms. Look at Psa 46:4, There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. It is that refreshing stream that comes down from heaven to cheer and gladden the souls of those who drink. Then turn to Psa 65:9, Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: Thou preparest them corn, when Thou hast so provided for it. And then you pass from the Psalms and get over to the book of Ezekiel and see that river flowing forth beneath the throne and the altar, the river of blessing to the whole world in millennial days. Then go to the book of Revelation and read, And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:1), that wonderful river of which if a man drinks he lives for ever. Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Rev 22:17). And the fountain of life is the Word of God made good to the soul by the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said to that woman at the well, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him-a fountain-not merely a well as we have it in our version-of water springing up into everlasting life (Joh 4:13-14). David drank of this fountain, and we today who are saved enjoy the same blessing.
In the closing verses we see faith calling on God for complete deliverance, O continue Thy lovingkindness unto them that know Thee; and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me. There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise. And yet perhaps as he wrote that he was still surrounded by his foes, but faith speaks of the things which are not as though they are. I can trust God, and the enemy will have no power against me.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Psa 36:5-7
The chief part of our text sets before us God in the variety and boundlessness of His loving nature, and the close of it shows us man sheltering beneath God’s wings.
I. We have, first, God in the boundlessness of His loving nature. The one pure light of the Divine nature is broken up in the prism of the Psalm into various rays, which theologians call, in their hard, abstract way, Divine attributes. These are “mercy, faithfulness, righteousness.” Then we have two sets of Divine acts: judgments and the preservation of man and beast; and finally we have again “loving-kindness,” as our version has unfortunately been misled, by its love for varying its translation, to render the same word which begins the series and is there called “mercy.” (1) Mercy and loving-kindness mean substantially this: active love communicating itself to creatures that are inferior and that might have expected something else to befall them. This “quality of mercy” stands here at the beginning and the end. It is last as well as first, the final upshot of all revelation. (2) Next to mercy comes faithfulness. God’s faithfulness is, in its narrowest sense, His adherence to His promises. Not only His articulate promises, but His past actions, bind Him. His words, His acts, His own nature, bind God to bless and help. His faithfulness is the expression of His unchangeableness. (3) The next beam of the Divine brightness is righteousness. The notion of righteousness here is that God has a law for His being to which He conforms, and that whatsoever things are fair, and lovely, and good, and pure down here-these things are fair, and lovely, and good, and pure up there; that He is the archetype of all excellence, the ideal of all moral completeness; that we can know enough of Him to be sure that what we call right He loves, and what we call right He practises. (4) God’s judgments are the whole of the ways, the methods, of the Divine government. They are the expressions of His thoughts, and these thoughts are thoughts of good, and not of evil.
II. Look at the picture of man sheltering beneath God’s wings. God’s loving-kindness, or mercy, is precious, for that is the true meaning of the word translated “excellent.” We are rich when we have that for ours; we are poor without it. The last verse tells us how we can make God our own: “They put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.” God spreads the covert of His wing, strong and tender, beneath which we may all gather ourselves and nestle. And how can we do that? By the simple process of fleeing unto Him, as made known to us in Christ our Saviour, to hide ourselves there.
A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 2nd series, p. 211.
Psa 36:6-8
I. The creatures cannot give God intelligent thanks; in their own way they do it, yet not intelligently. But man can give a voice to it. God preserves the beasts as well as the men, and man comes as the high-priest of creation-a sinner, yet encouraged by the grace of life-and gives thanks in creation’s name to Him from whom all good things come.
II. Mark how from the first step, the preservation of man and beast, the Psalmist ascends. Whoever comes near to God in any way must come near to all that is in God; for he comes near to Himself. He comes near to the Preserver, but the Preserver has other characters as well. Thus the Psalmist is led from the consideration of the food which supports temporal life to that which supports spiritual, everlasting life. The loving-kindness of the Lord-on that a soul can feed.
III. “They shall be abundantly satisfied.” In order to satisfaction there are two things needful: that things be satisfying in their nature and that they be satisfying in their quantity. The assurance is here given as regards the house of God that the things are not only of a satisfying nature, but of a satisfying quantity. God is bountiful in the provisions of His providence and in the provisions of His grace.
J. Duncan, The Pulpit and Communion Table, p. 286.
Psa 36:6
(1) Mystery is a necessity. So long as the finite has to do with the infinite, there must be mystery. Every atom in the universe is an ocean into which if you take three steps you are out of your depth. (2) Mystery is more than a necessity. It is a boon. Imagination must have its play, and expectation its scope. And mystery cultivates the two high graces of patience and faith, for you cannot be educated without mystery. (3) Mystery is joy in everything. Half the happiness of life would be gone if we had not always to do with something beyond it.
I. When suffering of mind or body comes, perhaps the first cry of nature is, “Why? Why all this for me? Am I worse than others? Am I made the target of all God’s shafts?” Mystery answers mystery. It is mystery, in great part, for this very end, that you may say, “Why?” and have no answer but “Sovereignty, God’s own absolute, rightful sovereignty!” All the most afflicted servants of God felt great mystery-Abraham when the sun went down, “and lo! an horror of great darkness fell upon him;” and Jacob in that fierce night of supernatural Wrestling; and Moses at the burning bush; and Job in “thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,” etc.
II. Study the Cross. Read all its lessons. Take all its comfortings. In all your suffering, learn to love the mystery which gives you concord with Jesus and all His saints. Do Do not wish to see all. Do not wish to explain all. Stand on the shore of that great sea, and do not try to know all that lies in those depths and all that stretches beyond your little horizon. There are some minds to which mystery is a toil; but as we grow in grace we learn first to bear mystery, then to accept mystery, then to choose mystery.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 13th series, p. 77.
Psa 36:6
In our text God’s righteousness is declared to be like the great mountains. Notice some of the analogies between them.
I. Like them, it is durable. The mountains of the earth have been often employed as emblems of permanence and stability. It is by them that men have sometimes sworn. Sometimes God compares Himself with the mountains, and then we read that “as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever.” Sometimes He contrasts Himself with the mountains, and then we read that “the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but that His kindness shall not depart from His people.” (1) The permanence of God’s righteousness follows of necessity from the inherent unchangeableness of God Himself. (2) His righteousness is exposed to none of the circumstances or accidents which bring peril to the righteousness of man.
