Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 14:6
Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD [is] his refuge.
6. You have shamed ] R.V., Ye put to shame. You deride the resort of the afflicted to Jehovah as mere folly. But the word usually means to frustrate or confound: and the line maybe explained, ‘Would ye frustrate the counsel of the poor! Nay! for Jehovah’ &c. Cp. R.V. marg., which gives But for Because.
the poor ] Or, afflicted. Cp. Psa 9:12: and Exo 3:7; Exo 3:17; Exo 4:31.
In Psalms 53 the equivalent of Psa 14:5-6 reads thus:
“For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee;
Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath rejected them.”
The bones of Israel’s enemies lie bleaching upon the field of battle, where their bodies were left unburied (Eze 6:5). This can hardly be an anticipation of some future defeat. It must rather be an allusion to some historic event; and it at once suggests the miraculous annihilation of Sennacherib’s great army. The text appears to have been altered by the editor of Book II to introduce a reference to the most famous example in later times of the discomfiture of worldly arrogance venturing to measure its strength with Jehovah. With this reading it is clear that Psa 14:4 must refer to the nation and its enemies, not to oppressors and their victims within the nation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye have shamed – The address here is made directly to the wicked themselves, to show them the baseness of their own conduct, and, perhaps, in connection with the previous verse, to show them what occasion they had for fear. The idea in the verse seems to be, that as God was the protector of the poor who had come to him for refuge, and as they had shamed the counsel of the poor who had done this, they had real occasion for alarm. The phrase ye have shamed seems to mean that they had despised it, or had treated it with derision, that is, they had laughed at, or had mocked the purpose of the poor in putting their trust in Yahweh.
The counsel – The purpose, the plan, the act – of the poor; that is, in putting their trust in the Lord. They had derided this as vain and foolish, since they maintained that there was no God Psa 14:1. They therefore regarded such an act as mere illusion.
The poor – The righteous, considered as poor, or as afflicted. The word here rendered poor – any – means more properly, afflicted, distressed, needy. It is often rendered afflicted, Job 34:28; Psa 18:27; Psa 22:24; Psa 25:16; Psa 82:3; et al. in Psa 9:12; Psa 10:12 it is rendered humble. The common rendering, however, is poor, but it refers properly to the righteous, with the idea that they are afflicted, needy, and in humble circumstances. This is the idea here. The wicked had derided those who, in circumstances of poverty, depression, want, trial, had no other resource, and who had sought their comfort in God. These reproaches tended to take away their last consolation, and to cover them with confusion; it was proper, therefore, that they who had done this should be overwhelmed with fear. If there is anything which deserves punishment it is the act which would take away from the world the last hope of the wretched – that there is a God.
Because the Lord is his refuge – He has made the Lord his refuge. In his poverty, affliction, and trouble, he has come to God, and put his trust in him. This source of comfort, the doctrine of the wicked – that there was no God – tended to destroy. Atheism cuts off every hope of man, and leaves the wretched to despair. It would put out the last light that gleams on the earth, and cover the world with total and eternal night.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor] Instead of tabishu, “Ye have shamed,” Bishop Horsley proposes to read tabishem, and translates the clause thus: “The counsel of the helpless man shall put them to shame.” But this is not authorized by MS. or version. There is no need for any change: the psalmist refers to the confidence which the afflicted people professed to have in God for their deliverance, which confidence the Babylonians turned into ridicule. The poor people took counsel together to expect help from God, and to wait patiently for it; and this counsel ye derided, because ye did not know – did not consider, that God was in the congregation of the righteous.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Shamed, i.e. desired and endeavoured to bring it to shame, or disappoint it. Compare Psa 6:10. Or, ye have reproached or derided it, as a foolish thing.
The counsel of the poor, i.e. the cause which he hath taken to defend himself, which is not by lying, and, flattery, and violence, and all manner of wickedness, which is your counsel and usual practice, but by trusting in God, and keeping his way, and calling upon his name.
