Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 52:6
The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:
6, 7. And the righteous shall see, and fear,
And shall laugh at him, (saying),
Lo, &c.
The first impression produced by the sight is that of fear; not alarm, but awe; a deeper reverence for God and His government of the world: the next impression that of scorn and derision (Psa 2:4) for the braggart who trusted in his wealth. Such rejoicing is no mere vindictive triumph at the wicked man’s ruin. Malicious satisfaction at the calamity of the wicked is condemned in the O.T.; see Job 31:29; Pro 24:17. But inasmuch as the judgement of the wicked is an illustration and proof of the government of God, it must be welcomed with joy by the righteous. Cp. Rev 18:20; Rev 19:1 ff. It must be remembered moreover that the apparently unchecked prosperity of the wicked was a sore trial of faith to those whose view of God’s working was limited to this world. They naturally and rightly desired a vindication of His righteousness, and rejoiced when they saw it. See further Introd. pp. lxxxviii ff, and cp. Psa 58:10 f; Psa 64:7 ff; Psa 5:11, note.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
6 9. The sight of his fall inspires the righteous with awe, and gives occasion for rejoicing at this proof of God’s just government of the world, for trustful hope, and grateful thanksgiving.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The righteous also shaIl see – See the notes at Psa 37:34.
And fear – The effect of such a judgment will be to produce reverence in the minds of good people – a solemn sense of the justice of God; to make them tremble at such fearful judgments; and to fear lest they should violate the law, and bring judgment on themselves.
And shall laugh at him – Compare the notes at Psa 2:4. See also Psa 58:10; Psa 64:9-10; Pro 1:26. The idea here is not exultation in the sufferings of others, or joy that calamity has come upon them, or the gratification of selfish and revengeful feeling that an enemy is deservedly punished; it is that of approbation that punishment has come upon those who deserve it, and joy that wickedness is not allowed to triumph. It is not wrong for us to feel a sense of approbation and joy that the laws are maintained, and that justice is done, even though this does involve suffering, for we know that the guilty deserve it, and it is better that they should suffer than that the righteous should sutter through them. All this may be entirely free from any malignant, or any revengeful feeling. It may even be connected with the deepest pity, and with the purest benevolence toward the sufferers themselves.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 52:6-7
The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him.
The righteous observe the teachings of life
The fear which it produces in the righteous is reverential awe, not dread lest the same should happen to them. Whether or not history and experience teach evil men that verily there is a God that judgeth, their lessons are not wasted on devout and righteous souls. But this is the tragedy of life, that its teachings are prized most by those who have already learned them, and that those who need them most consider them least. Other tyrants are glad when a rival is swept off the field, but are not arrested in their own course. It is left to the righteous to draw the lesson which all men should have learned. Although they are pictured as laughing at the ruin, that is not the main effect of it. Rather it deepens conviction, and is a modern instance witnessing to the continual truth of an old saw. There is one safe stronghold, and only one. He who conceits himself to be strong in his own evil, and, instead of relying on God, trusts in material resources, will sooner or later be levelled with the ground, dragged, resisting vainly the tremendous grasp, from his tent, and laid prostrate, as melancholy a spectacle as a great tree blown down by tempest, with its roots turned up to the sky and its arms with drooping leaves trailing on the ground. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength.
The folly of not depending on God
I. What is understood by making God our strength.
1. A conviction of our own weakness and danger, and the insufficiency of all created good for our safety and happiness.
2. A strong and lively persuasion of Divine all-sufficiency.
3. A pleasing persuasion of Gods gracious willingness to protect and save all those who make Him the object of their trust and dependence.
4. An unreserved surrender of himself, and all that he possesses, into the hands of God. The word we render strength sometimes signifies a fort or castle; and, in this view and connection, imports the souls betaking itself to God in scenes of danger, and reposing its dependence upon Him for protection from invading evil (Psa 61:2; Psa 61:8; Isa 33:16; Pro 18:10).
II. View the man who makes not the lord his strength in some of the most interesting scenes and situations.
1. We will suppose him in the enjoyment of health and prosperity, and in possession of as much of this world as heart can wish. But whatever distinction these circumstances may make in his favour, he is neither secure nor happy. There are desires which earthly objects were never designed to satisfy, and there is a chasm in the soul which all created nature cannot fill. Past disappointments will suggest the possibility of future; and the sad change which hath passed on others, once as prosperous as himself, will awaken some painful suspicion that his mountain stands not so strong as never to be moved. He vainly attempts to flee from conscience: but it attends him like his shadow; or, shall I say, like a barbed arrow. He may change the place indeed–but the arrow and the wound remain. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
2. We will suppose him in scenes of temptation. His dignity and glory is lost:–the freedom in which he prides himself means nothing worthy of the man–in a country that boasts its liberty he is an abject slave, and in constant subjection to the worst of tyrants.