II. God’s righteousness is like the great mountains in its mysteriousness. Indeed, it is not only His righteousness, it is Himself, in all the essentiality of His being and perfections, that is a mystery. Faith must come to the aid of reason when we contemplate the righteousness of God as it slowly, but surely, accomplishes its purposes in the government of the world.
III. God’s righteousness is like the great mountains because, like them, it has heights which it is dangerous to climb. We cannot comprehend the higher mysteries of the Gospel; and if we could, it is more than doubtful whether any corresponding benefit could be derived from them. Men can no more live on the high mountains of theology than they can on the high mountains of the earth.
IV. God’s righteousness is like the great mountains because, like them, it is a bulwark and a defence to all who regard it with reverence and faith. While it has heights on which the presumptuous spectator is sure to be lost if he should attempt to climb them, these very heights, if he will remain in the position which God has assigned to him, will be his surest defence and guard. I know of no truth which furnishes a more solid basis for the soul than the righteousness of God as it is revealed in the Scriptures.
E. Mellor, Congregationalist, vol. i., p. 389.
References: Psa 36:6.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 213; E. Mason, A Pastor’s Legacy, p. 145; F. O. Morris, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 337; J. Jackson Wray, Light from the Old Lamp, p. 320; J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. i., p. 184.
Psa 36:7-9
I. In the enjoying of God there is implied a sense of His love and favour. These feelings are not congenial to the mind of fallen man; for he neither loves God, nor places confidence in Him as really interested in the happiness of His creatures. On the contrary, the natural tendency of the human heart is to distrust God and to regard Him as an Enemy. It is only when the soul is enlightened in the knowledge of Christ that the sense of God’s love and favour is shed abroad in the heart and truly realised. The soul, freed from that slavish terror under the influence of which it could only look up to God with suspicion, now rises in affection and desire toward heaven, and the believer regards God as his Father and his Friend.
II. Another element in the enjoying of God is the delightful feeling which His people cherish of His presence with them. The believer not only acknowledges, in the language of the Psalmist, that God compasses his path and is acquainted with all his ways, that there is no escaping from His spirit or fleeing from His presence, but he delights to contemplate Him as present with himself personally, and feels a positive satisfaction in the thought of His presence with him. And the reason is obvious. The presence of God is to him the presence of a Friend.
III. Another element is our being made partakers of a Divine nature. God by His Holy Spirit imparts to His people a resemblance to Himself, working in them all the graces that form the ornament of the Christian character, and bringing their will into a state of conformity to His own blessed will. That is what is usually called having communion with God, and it is the highest glory and happiness of which our nature is susceptible in the present life. In these things lies the chief happiness of man; in these only can the soul find a portion suitable to its immortal nature and its imperishable faculties.
A. D. Davidson, Lectures and Sermons, p. 29.
With God is the well of life; and in His light we shall see light. The first is the answer to man’s hunger after righteousness; the second answers to his thirst after truth.
I. With God is the well of life. In Him is the life thou wishest for. He alone can quicken thee, and give thee spirit and power to fulfil thy duty in thy generation.
II. And so, again, with the thirst after truth. Not by the reading of books, however true, not by listening to sermons, however clever, can we see light, but only in the light of God. Know God. Know that He is justice itself, order itself, love itself, patience itself, pity itself. The true knowledge of God will be the key to all other true knowledge in heaven and earth. As the Maker is, so is His work; if therefore thou wouldest judge rightly of the work, acquaint thyself with the Maker of it, and know first, and know for ever, that His name is love.
C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, No. 2.
References: Psa 36:8.-C. J. Vaughan, Voices of the Prophets, p. 306; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 64.
Psa 36:8-9
In these verses we have a wonderful picture of the blessedness of the godly, the elements of which consist in four things: satisfaction, represented under the emblem of a feast; joy, represented under the imagery of full draughts from a flowing river of delight; life, pouring from God as a fountain; light, streaming from Him as a source.
I. Satisfaction. “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.” Now, I suppose, there is a double metaphor in that. There is an allusion, no doubt, to the festal meal of priests and worshippers in the Temple on the occasion of the peace-offering; and there is also the simpler metaphor of God as the Host at His table, at which we are guests. The plain teaching of the text is that by the might of a calm trust in God the whole mass of a man’s desires are filled and satisfied. God, and God alone, is the food of the heart. God, and God alone, will satisfy your need.
II. Notice the next of the elements of blessedness here: joy. “Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.” There may be a possible reference here, couched in the word “pleasures,” to the garden of Eden, with the river that watered it parting into four heads; for “Eden” is the singular of the word which is here translated “pleasures” or “delights.” The teaching of the text is that the simple act of trusting beneath the shadow of God’s wings brings to us an ever-fresh and flowing river of gladness, of which we may drink. All real and profound possession of, and communion with, God in Christ will make us glad-glad with a gladness altogether unlike that of the world round about us, far deeper, far quieter, far nobler, the sister and ally of all great things, of all pure life, of all generous and lofty thought.
III. We have the third element of the blessedness of the godly represented under the metaphor of life, pouring from the fountain, which is God. The words are true in regard of the lowest meaning of life, “physical existence;” and they give a wonderful idea of the connection between God and all living creatures. Wherever there is life, there is God. The creature is bound to the Creator by a mystic bond and tie of kinship, by the fact of life. But the text does not refer merely to physical existence, but to something higher than that, namely, to that life of the spirit in communion with God which is the true and proper sense of life, the one, namely, in which the word is almost always used in the Bible.
IV. “In Thy light shall we see light.” The reference is to the spiritual gift which belongs to the men who “put their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.” In communion with Him who is the Light as well as the Life of men, we see a whole universe of glories, realities, and brightnesses. (1) In communion with God, we see light upon all the paths of duty. (2) In the same communion with God, we get light in all seasons of darkness and sorrow. “To the upright there ariseth light in the darkness,” and the darkest hours of earthly fortune will be like a Greenland summer night, when the sun scarcely dips below the horizon, and even when it is absent all the heaven is aglow with a calm twilight.
A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 2nd series, p. 227.