Because; this was the ground of their contempt and scorn, that he lived by faith in Gods promise and providence. Or, but, as in the foregoing verse. So there seems to be an elegant and fit opposition. You reproach them, but God will own and protect them, and justify their counsel which you deride.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
You have shamed the counsel of the poor,…. The poor saints, the Lord’s people, the generation of the righteous, who are generally the poor of this world; poor in spirit, and an afflicted people: and the counsel of them intends not the counsel which they give to others, but the counsel which they receive from the Lord, from the Spirit of counsel, which rests upon them, and with which they are guided; and this is to trust in the Lord, and to make him their refuge; and which is good advice, the best of counsel. Happy and safe are they that take it! But this is derided by wicked and ungodly men; they mock at the poor saints for it, and endeavour to shame them out of it; but hope makes not ashamed; see Ps 22:7;
because the Lord [is] his refuge: he betakes himself to him when all others fail; and finds him to be a refuge from the storm of impending calamities, and from all enemies.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The psalmist himself meets the oppressed full of joyous confidence, by reason of the self-manifestation of God in judgment, of which he is now become so confident and which so fills him with comfort. Instead of the sixth tristich, which we expected, we have another distich. The Hiph. with a personal object signifies: to put any one to shame, i.e., to bring it about that any one must be ashamed, e.g., Psa 44:8 (cf. Psa 53:6, where the accusative of the person has to be supplied), or absolutely: to act shamefully, as in the phrase used in Proverbs, (a prodigal son). It appears only here with a neuter accusative of the object, not in the signification to defame (Hitz.), – a meaning it never has (not even in Pro 13:5, where it is blended with to make stinking, i.e., a reproach, Gen 34:30) – but to confound, put to shame = to frustrate (Hupf.), which is at once the most natural meaning in connection with . But it is not to be rendered: ye put to shame, because…, for to what purpose is this statement with this inapplicable reason in support of it? The fut. is used with a like shade of meaning as in Lev 19:17, and the imperative elsewhere; and gives the reason for the tacitly implied clause, or if a line is really lost from the strophe, the lost clause (cf. Isa 8:9.): ye will not accomplish it. is whatsoever the pious man, who as such suffers reproach, plans to do for the glory of his God, or even in accordance with the will of his God. All this the children of the world, who are in possession of worldly power, seek to frustrate; but viewed in the light of the final decision their attempt is futile: Jahve is his refuge, or, literally the place whither he flees to hide himself and finds a hiding or concealment ( , Arab. dall , , Arab. sitr , Arabic also dra ). has an orthophonic Dag., which obviates the necessity for the reading (cf. Psa 10:1, Psa 34:1, Psa 105:22, and similar instances).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
6. Ye deride the counsel of the poor. He inveighs against those giants who mock at the faithful for their simplicity, in calmly expecting, in their distresses, that God will show himself to be their deliverer. And, certainly, nothing seems more irrational to the flesh than to betake ourselves to God when yet he does not relieve us from our calamities; and the reason is, because the flesh judges of God only according to what it presently beholds of his grace. Whenever, therefore, unbelievers see the children of God overwhelmed with calamities, they reproach them for their groundless confidence, as it appears to them to be, and with sarcastic jeers laugh at the assured hope with which they rely upon God, from whom, notwithstanding, they receive no sensible aid. David, therefore, defies and derides this insolence of the wicked, and threatens that their mockery of the poor and the wretched, and their charging them with folly in depending upon the protection of God, and not sinking under their calamities, will be the cause of their destruction. At the same time, he teaches them that there is no resolution to which we can come which is better advised than the resolution to depend upon God, and that to repose on his salvation, and on the assistance which he hath promised us, even although we may be surrounded with calamities, is the highest wisdom.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Counsel.This confidence, this piety, this appeal addressed to the supreme Protector, is in this verse called the counsel, the plan of the sufferer, and the poet asks, Would ye then make the sufferer blush for such a thought? No, for Jehovah is his refuge. The Authorised Version has here missed the sense by rendering in the past tense.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Shamed Not only frustrated, but, by treating with derision, caused it to become reproachful.
Counsel of the poor God’s afflicted ones. Their counsel, like that of the pious in all ages, was to fear Jehovah, to obey and trust him. It is the counsel of the suffering, witnessing Church to the proud and atheistic world, and it is a warning as well. The verse is regarded as elliptical, and should be read: “Ye may shame the counsel of the poor, [but in vain,] because the Lord is his refuge.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 14:6. Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor Will ye shame the counsel of the afflicted?“Will ye now shame, or laugh at the poor oppressed people, for making God their refuge? Psa 14:7. O that I could once see them back again in their own land!” This great event, probably, gave the author spirit to hope; and therefore in the view of it he proceeds exultingly, When the Lord, &c. See Mudge; who begins the 6th verse with the last clause of the 5th, thus: Yes, God is in the generation of the righteous: If the Psalm, however, is to be understood of Absalom, this last verse must refer to David’s wish for his restoration to Jerusalem again, after his sad expulsion from thence by his son. See 1Ch 16:35.
REFLECTIONS.However outward sins may shock the conscience, no man can truly be emptied of himself, or be led to self-despair, till God opens to him the plague of his heart, and makes him see the desperate wickedness of a fallen nature. This is here done to the discerning sinner.