3. We will suppose him lying under the pressure of bodily affliction. The objects on which his trust and dependence were placed cannot prevent one painful sensation, or bring back to its proper state one single nerve. His body and soul are both afflicted: he hath a painful feeling that his dependence was improperly placed; and he is ashamed and afraid to ask of God that strength which he had refused to accept.
4. We will suppose him with death in immediate prospect. His strength is gone–his pulse beats feebly–a mortal paleness hangs upon his countenance. He would fain hope to live, but cannot: he sees death approaching, and trembles at the sight. What he hath most to dread is coming upon him like an armed man, and he hath no strength to resist. The very thing he wants–what alone could sustain him–he hath taken no pains to secure.
5. We will next suppose him in sight of the Judgment-day, and as standing before the bar of that God, whose favour and strength he never sought. Oh! how does he wish for rocks and mountains to fall upon him, to cover him from the face of the Judge, and from the wrath of the Lamb! And lo! this is the man who made not God his strength.
6. Suppose this unhappy man, who made not God his strength, removed from the bar of Christ, and shut up in everlasting despair.
III. Some thoughts deducible from this subject.
1. They act a very unwise and dangerous part, whose dependence is not on God.
2. There are those who are no objects of envy, notwithstanding their prosperous circumstances and the great abundance they possess.
3. An interest in the favour and friendship of God, through Christ, in whom is everlasting strength, should be the object of our warmest wish and daily pursuit. (N. Hill.)
But trusted in the abundance of his riches.–
The folly of trusting in riches
I. A great mistake.
1. Because of the uncertainty of the tenure of riches.
2. Because of the limited power of riches. It can buy books, but not intellectual power; paintings, but not appreciative taste; service and sycophancy, but not esteem and affection, etc. It cannot buy pardon, peace, purity, etc. It cannot bribe death, etc.
3. Because of the utter inability of riches to satisfy their possessors. He who has much wealth would fain have more.
II. A common mistake. The great race of the age is for the acquisition of wealth. Manhood is sacrificed for money. How mournfully ironical it is, said Mr. Lance, and how sad it seems, that death, with all that is pathetic, and solemn, and tender, and sublime about it, should stand associated with that love of money that is the root of all evil! Died worth 50,000! Why, worth, as I understand it, is worthiness, and as I read Heavens own imperial dictionary, a man is worth only just so much as, and no more than, the good, the true, the imperishable, that stands connected with his name, whether living or dying. I hope that the time may come when it will not seem strange to say that Shakespeare died worth Hamlet, and that Milton died worth the Paradise Lost, and that Bunyan died worth the Pilgrims Progress. But at present material wealth is the deity of thousands in Christian England.
III. A ruinous mistake, if persisted in (Luk 12:15-21). (W. Jones.)
Covetousness a misdirected worship
The prevalence of error is often to be traced to the latent love of truth, and in sinful excess may not seldom be discerned the aberration of a nature originally designed for good. For just as forged money could never gain currency if men set no value on the genuine coin, and as spurious wares impose on the undiscerning only because of the desire for those things of which they are the worthless imitation, so falsehood and sin would have no attraction but for the deceitful resemblance they bear to the truth and goodness from which we have wandered. Let us, then, provide the true satisfaction for mans deep and universal desires, and he will turn with distaste from that which only pretends to please.
I. Money is like, and by many is often unconsciously mistaken for, God. Man is made for God, but there are certain superficial similarities between it and God which secretly persuade the heart that that divinity of which it is in search it will find in wealth. If we try to think how money is like God, may it not be said to possess a certain shadowy resemblance of His omnipotence; a strange mimicry of His omnipresence, His boundless beneficence, His providence, His power over the future, His capacity, not only to procure for us an endless variety of blessings, to give us all that our hearts can desire, but also to become in and for Himself, apart from all that He can give us, an object of independent delight; so that it is happiness to know and feel that He is ours? Now, money seems able to do and be all this, and nothing but the true love of God can drive it out of our minds.