Psa 36:9
I. It is quite certain that we see nothing by that which is in the object itself. We see it by that which falls on it from above. And this process of seeing everything by a communicated light must go on and on till we arrive at a primary light, and that light alone shows itself. It cannot be known by anything external to itself; it is its own expositor. Such is God. We can only know God by Himself. The means whereby we see God are within God. “In Thy light shall we see light.” The Bible mirrors the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost mirrors the Son, the Son mirrors the Father, and we know God. And all through the principle is the same, and the rule is absolute-we know God by Himself. “In the light of Thine own being shall we see light.”
II. Take the general law that everything is to us just what God is to us. It is the presence or the absence, the nearness or the distance, of God which makes it happy or unhappy, injurious or beneficial. Its complexion all depends on the God that is in it. There may be much beauty, but we shall not find it out till He makes it known to us. “In Thy light shall we see light.”
III. This is specially true in sickness and sorrow. God loves to show what His light is by making it burn where all around is very dark. Watch; if you can only see it, there is already a line upon the cloud. The day-star is risen, and soon it will all come in its own order-a twilight, a breaking, a fleeing away of the shadows, a mounting of the sun in your heart higher and higher, a merry warmth, a meridian splendour.
IV. The power of everything, the soul of everything, is its light. In God’s triple empire it is all one Light, and the Light is Christ. As on that fourth day of creation God gathered up all the scattered particles that played in the new-made firmament and treasured them in the sun, so in the four thousandth year of our world did He concentrate all light into Christ. That is light’s unity, and thence it flows through nature, grace, and glory, and light is trinity.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 10th series, p. 28.
We have in these words the significant declaration that God, the fountain of the true and highest life, is known by men in no other than His own light, as the sun is contemplated in no other resplendence than that which streams forth to us from itself. Faith in the living God as He reveals Himself is the light of all our knowledge.
I. Take, first, the problem of the world. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” There is not a truer word than this in the Bible. Believing is not knowing, it is true; but yet belief, duly enlightened and confirmed, leads to a knowledge and science certainly very different in its nature from that which we arrive at by the process of reasoning and observation, but not on that account of a lower degree of certainty; and the science which begins by abandoning this faith is condemned by an inexorable judgment of God, at a certain point, earlier or later, either to be reduced to silence or to enter on the path of error.
II. The conception of God-who shall satisfactorily determine it? or does not your confession ultimately come to this: God is great, and we comprehend Him not? Yet He has written His monogram deep on every conscience, and all the heavens cry aloud of His glory. But nature conceals God as well as reveals Him. The impure conscience compels man to flee from his Maker, and thus leads the darkened intellect upon the path of error. The Son of God has given us understanding that we may know Him that is true; to His disciples it is granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
III. The heart of man. Man remains in the end the greatest enigma to himself. The Bible is just as little a handbook of natural science as of the science of man. Yet this memorial of the Divine revelation of salvation has afforded more satisfactory contributions to the solution of this problem also than the varying systems of all philosophers and psychologists together. The key to the mystery of humanity lies within those sacred pages which testify of sin and grace.
IV. But though the great word of reconciliation has been spoken, what avails it so long as the conflict of life continues so terribly to rage, and to demand so many victims? The old proverb is true that man has a warfare upon earth, a warfare which begins with his birth and usually ends only with death. Wondrous fact that He who reconciles man to God reconciles him also to life, to conflict, to the most bitter grief, and teaches him something higher than subjection-teaches him the secret of a joy which sings psalms even in the deepest night!
V. Only one question remains: the question as to the final triumph of the conflict of the ages. God’s world-plan-what know ye of it who place faith as a blind beggar outside the crystal palace of your science? To us it has been made known, this mystery of God’s good pleasure to gather all things together under Christ as Head. To subserve the coming of His kingdom, men’s spirits struggle, and the nations rage, and the ages revolve, and the discords follow each other, but at last to be resolved into one prophetic voice, “Maranatha, Jesus comes.”
J. Van Oosterzee, Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., pp. 483, 555.
David saw the world all full of seekers after light; he was a seeker after light himself. What he had discovered, and what he wanted to tell men, was that the first step in a hopeful search after light must be for a man to put himself into the element of light, which was God. The first thing for any man to do who wanted knowledge was to put himself under God, to make himself God’s man, because both he who wanted to know and that which he wanted to know had God for their true element, and were their best and did their best only as they lived in Him. Notice three or four facts concerning human knowledge which seem to give their confirmation to the doctrine of the old Hebrew singer’s song.
I. First stands the constant sense of the essential unity of knowledge. All truth makes one great whole, and no student of truth rightly masters his own special study unless he at least constantly remembers that it is only one part of the vast unity of knowledge, one strain in the universal music, one ray in the complete and perfect light.
II. A second fact with regard to human knowledge is its need of inspiration and elevation from some pure and spiritual purpose.
III. Another characteristic of the best search after wisdom is the way in which it awakens the sense of obedience.
IV. Closely allied to this fact is the constant tendency which knowledge has always shown to connect itself with moral character. The combination of these consciousnesses makes, almost of necessity, the consciousness of God. As they are necessary to the search for light, so is the God in whom they meet the true Inspirer and Helper of the eternal search.
Phillips Brooks, Sermons Preached in English Churches, p. 89.
Psa 36:9
I. The frequent occurrence of these two images in conjunction, in tacit, unemphatic passages, shows us how deeply the symbols and their meaning too had sunk into the heart of the nation. But they were at last to receive their full, precise, and definite interpretation-an interpretation which should bring the life and light of God home to every man, and show him, not merely that far off in heaven light and life existed, but that they were brought close to every one’s home, not merely that the well of life was with God, as the Psalmist knew, but that it rose and ran close by the ways of man, not merely that “we shall see light” in distant years, but that there is for us One that is the Light of the world, which whoso followeth shall not walk in darkness.