1. The heart of the fool is laid open. The fool, or the sinner, for sin is the foolishness of folly, hath said in his heart, There is no God. Though they are abandoned indeed who avow atheism in principle, yet the hardened sinner feels it his interest that there should be no God, secretly wishes that there may be none, and would fain persuade himself that there is none; no God to judge, no hell to torment. Note; (1.) If the thoughts of multitudes were as open as their countenances, they would startle at each other as monsters. (2.) All sin in practice, proceeds from a measure of atheism in principle.
2. The ways of men correspond to their nature: they are corrupt, or they do corrupt, they are such in themselves, their nature utterly defiled, being conceived and born in sin, and their inward arts very wickedness; and they corrupt others, provoke, stir up, and draw out the corruption which is in the hearts of sinners like themselves. They have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good; their practice corresponds with their principles; for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? And,
3. This is the case by nature universally; not in one place, or one age, but uniformly the same in every place, in every man, in every age; so God testifies on the view of all mankind, when the Lord looked down from heaven. The fool said, There is no God, or he careth not for it; he hideth away his face, and will never see the evil: but God’s eyes are upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand the ways of truth and righteousness, and seek God, the knowledge of him and his will. But what a fearful account does the God of truth who cannot lie, the God of omniscience who cannot err, give of the state of man! They are all gone aside with universal apostacy; they have forsaken the path of duty and holiness; they are all together become filthy, or putrid; loathsome and offensive to the Divine purity, as a dead carcase in our nostrils. There is none that doeth good, no not one; not a single exception can be found among all the sons of men: they are one man’s children; and, as descendants of a fallen parent, a seed of evil doers. Note; (1.) By nature there is no moral difference between one man and another; though in outward transgression there may be much, in inward apostacy there is none. (2.) If there be any good wrought in us, or done by us, we are indebted for it solely to the saving grace of God.
4. The Psalmist concludes with a devout wish: O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! especially that Redeemer who should turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and bring a cure for the desperate disease of human corruption: when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people by the powerful agency of his Son, manifested to destroy the works of the devil, and to set the captives of sin free; then Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad; his faithful people shall rejoice in their present salvation begun; and their joy shall by and by be full, when he shall appear to destroy all his enemies and theirs, and complete their final salvation in eternal glory.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 509
BELIEVERS VINDICATED
Psa 14:6. Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord in his refuge.
ONE would imagine that religion, as brought into lively and habitual exercise, should commend itself to all: it is so reasonable a service, that one would suppose none could find fault with it. Yet, never has it been maintained by any one since the first introduction of sin into the world, without provoking hostility from those who were not under its dominion. As for David, he suffered for it through all the reign of Saul, and through a great part also of his own reign: for, though a king, he was an object of derision to all the scoffers in the land. Of this he complains in the psalm before us: for though it is probable that Absalom was the great instigator of the present evils, the people, too, readily sided with him, and exulted in the thought, that this despised monarch would now be destroyed.
The psalm, though primarily applicable to that occasion, was really, as St. Paul tells us, of a general import [Note: ver. 2, 3. with Rom 3:10-12.]. And therefore, taking the text in that view, I will explain, and vindicate, the counsel that is here referred to.
I.
Explain it
The persons designated as the poor, are the Lords people, generally
[It is certain that the great mass of the Lords people are taken from the lower walks of life. There are not many rich, not many mighty, not many noble, called. In the days of our Lord, it was not the Scribes and Pharisees that believed on him, but the poorwho were deemed accursed [Note: Joh 7:49.]. The common people heard him gladly [Note: Mar 12:37.].
But the name is given to the Lords people principally because they are poor in spirit [Note: Isa 14:32; Isa 29:19. Zep 3:12.], feeling their utter destitution of every thing really good; just as a person in the state of Lazarus feels his want of all the comforts of life. In this sense the name is given to them in a great variety of passages and throughout the whole world they answer to the character contained in it.]
They invariably make the Lord their refuge
[They feel their lost and undone state And in themselves they find no remedy But in Christ they see a fulness and sufficiency, even for the very chief of sinners They look into the Scriptures, and see the counsel given them, to look to him, and to flee to him: and this counsel they both follow themselves, and give to all around them They determine, both for themselves and for others, to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.]
But this conduct exposes them to much obloquy. I will therefore proceed to,
II.
Vindicate it
In shaming this their counsel, the ungodly will pretend to reason with them
[They will deride this counsel as unnecessary; since there is no occasion for them to feel any such alarm about their souls They reprobate it as presumptuous: for, can they suppose that God should pay such peculiar regard to them, to accept them, sanctify them, save them; when all the rest of the world are perishing in their sins? They pour contempt upon it as ineffectual: for to think of setting aside all good works in point of dependence, can be no other than a desperate delusion Such are the arguments with which the ungodly will endeavour to shame the poor out of their confidence in God.]