II. But it is a pretence after all. For the soul cannot rest in the material and the outward; nor in the limited and perishable and that which abideth not. But all this is true of wealth, and therefore it can only be a false god at the best. God, and God alone, is sufficient for the happiness of the soul which, in His own image, He hath made. (John Caird, D. D.)
More money than we can use
An anonymous writer, generally supposed to be the Rev. Ward Beecher, after describing how, when a boy, he stole a cannon-ball from a navy-yard, and with much trepidation carried it away in his hat, winds up with the following reflections: When I reached home I had nothing to do with my shot; I did not dare show it in the house, or tell where I got it; and after one or two solitary rolls I gave it away on the same day. But, after all, that six-pounder rolled a good deal of sense into my skull. It gave me a notion of the folly of coveting more than you can enjoy, which has made my whole life happier. But I see men doing the same thing as I did, gathering up wealth which will, when got, roll around their heads like a ball. I have seen young men enrich themselves by pleasure in the same way, sparing no pains and sacrificing any principle for the sake of at last carrying a burden which no man can bear. All the world is busy in striving for things that give little pleasure and bring much care.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. The righteous also shall see, and fear] The thing shall be done in the sight of the saints; they shall see God’s judgments on the workers of iniquity; and they shall fear a God so holy and just, and feel the necessity of being doubly on their guard lest they fall into the same condemnation. But instead of veyirau, “and they shall fear,” three of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS., with the Syriac, have veyismachu, “and shall rejoice;” and, from the following words, “and shall laugh at him,” this appears to be the true reading, for laughing may be either the consequence or accompaniment of rejoicing.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The righteous shall see, to wit, thy remarkable downfall, and consequently shall survive thee in spite of all thy power and malice against them.
Fear; both reverence Gods just judgment upon thee, and be afraid of provoking God to send like judgment upon them.
Shall laugh at him; not taking pleasure in his ruin as such, but only in the glory of Gods justice vindicated thereby, Rev 18:20, and deriding their vain and carnal confidence in their wicked courses.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. shall . . . fearregardwith religious awe.
laugh at himfor hisfolly;
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The righteous also shall see,…. The Targum adds, “the punishment of the wicked”; particularly what is before predicted of Doeg. The judgments of God upon the ungodly, as they are certain, so they will be visible, either in this world, or in that to come,
Re 15:4;
and fear; the Targum adds, “from before the Lord”; not with a slavish fear, with a dread of the same punishment, from which they are free, through the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, by which they are denominated righteous ones; though the judgments of God on others strike them with solemn awe and reverence, Ps 119:120, but with a filial godly fear; with a fear of God for his goodness to them, in delivering them out of the hands of wicked men, which engages them more and more to fear the Lord, and to serve and worship him; see Re 15:4;
and shall laugh at him; at Doeg; and so at any other wicked man, when they see the vengeance of God upon him, Ps 58:10; not that they rejoice at that, barely considered in itself, or as it is an evil and mischief to wicked men; for that does not become them, Pr 24:17; but as it is expressive of the care of God over them, and love to them, in avenging their enemies; and more especially as the glory of divine justice is displayed therein; see Re 18:20; for all this will be eminently fulfilled in the destruction of antichrist.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Ruin of Doeg Predicted. | |
6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him: 7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness. 8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. 9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.
David was at this time in great distress; the mischief Doeg had done him was but the beginning of his sorrows; and yet here we have him triumphing, and that is more than rejoicing, in tribulation. Blessed Paul, in the midst of his troubles, is in the midst of his triumphs, 2 Cor. ii. 14. David here triumphs,
I. In the fall of Doeg. Yet, lest this should look like personal revenge, he does not speak of it as how own act, but the language of other righteous persons. They shall observe God’s judgments on Doeg, and speak of them, 1. To the glory of God: They shall see and fear (v. 6); that is, they shall reverence the justice of God, and stand in awe of him, as a God of almighty power, before whom the proudest sinner cannot stand and before whom therefore we ought every one of us to humble ourselves. Note, God’s judgments on the wicked should strike an awe upon the righteous and make them afraid of offending God and incurring his displeasure, Psa 119:120; Rev 15:3; Rev 15:4. 2. To the shame of Doeg. They shall laugh at him, not with a ludicrous, but a rational serious laughter, as he that sits in heaven shall laugh at him, Ps. ii. 4. He shall appear ridiculous, and worthy to be laughed at. We are told how they shall triumph in God’s just judgments on him (v. 7): Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength. The fall and ruin of a wealthy mighty man cannot but be generally taken notice of, and every one is apt to make his remarks upon it; now this is the remark which the righteous should make upon Doeg’s fall, that no better could come of it, since he took the wrong method of establishing himself in his wealth and power. If a newly-erected fabric tumbles down, every one immediately enquires where was the fault in the building of it. Now that which ruined Doeg’s prosperity was, (1.) That he did not build it upon a rock: He made not God his strength, that is, he did not think that the continuance of his prosperity depended upon the favour of God, and therefore took no care to make sure that favour nor to keep himself in God’s love, made no conscience of his duty to him nor sought him in the least. Those wretchedly deceive themselves that think to support themselves in their power and wealth without God and religion. (2.) That he did build it upon the sand. He thought his wealth would support itself: He trusted in the abundance of his riches, which, he imagined, were laid up for many years; nay, he thought his wickedness would help to support it. He was resolved to stick at nothing for the securing and advancing of his honour and power. Right or wrong, he would get what he could and keep what he had, and be the ruin of any one that stood in his way; and this, he thought, would strengthen him. Those may have any thing that will make conscience of nothing. But now see what it comes to; see what untempered mortar he built his house with, now that it has fallen and he is himself buried in the ruins of it.