II. Look at what our Lord says about the living water of life. “On the last day, that great day of the feast”-just perhaps after the priest had poured the water from his ewer, while the crowds were still undispersed-“Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.” The water in the Temple was not drunk, only poured out. But Jesus returns at once to the rock which was the meaning of the ceremony, and to the old scene in the desert when the thirsting congregation wished to drink of the clear, outflowing tide. “If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.” Drink what? That which the ancient water signified: life, and strength, and purity. Innocence restored, strength attained, life assured-all these are in the draught which He places at your lips. Once drink of Christ’s spirit really, and it shall rise and flow from your own lips, full of freshness, full of progress. To the Christian moralist alone of all moralists the lessening of fault, the growth of perfection, can bring no vanity, for he alone knows that it is not of himself he lives, that the life of Christ is his only life.
Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 32.
References: Psa 36:9.-J. Vaughan, Old Testament Outlines, p. 109; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, pp. 292, 311; S. Macnaughton, Real Religion and Real Life, p. 97.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Psalm 36
Contrasts
1. What the wicked is and does (Psa 36:1-4)
2. What Jehovah is and does (Psa 36:5-9)
3. Prayer and trust in His loving kindness (Psa 36:10-12)
The wicked are described in their wickedness, with sin in the heart, no fear of God; filled with pride and flattery, speaking evil and doing evil. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived (2Ti 3:13). This is the divine forecast for the last days and these opening verses of this psalm show the wicked of the last days. But what a Lord He is whom they do not fear! What a contrast! And the righteous know His mercy, His faithfulness, His righteousness and His judgment. Only good is in store from His side for those who trust in Him. His lovingkindness is excellent, He covers them with the shadow of His wings, He satisfies them abundantly with the fatness of His house. Such will be the hope and comfort of the godly when the wicked wax worse and worse, till the day comes when the workers of iniquity shall fall, unable to rise again.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
servant: Psa 18:1, Psa 90:1, *titles Psa 143:12, Deu 34:5, 2Ti 2:24, Tit 1:1, Jam 1:1, 2Pe 1:1, Jud 1:1, Rev 1:1
The transgression: Or, rather, “The speech of transgression to the wicked is within his heart: there is no fear of God before his eyes;” for instead of libbi, “my heart,” four manuscripts, have libbo, “his heart,” which is also the reading of the LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Anglo-Saxon. 1Sa 15:13, 1Sa 15:14, Pro 20:11, Mat 7:16-20, Mat 12:33, Mat 12:34, Tit 1:16
no: Psa 112:1, Gen 20:11, Pro 8:13, Pro 16:6, Ecc 12:13, Rom 3:18
Reciprocal: Deu 25:18 – feared 1Sa 18:22 – commanded Job 1:8 – one Job 6:14 – he forsaketh Job 15:4 – castest off Psa 5:9 – For Psa 14:1 – They are Psa 19:9 – The fear Psa 54:3 – they have Psa 86:14 – and have Jer 2:19 – and that my Jer 36:24 – they Hos 5:4 – They will not frame their doings Mal 3:5 – fear Luk 23:40 – Dost Act 8:21 – for Rev 14:7 – Fear
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
GUILT!
My heart showeth me the wickdness of the ungodly: that there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own sight: until his abominable sin be found out.
Psa 36:1-2 (Prayer Book Version)
The word guilt, like the German schuld, means a debt. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon verb gildan, to pay. How natural the metaphor is we may see from the fact that our Lord chose it in the parable of the unforgiven debtor; and in the Lords Prayer He taught us to say, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. So, too, the metaphor for a mans redemption is apodosis, the payment of a debt. A guilty man is a man who, being justly chargeable with some crime, has a penalty to pay, either to the laws of his country or to the eternal laws of God, or to both. All have sinned. How does God awaken men from their trance and dream of security?
In various ways. I would ask you to mark them.
I. Sometimes by irretrievable failure in the one high wish or noble end of a mans wasted life.When haply you shall desire to accomplish some worthy end, that your life may not be wholly in vain, it may be that words of warning will come back across your mind like a driving gloom, and your fate shall be like that of the young knight seeking the Holy Grail to whom, as everything slipped into ashes before him at a touch, then
Every evil word I had spoken once,
And every evil thought I had thought of old,
And every evil deed I ever did,
Awoke and cried, This Quest is not for thee.
II. And sometimes Gods awakening punishment of guilt comes, not by irretrievable failure from without, but by blighting misery from within.Tiberius wrote to his Senate in these words: Fathers, may all the gods and goddesses destroy me more utterly than I feel that they are daily destroying me if I know what to do or whither to turn. Yes! if no outward punishment at all befall the guilty, they are still made their own executioners, and they put into their own souls the fury and the scourge.
III. And, thirdly, God sometimes awakens guilt by detection.I have no time to dwell on its strange unexpectedness, on its inevitable certainty; but, O guilty soul which hearest me and hast not repented, be sure thy sin will find thee out. In our National Gallery you may see a very popular picture, of which one incident is a detective laying his hand on the shoulder of an escaped felon as he steps into a first-class carriage. The mans face is ghastly as ashes and distorted with terror. Critics called the picture exaggerated, the incident melodramatic. The painter himself told me that those who were familiar with such scenes had assured him that every detail was true to the reality when, slow Justice having overtaken a man at last, he finds that her hand is iron and that her blow is death.
IV. And, fourthly, God sometimes awakens men from the intoxication of guilt by natural retributive consequences, all the brood of calamity fatally resembling their parent sin.The awakening may long be delayed. To-day may be like yesterday, and to-morrow like to-day; yet one day will come for all sinners, and then woe, woe, woe! and nothing but darkness.
V. And sometimes, again, God awakens men from guiltand I know not whether this be not the most terrible punishment of allby simply leaving them to themselves, and suffering their sins to swell into their own natural developments.God lets a man eat of the fruit of his own way, and be filled with his own devices. The youth grows up into a man the very thought of whom he would once have repudiated with abhorrence.
VI. And, sometimes, lastly, God awakens men from sin by death.I believe that the vast majority of suicides have their origin in this remorse for guilt, or horror of its consequences.
Dean Farrar.