But we will defend their counsel against all these unjust aspersions
[It is not un necessary: for there is not a creature in the universe that can be saved in any other way It is not presumptuous. What presumption is there in believing Gods promises, and in obeying his commands, and especially that command of coming to Christ and relying on him for salvation [Note: 1Jn 3:23.]? It is not ineffectual: for there never was, nor ever shall be, one soul left to perish, that sought for mercy solely and entirely by faith in Christ The cities of refuge afforded a safe asylum to him who fled from the avenger of blood: and, whatever have been the sins of the believing penitent, he shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end [Note: Isa 45:17.].]
Address,
1.
The despisers
[We need not go far to find persons of this character. In fact, they despise this counsel who do not follow it, even though they should never cast any particular reproach on those who adopt it But, I beg leave to ask, what counsel will you give? Shall it be, to despise all religion? or to rest in outward forms? or to say, Lord, Lord, whilst you do not the things which he says? You may boldly maintain this counsel now: but will you do it in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment? Know, assuredly, that you will be ashamed of it then, whether ye be now, or not. And that is the only wise counsel which will be approved of your God, and issue in your everlasting salvation. All else is but to make lies your refuge, and to hide yourselves under falsehood [Note: Isa 28:15.]; or, in other words, to build on a foundation of sand, what will fall, and crush you under its ruins.]
2.
The despised
[What harm has it done you hitherto, that you hare been despised by an ungodly world? Only seek your happiness in God, and you need not mind what man shall say concerning you. Mans judgment is but for a day [Note: 1Co 4:3. The margin.]; whereas Gods judgment will be for ever. The Prophets, the Apostles, and our Lord Jesus Christ, were they approved of men? On the contrary, was there any thing too bad for men to say concerning them? Be content, then, to be partakers of Christs sufferings; that, when he shall appear, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy [Note: 1Pe 4:13.]. In truth, to be despised for righteousness sake is your highest honour [Note: 1Pe 4:14. Act 5:41.], and shall surely issue in your more exalted happiness [Note: Rom 8:17.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 14:6 Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD [is] his refuge.
Ver. 6. You have shamed the counsel of the poor ] And thought to mock him out of his confidence, as Sennacherib did by Hezekiah, and the Jews by our Saviour. Religion was long since grown, as it is also at this day among many, not more a matter of form than of scorn. In our wretched days, as the Turks count all fools to be saints, so many with us account all saints to be fools. He is a fool, we say, that would be laughed out of his coat; but he were a double fool that would be laughed out of his skin, that would hazard his soul because loth to be laughed at.
Because the Lord is his refuge
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
poor = an oppressed one. Compare Psalm 9 and Psalm 10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 14:6
Psa 14:6
“Ye put to shame the counsel of the poor, Because Jehovah is his refuge.”
Delitzsch pointed out that the text here is damaged and that the meaning is difficult to determine, He suggested that, Whatever plans and intentions of godly men to do for the glory of God, these are the counsels of the poor which, “The children of the world, who are in possession of worldly power seek to frustrate.
In the picture of the total depravity of mankind that emerges here, whatever good may be intended or advocated by anyone, the possessors of worldly power will move to frustrate any such good intentions.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 14:6. These unbelievers could not defeat the Lord who is the refuge of the poor and oppressed. They therefore made their attack directly against the people.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Ye: Psa 3:2, Psa 4:2, Psa 22:7, Psa 22:8, Psa 42:10, Neh 4:2-4, Isa 37:10, Isa 37:11, Eze 35:10, Dan 3:15, Mat 27:40-43
Lord: Psa 9:9, Heb 6:18
Reciprocal: 2Sa 22:3 – my refuge Mat 27:43 – trusted Jam 2:6 – ye Rev 20:11 – I saw
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 14:6. You have shamed the counsel of the poor Ye have desired and endeavoured to bring to shame, or to disappoint, the course which the godly poor man takes, and the resolution which he adopts, which is to trust in God, call upon his name, and proceed on in his way, which is a course and counsel very different from yours. Or, ye have reproached, or derided his counsel, as a foolish thing. Be cause the Lord is his refuge This was the ground of their contempt and scorn, that the godly man lived by faith in Gods promise and providence. Or, but the Lord, &c. You reproach them, but God will own and protect them, and justify their counsel, which you deride.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
14:6 Ye have {e} shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD [is] his refuge.
(e) You mock them who put their trust in God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
They may seek to frustrate the plans of those they afflict, but God will vindicate His own because they trust in Him. The figure of God as the refuge of His people occurs also in Psa 46:1; Psa 61:3; Psa 62:7-8; Psa 71:7; Psa 73:28; and Psa 91:2; Psa 91:9.