II. In his own stability, Psa 52:8; Psa 52:9. “This mighty man is plucked up by the roots; but I am like a green olive-tree, planted and rooted, fixed and flourishing; he is turned out of God’s dwelling-place, but I am established in it, not detained, as Doeg, by any thing but the abundant satisfaction I meet with there.” Note, Those that by faith and love dwell in the house of God shall be like green olive-trees there; the wicked are said to flourish like a green bay-tree (Ps. xxxvii. 35), which bears no useful fruit, though it has abundance of large leaves; but the righteous flourish like a green olive-tree, which is fat as well as flourishing (Ps. xcii. 14) and with its fatness honours God and man (Judg. ix. 9), deriving its root and fatness from the good olive, Rom. xi. 17. Now what must we do that we may be as green olive-trees? 1. We must live a life of faith and holy confidence in God and his grace? “I see what comes of men’s trusting in the abundance of their riches, and therefore I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever–not in the world, but in God, not in my own merit, but in God’s mercy, which dispenses its gifts freely, even to the unworthy, and has in it an all-sufficiency to be our portion and happiness.” This mercy is for ever; it is constant and unchangeable, and its gifts will continue to all eternity. We must therefore for ever trust in it, and never come off from that foundation. 2. We must live a life of thankfulness and holy joy in God (v. 9): “I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it, has avenged the blood of thy priests upon their bloody enemy, and given him blood to drink, and hast performed thy promise to me,” which he was as sure would be done in due time as if it were done already. It contributes very much to the beauty of our profession, and to our fruitfulness in every grace, to be much in praising God; and it is certain that we never want matter for praise. 3. We must live a life of expectation and humble dependence upon God: “I will wait on thy name; I will attend upon thee in all those ways wherein thou hast made thyself known, hoping for the discoveries of thy favour to me and willing to tarry till the time appointed for them; for it is good before thy saints,” or in the opinion and judgment of thy saints, with whom David heartily concurs. Communis sensus fidelium–All the saints are of this mind, (1.) That God’s name is good in itself, that God’s manifestations of himself to his people are gracious and very kind; there is no other name given than his that can be our refuge and strong tower. (2.) That it is very good for us to wait on that name, that there is nothing better to calm and quiet our spirits when they are ruffled and disturbed, and to keep us in the way of duty when we are tempted to use any indirect courses for our own relief, than to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord, Lam. iii. 26. All the saints have experienced the benefit of it, who never attended him in vain, never followed his guidance but it ended well, nor were ever made ashamed of their believing expectations from him. What is good before all the saints let us therefore abide and abound in, and in this particularly: Turn thou to thy God; keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually, Hos. xii. 6.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
6 The righteous also shall see, and fear (280) He here adduces, as another reason why the ruin of Doeg might be expected, that an important end would be obtained by it, in so far as it would promote religion in the hearts of the Lord’s people, and afford them a refreshing display of the Divine justice. Should it take place, it would be witnessed by the ungodly as well as by the righteous; but there are two reasons why the Psalmist represents it as being seen especially by the latter. The wicked are incapable of profiting by the judgments of God, being blind to the plainest manifestations which he has made of himself in his works, and it was only the righteous therefore who could see it. Besides, the great end which God has in view, when he prostrates the pride of the ungodly, is the comfort of his own people, that he may show to them the care with which he watches over their safety. It is they, therefore, whom David represents as witnessing this spectacle of Divine justice. And when he says that they would fear, it is not meant that they would tremble, or experience any slavish apprehension, but that their reverential regard for God would be increased by this proof of his care of their interests. When left exposed to the injurious treatment of their enemies, they are apt to be distressed with doubts as to the concern which he takes in the government of the world. But such illustrations to the contrary have the effect of quickening their discouraged zeal, and promoting that fear which is by no means inconsistent with the joy spoken of in the close of the verse. They are led to reverence him the more when they see that he is the avenger of cruelty and injustice: on the other hand, when they perceive that he appears in defense of their cause, and joins common battle with them against their adversaries, they are naturally filled with the most triumphant joy. The beautiful play upon the words see and fear, in the Hebrew, cannot be transferred to our language; the form of the expression intimates that they would see, and see effectually.