Illustration
The mind of man is a reflecting telescope. The heart is the mirror. The poet finds there a representation of the transgressor. As common in Hebrew poetry, the description is sevenfold(1) practical atheism, (2) self-flattery, (3) false speech, (4) the loss of power to know the right, (5) evil imagination, (6) a course of doing what is not good, and (7) an acceptance of evil. There is possibly a gradation here. But assuredly by these seven bold strokes there is outlined a terrible portrait of a sinner. No special act is mentioned. It is for the most part the inner life of darkness that is described. The light of the fear of God is gone, and with it the power to understand what is right, and to see conduct in a true light. It is a portrait the lurid colours of which become more evident when carefully studied. Nor is there any mention of judgments or of punishment. The evil is hateful on its own account. It is no superficial view. It reveals a profound knowledge of human nature, going deeper than acts. It is a pre-libation of the morality of Jesus Christ, showing that the inner life of thought and feeling, of darkness and light within, is the true man. This oracle of the transgression of wicked man is not the work of an ordinary observer. For real acquaintance with human nature as it is, broken and befouled by the fall, it would be difficult to find a description that can surpass this.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
The alienation of the wicked from God contrasted with Him in whom the sons of men take refuge.
To the chief musician: [a psalm] of David, the servant of Jehovah.
The thirty-sixth psalm is a yet more simple one. It is by David, specially marked here as the servant of Jehovah,” looking at the condition of those who refuse that pleasant service, and putting in contrast with their infatuation the blessedness of those who find their refuge and satisfaction in His abundant goodness. The last three verses pray for the continuance of this blessedness, and foresee the casting down of the wicked, without power to rise again.
There are twelve verses to the psalm, but quite exceptional in their division as such; nor can I at present give any reason for this.
1. Four verses give us the complete description of the wicked: Godward, self-ward, in his words, and in his ways. His revolt -his lawlessness -is (literally) as a divine utterance, an oracle, within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. And as, where God is hidden, we may be sure it is self that hides Him, so it is that with the poorest flattery that can be, he flattereth himself; to find surely at last the evil of his success, and the iniquity he has loved, to be really hateful. His words, which are here, as always, the index of the heart, are necessarily therefore vanity and deceit. The wisdom that has become discredited with him he has left off, and with it the well-doing which is its sure accompaniment, and assurance for what it is. The folly he has planned upon his bed -at the very time when naturally there would be most sobriety -he carries out in a way that is not good, but which is good to him, for “he abhorreth not evil.” There the description ends: the principles are given of his life; all else would be only detail.
2. All this is the result of departure from God; the psalmist, therefore, turns now to speak of God -this God from whom men depart. What is He, that they should do this? do it so simply and naturally, as a thing of course? God! His mercy is in the heavens, -that is, the bounteous goodness which, for Him, is but what His relationship to His creatures implies, and which sun and moon in the heavens preach of daily. His mercy is His faithfulness, firmer than, while expressed in, those laws which bind those glowing orbs to their constant and beneficent circuit. The mountains and the deep, again, speak variously of His stable righteousness and His judgments which are deep -no wonder: for the care of the whole earth is His; man and beast both He blesses and preserves. But for the sons of men alone there is nearer intimacy, the shadow of fostering wings under which they take refuge, blessed and blessing Him who has thus brought them nigh. With the provision of His house He satisfies them, -the world being but this for those who realize His gracious presence in it, His government of it, the treasures with which He has filled it. He makes them to drink of the river of His own pleasures, lifting them up thus to communion with Himself. For with Him is the fountain of creature life; and the light which gives light as to everything is from Himself alone.
3. In the sense of all this, the psalmist commits himself, and all with whom he is linked, to God. He prays for the continuance of this bounteous mercy to those who know Him, and His righteousness to the upright. In the necessary conflict with evil, he prays for deliverance from the foot of pride and the hand of the wicked. And he foresees the necessary collapse of the workers of vanity; an overthrow as complete as final.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Psa 36:1-2. The transgression of the wicked saith, &c. When I consider the great and manifold transgressions of ungodly men, I conclude, within myself, that they have cast off all fear and serious belief of the Divine Majesty. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes He deceiveth himself with vain and false persuasions, that God does not notice or mind his sins, or that he will not punish them. Until his iniquity be found to be hateful That is, until God, by some dreadful judgment, undeceive him, and find, or make him and others to find by experience, that his iniquity is abominable and hateful, and therefore cannot, and does not, escape a severe punishment. The last day, says Dr. Horne, will show strange instances of this folly.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 36:1. There is no fear of God before his eyes. David had some particular or general character of a wicked man before his eyes; a man who flattered himself as bearing an appearance of wisdom and virtue, till his real character was developed by his actions. Then he ceased to be accounted either wise or good.
Psa 36:5. Thy mercy, oh Lord, is in the heavens, from which the sun and the rain descend in every token of mercy to man, and to the beasts of the earth.
Psa 36:6-7. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, which nothing can remove. It is neither the roaring of the seas, nor the shaking of the tempest that can obstruct the constant streams of goodness that flow from thine inexhaustible fulness. Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. The latter words are expletive of the former; which is generally so in the metaboles, which abound in the psalms.
Psa 36:8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. The peace-offerings of sheep and oxen, with cakes and wine, suggested this idea of spiritual and intellectual delight. When God is adored in the happy and appropriate language of prayer; when the law and the prophets are expounded, in connection with every associate idea of providence and grace, the soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and delights to dwell in his courts. The garden of God is irrigated with rivers of pleasure, for with him is the fountain of life, ever flowing in plenitude of divine enjoyment.
Psa 36:9. In thy light shall we see light. Life and light are here happily associated, as in the new testament; for this is life eternal to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. It is in his light that we see the way of happiness opened; it is in his light that we see future glory disclosed; it is in his light that we see with open face, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, and walk in the light as he is in the light.
This is an alphabetical psalm, with three exceptions, at Psalm 36:29, 32, 39. It bears the inscription of David, and is designed to console the mind when labouring under strong temptations.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
XXXVI. We have here two Pss. or fragments of two Pss.: A, Psa 36:1-4 and possibly Psa 36:12, and B, Psa 36:5-11.
XXXVI. A. Psa 36:1-4. A denunciation of wicked Jews, who might well be in terror of Yahweh but are not. The general sense seems to be that as God inspires His prophets, so wickedness personified inspires sinners with a false confidence. The sinner thinks that he has made everything smooth for his own interests and need not fear that God will discover and hate his iniquity.
Psa 36:1 f. The text is very doubtful. We may perhaps emend (cf. LXX) and render: Thus saith the inspiration of the transgressor, My inmost heart is set on doing evil. And be hated can scarcely be right and may be a misplaced gloss.
XXXVI. B. Psa 36:5-11. Yahwehs Loving-kindness.
Psa 36:6. mountains of God: i.e. on which God dwells. See Eze 28:14.a great deep: i.e. like the great deep which surrounded and bore up the earth (Gen 1:6 f.). Note the universalism; Yahweh preserves men as such, not merely Jews; all nations are to worship in the Temple.
Psa 36:9 b. The light of Gods favour makes all our lives full of light and joy.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
PSALM 36
The character of the wicked contrasted with God and the blessedness of those who trust in God.
(vv. 1-4) The psalm opens with a description of the wicked. Their known character makes it impossible to trust in their statements. Their lives show that they act without fear of God; their boastful words, even when their iniquity is found to be hateful (JND), prove they have no conscience before men.
(vv. 5-7) In contrast to the wicked, the known character of God invites the fullest confidence of the sons of men. The heavens, with the sun and moon, are a continual witness to the mercy of God (Mat 5:45). The faithfulness of God to His own Word is witnessed by the bow in the cloud (Gen 9:16). His righteousness is as stable as the mountains, and His judgments are as profound as a great deep. God’s preserving care is over all His creatures – man and beast.
Moreover His loving-kindness has been revealed to man. Therefore, in spite of their sin, the children of men can put their trust under the shadow of His wings.
(vv. 8-9) The blessedness of those who put their confidence in God. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of His house; they will drink of the river of His pleasure – all the blessings that God has purposed in His heart for man. In His light they see light – the light of all that God is gives light to all else, for those that are in the light.
(vv. 10-12) A prayer for the continuance of His loving-kindness to those that know God; for preservation from the wicked who, it is foreseen, will fall to rise no more.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
36:1 [To the chief Musician, [A Psalm] of David the servant of the LORD.] The transgression of the wicked saith {a} within my heart, [that there is] no fear of God before his eyes.
(a) I see evidently by his deeds, that sin pushes forward the reprobate from wickedness to wickedness, even though he goes about to cover his impiety.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Psalms 36
This primarily wisdom psalm, with elements of individual lament and praise, contains an oracle that David received from the Lord concerning the wicked. In contrast to them, he rejoiced in the loyal love and righteousness of God. One writer titled his exposition of this psalm, "Man at His Worst, God at His Best." [Note: Armerding, p. 76.]
"This is a psalm of powerful contrasts, a glimpse of human wickedness at its most malevolent, and divine goodness in its many-sided fullness. Meanwhile the singer is menaced by the one and assured of victory by the other. Few psalms cover so great a range in so short a space." [Note: Kidner, p. 145.]
"The coexistence of three literary types within a poem of thirteen verses points up the limitations of the form-critical approach to the Psalter." [Note: Dahood, 1:218.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Revelation concerning the wicked 36:1-4
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The NIV translation, "An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked," is preferable. That of Leupold is even clearer: "A divine oracle about transgression has been heard in my heart with reference to the wicked." [Note: Leupold, p. 293.] An oracle is a message from God. The Lord had given His prophet special revelation concerning how the wicked look at life and how they live. They do not dread (Heb. pahad, rather than yirah, the usual word for "fear") the Lord. That is, they feel no uneasiness as they should since God will judge them for their sins. This is the climactic characteristic of sin in Rom 3:18.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 36:1-12
THE supposition that the sombre picture of “the wicked” in Psa 36:1-4 was originally unconnected with the glorious hymn in Psa 36:5-9 fails to give weight to the difference between the sober pace of pedestrian prose and the swift flight of winged poetry. It fails also in apprehending the instinctive turning of a devout meditative spectator from the darkness of earth and its sins to the light above. The one refuge from the sad vision of evil here is in the faith that God is above it all, and that His name is Mercy. Nor can the blackness of the one picture be anywhere so plainly seen as when it is set in front of the brightness of the other. A religious man, who has laid to heart the miserable sights of which earth is full, will scarcely think that the psalmists quick averting of his eyes from these to steep them in the light of God is unnatural, or that the original connection of the two parts of this psalm is an artificial supposition. Besides this, the closing section of prayer is tinged with references to the first part, and derives its raison detre from it. The three parts form an organic whole.
The gnarled obscurity of the language in which the “wicked” is described corresponds to the theme, and contrasts strikingly with the limpid flow of the second part. “The line, too, labours” as it tries to tell the dark thoughts that move to dark deeds. Psa 36:1-2 unveil the secret beliefs of the sinner, Psa 36:3-4 his consequent acts. As the text stands, it needs much torturing to get a tolerable meaning out of Psa 36:1, and the slight alteration, found in the LXX and in some old versions, of “his heart” instead of “my heart” smooths the difficulty. We have then a bold personification of “Transgression” as speaking in the secret heart of the wicked, as in some dark cave, such as heathen oracle-mongers haunted. There is bitter irony in using the sacred word which stamped the prophets utterances, and which we may translate oracle, for the godless lies muttered in the sinners heart. This is the account of how men come to do evil: that there is a voice within whispering falsehood. And the reason why that bitter voice has the shrine to itself is that “there is no fear of God before” the mans “eyes.” The two clauses of Psa 36:1 are simply set side by side, leaving the reader to spell out their logical relation. Possibly the absence of the fear of God may be regarded as both the occasion and the result of the oracle of Transgression, since, in fact, it is both. Still more obscure is Psa 36:2 Who is the “flatterer”? The answers are conflicting. The “wicked,” say some, but if so, “in his own eyes” is superfluous; God, say others, but that requires a doubtful meaning for “flatters”-namely, “treats gently”-and is open to the same objection as the preceding in regard to “in his own eyes.” The most natural supposition is that transgression, which was represented in Psa 36:1 as speaking, is here also meant. Clearly the person in whose eyes the flattery is real is the wicked, and therefore its speaker must be another. “Sin beguiled me,” says Paul, and therein echoes this psalmist. Transgression in its oracle is one of “those juggling fiends that palter with us in a double sense,” promising delights and impunity. But the closing words of Psa 36:2 are a crux. Conjectural emendations have been suggested, but do not afford much help. Probably the best way is to take the text as it stands, and make the best of it. The meaning it yields is harsh, but tolerable: “to find out his sin, to hate” (it?). Who finds out sin? God. If He is the finder, it is He who also hates; and if it is sin that is the object of the one verb, it is most natural to suppose it that of the other also. The two verbs are infinitives, with the preposition of purpose or of reference prefixed. Either meaning is allowable. If the preposition is taken as implying reference, the sense will be that the glossing whispers of sin deceive a man in regard to the discovery of his wrong doing and Gods displeasure at it. Impunity is promised, and Gods holiness is smoothed down. If, on the other hand, the idea of purpose is adopted, the solemn thought emerges that the oracle is spoken with intent to ruin the deluded listener and set his secret sins in the condemning light of Gods face. Sin is cruel, and a traitor. This profound glimpse into the depths of a soul without the fear of God is followed by the picture of the consequences of such practical atheism, as seen in conduct. It is deeply charged with blackness and unrelieved by any gleam of light. Falsehood, abandonment of all attempts to do right, insensibility to the hallowing influences of nightly solitude, when men are wont to see their evil more clearly in the dark, like phosphorous streaks on the wall, obstinate planting the feet in ways not good, a silenced conscience which has no movement of aversion to evil-these are the fruits of that oracle of Transgression when it has its perfect work. We may call such a picture the idealisation of the character described, but there have been men who realised it, and the warning is weighty that such a uniform and all-enwrapping darkness is the terrible goal towards which all listening to that bitter voice tends. No wonder that the psalmist wrenches himself swiftly away from such a sight!
The two strophes of the second division (Psa 36:5-6 and Psa 36:7-9) present the glorious realities of the Divine name in contrast with the false oracle of Psa 36:1-2, and the blessedness of Gods guests in contrast with the gloomy picture of the “wicked” in Psa 36:3-4. It is noteworthy that the first and last-named “attributes” are the same. “Lovingkindness” begins and ends the glowing series. That stooping, active love encloses, like a golden circlet, all else that men can know or say of the perfection whose name is God. It is the white beam into which all colours melt, and from which all are evolved. As science feels after the reduction of all forms of physical energy to one, for which there is no name but energy, all the adorable glories of God pass into one, which He has bidden us call love. “Thy lovingkindness is in the heavens,” towering on high. It is like some Divine aether, filling all space. The heavens are the home of light. They arch above every head; they rim every horizon; they are filled with nightly stars; they open into abysses as the eye gazes; they bend unchanged and untroubled above a weary earth; from them fall benedictions of rain and sunshine. All these subordinate allusions may lie in the psalmists thought, while its main intention is to magnify the greatness of that mercy as heaven high.
But mercy standing alone might seem to lack a guarantee of its duration, and therefore the strength of “faithfulness,” unalterable continuance in a course begun, and adherence to every promise either spoken in words or implied in creation or providence, is added to the tenderness of mercy. The boundlessness of that faithfulness is the main thought, but the contrast of the whirling, shifting clouds with it is striking. The realm of eternal purpose and enduring act reaches to and stretches above the lower region where change rules.
But a third glory has yet to be flashed before glad eyes, Gods “righteousness,” which here is not merely nor mainly punitive, but delivering, or, perhaps in a still wider view, the perfect conformity of His nature with the ideal of ethical completeness. Right is the same for heaven as for earth, and “whatsoever things are just” have their home in the bosom of God. The point of comparison with “the mountains of God” is, as in the previous clauses, their loftiness, which expresses greatness and elevation above our reach; but the subsidiary ideas of permanence and sublimity are not to be overlooked. “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but His righteousness endures forever.” There is safe hiding there, in the fastnesses of that everlasting hill. From character the psalmist passes to acts. and sets all the Divine dealings forth under the one category of “judgments,” the utterances in act of His judicial estimate of men. Mountains seem highest and ocean broadest when the former rise sheer from the waters edge, as Carmel does. The immobility of the silent hills is wonderfully contrasted with the ever-moving sea, which to the Hebrew was the very home of mystery. The obscurity of the Divine judgments is a subject of praise, if we hold fast by faith in Gods lovingkindness, faithfulness, and righteousness. They are obscure by reason of their vast scale, which permits the vision of only a fragment. How little of the ocean is seen from any shore! But there is no arbitrary obscurity. The sea is “of glass mingled with fire”; and if the eye cannot pierce its depths, it is not because of any darkening impurity in the crystal clearness, but simply because not even light can travel to the bottom. The higher up on the mountains men go, the deeper down can they see into that ocean. It is a hymn, not an indictment, which says, “Thy judgments are a great deep.” But however the heights tower and the abysses open, there is a strip of green, solid earth on which “man and beast” live in safe plenty. The plain blessings of an all-embracing providence should make it easier to believe in the unmingled goodness of acts which are too vast for men to judge and of that mighty name which towers above their conceptions. What they see is goodness; what they cannot see must be of a piece. The psalmist is in “that serene and blessed mood” when the terrible mysteries of creation and providence do not interfere with his “steadfast faith that all which he beholds is full of blessings.” There are times when these mysteries press with agonising force on devout souls, but there should also be moments when the pure love of the perfectly good God is seen to fill all space and outstretch all dimensions of height and depth and breadth. The awful problems of pain and death will be best dealt with by those who can echo the rapture of this psalm.
If God is such, what is mans natural attitude to so great and sweet a name? Glad wonder, accepting His gift as the one precious thing, and faith sheltering beneath the great shadow of His outstretched wing. The exclamation in Psa 36:8, “How precious is Thy lovingkindness!” expresses not only. its intrinsic value, but the devout souls appreciation of it. The secret of blessedness and test of true wisdom lie in a sane estimate of the worth of Gods lovingkindness as compared with all other treasures. Such an estimate leads to trust in Him, as the psalmist implies by his juxtaposition of the two clauses of Psa 36:7, though he connects them, not by an expressed “therefore,” but by the simple copula. The representation of trust as taking refuge reappears here, with its usual suggestions of haste and peril. The “wing” of God suggests tenderness and security. And the reason for trust is enforced in the designation “sons of men,” partakers of weakness and mortality, and therefore needing the refuge which, in the wonderfulness of His lovingkindness, they find under the pinions of so great a God.
The psalm follows the refugees into their hiding place, and shows how much more than bare shelter they find there. They are Gods guests. and royally entertained as such. The joyful priestly feasts in the Temple colour the metaphor, but the idea of hospitable reception of guests is the more prominent. The psalmist speaks the language of that true and wholesome mysticism without which religion is feeble and formal. The root ideas of his delineation of the blessedness of the fugitives to God are their union with God and possession of Him. Such is the magical might of lowly trust that by it weak dying “sons of men” are so knit to the God whose glories the singer has been celebrating that they partake of Himself and are saturated with His sufficiency, drink of His delights in some deep sense, bathe in the fountain of life, and have His light for their organ and medium and object of sight. These great sentences beggar all exposition. They touch on the rim of infinite things, whereof only the nearer fringe comes within our ken in this life. The soul that lives in God is satisfied, having real possession of the only adequate object. The variety of desires, appetites, and needs requires manifoldness in their food, but the unity of our nature demands that all that manifoldness should be in One. Multiplicity in objects, aims, loves, is misery; oneness is blessedness. We need a lasting good and an ever-growing one to meet and unfold the capacity of indefinite growth. Nothing but God can satisfy the narrowest human capacity.
Union with Him is the source of all delight, as of all true fruition of desires. Possibly a reference to Eden may be intended in the selection of the word for “pleasures,” which is a cognate with that name. So there may be allusion to the river which watered that garden, and the thought may be that the present life of the guest of God is not all unlike the delights of that vanished paradise. We may perhaps scarcely venture on supposing that “Thy pleasures” means those which the blessed God Himself possesses; but even if we take the lower and safer meaning of those which God gives, we may bring into connection Christs own gift to His disciples of His own peace, and His assurance that faithful servants will “enter into the joy of their Lord.” Shepherd and sheep drink of the same brook by the way and of the same living fountains above. The psalmists conception of religion is essentially joyful. No doubt there are sources of sadness peculiar to a religious man, and he is necessarily shut out from much of the effervescent poison of earthly joys drugged with sin. Much in his life is inevitably grave, stern, and sad. But the sources of joy opened are far deeper than those that are closed. Surface wells (many of them little better than open sewers) may be shut up, but an unfailing stream is found in the desert. Satisfaction and joy flow from God because life and light are with Him; and therefore he who is with Him has them for his. “With Thee is the fountain of life” is true in every sense of the word “life.” In regard to life natural, the saying embodies a loftier conception of the Creators relation to the creature than the mechanical notion of creation. The fountain pours its waters into stream or basin, which it keeps full by continual flow. Stop the efflux, and these are dried up. So the great mystery of life in all its forms is as a spark from a fire, a drop from a fountain, or, as Scripture puts it in regard to man, a breath from Gods own lips. In a very real sense, wherever life is, there God is, and only by some form of union with him or by the presence of His power, which is Himself, do creatures live. But the psalm is dealing with the blessings belonging to those who trust beneath the shadow of Gods wing; therefore life here, in this verse, is no equivalent to mere existence, physical or self-conscious, but it must be taken in its highest spiritual sense. Union with God is its condition, and that union is brought to pass by taking refuge with Him. The deep words anticipated the explicit teaching of the Gospel in so far as they proclaimed these truths, but the greatest utterance still remained unspoken: that this life is “in His Son.”
Light and life are closely connected. Whether knowledge, purity, or joy is regarded as the dominant idea in the symbol, or whether all are united in it, the profound words of the psalm are true. In Gods light we see light. In the lowest region “the seeing eye is from the Lord.” “The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding.” Faculty and medium of vision are both of Him. But hearts in communion with God are illumined, and they who are “in the light” cannot walk in darkness. Practical wisdom is theirs. The light of God, like the star of the Magi, stoops to guide pilgrims steps. Clear certitude as to sovereign realities is the guerdon of the guests of God. Where other eyes see nothing but mists, they can discern solid land and the gleaming towers of the city across the sea. Nor is that light only the dry light by which we know, but it means purity and joy also; and to “see light” is to possess these too by derivation from the purity and joy of God Himself. He is the “master light of all our seeing.” The fountain has become a stream, and taken to itself movement towards men; for the psalmists glowing picture is more than fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who has said, “I am the Light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
The closing division is prayer based both upon the contemplation of Gods attributes in Psa 36:5-6, and of the wicked in the first part. This distinct reference to both the preceding sections is in favour of the original unity of the psalm. The belief in the immensity of Divine lovingkindness and righteousness inspires the prayer for their long, drawn out (so “continue” means literally) continuance to the psalmist and his fellows. He will not separate himself from these in his petition, but thinks of them before himself. “Those who know Thee” are those who take refuge under the shadow of the great wing. Their knowledge is intimate, vital; it is acquaintanceship, not mere intellectual apprehension. It is such as to purge the heart and make its possessors upright. Thus we have set forth in that sequence of trust, knowledge, and uprightness stages of growing God-likeness closely corresponding to the Gospel sequence of faith, love, and holiness. Such souls are capaces Dei, fit to receive the manifestations of Gods lovingkindness and righteousness; and from such these will never remove. They will stand stable as His firm attributes, and the spurning foot of proud oppressors shall not trample on them, nor violent hands be able to stir them from their steadfast, secure place. The prayer of the psalm goes deeper than any mere deprecation of earthly removal, and is but prosaically understood, if thought to refer to exile or the like. The dwelling place from which it beseeches that the suppliant may never be removed is his safe refuge beneath the wing, or in the house, of God. Christ answered it when He said, “No man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand.” The one desire of the heart which has tasted the abundance, satisfaction, delights, fulness of life, and clearness of light that attend the presence of God is that nothing may draw it thence.
Prayer wins prophetic certitude. From his serene shelter under the wing, the suppliant looks out on the rout of baffled foes, and sees the end which gives the lie to the oracle of transgression and its flatteries. “They are struck down,” the same word as in the picture of the pursuing angel of the Lord in Psa 35:1-28. Here the agent of their fall is unnamed, but one power only can inflict such irrevocable ruin. God, who is the shelter of the upright in heart, has at last found out the sinners iniquity, and His hatred of sin stands ready to “smite once, and smite no more.”