(280) French and Skinner read, “The righteous shall see it, and feel reverence; — feel reverence, i. e. , in the punishment of this wicked man, find additional reason to reverence God, and to observe his righteous laws.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Fear . . . laugh.The mingled feelings of awe at the tyrants terrible fall, and exultation at his overthrow, are finely caught and described.
Dwelling-place.Better, tent.
Root thee out.This word, suggestive of rooting up a corrupt tree, becomes more forcible from the contrast in the figure of Psa. 52:8.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. The righteous shall see, and fear They shall be filled with awe and reverence at the signal judgments of God, whereby the turpitude of sin and the holiness and justice of God are made manifest. To deter men from sin, and to inspire confidence in the rewarding government of God towards the righteous, are the chief exemplary ends of moral punishment. See Deu 13:11; Deu 17:3; Deu 19:20; Rev 15:4.
And shall laugh at him Not as a vanquished enemy, which the Old Testament morality forbade, (Job 31:29-30; Pro 17:5; Pro 24:14,) but at the impotence of his futile schemes as against the rule of God. See on Psa 2:4; Psa 58:10-11
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
A Description Of How The Righteous See The Deceitful Man’s Fate And The Personal Vindication Of Each Of The Righteous Concerning Themselves ( Psa 52:6-9 ).
Psa 52:6
‘The righteous also will see, and fear,
And will laugh at him, (saying),
The righteous will see what happens to such a man and will be filled with awe. And ‘they will laugh at him’ in incredulity. Being themselves filled with awe at the thought of the holiness of God they will be amazed that he could be so foolish. The laugh is not vindictive. Rather they are laughing at his folly. They cannot believe that he could be so foolish. The aim is to bring out the extreme foolishness of his ways as will now be described. Compare Pro 1:26-30. To laugh vindictively at what befalls an evil man is forbidden in Pro 24:17-18 with the warning that God will not be pleased..
Psa 52:7
‘See, this is the man who did not make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his wickedness.’
They will say to one another, ‘This is the man who did not make God his strength, but rather trusted in the abundance of his riches, and thus strengthened himself in his wickedness’. Like all men he had had a choice. He could have found his strength in God. He could have looked to Him for strength. But he rather trusted in his riches. He saw being wealthy as more important than pleasing God, for he was convinced that in riches he would find security and happiness. They would be his stay. But they would be of little use when disaster struck, and his wealth was taken from him, or when he became ill and died.
And because his trust had been in the abundance of his riches, striving to obtain more and more by any means, he became convinced that nothing else mattered. He felt that nothing could harm him, and this bolstered him up in the wrongdoing that he perpetrated. After all, it was through wrongdoing that his riches had been gained. And wrongdoing would make him richer.
Doeg had become wealthy. He was chief of all Saul’s herdsmen, which in those days, in a land where agriculture was its mainstay, was a very important position. And it was this that had persuaded him to act as he did in the hope of gaining favour and obtaining more wealth. His mind was fixed on ‘getting on’. He thus disregarded truth, whilst his wealth, and his desire for more, strengthened him in his wrongdoing. Jesus warned men of the deceitfulness of riches (Mar 4:19), and Paul pointed out that a desire for wealth was at the root of all evil and had brought on men many sorrows (1Ti 6:10). It is one thing to prosper. It is quite another to make it your goal in life.
Psa 52:8
‘But as for me, I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God,
I trust in the covenant love of God for ever and ever.’
These may well be a continuation of the words of the righteous, individualised to each one. Or else they may be the words of the Psalmist himself, as representing the righteous. The change to the individual may well be intended so as to cause each singer to make his own personal dedication to God as he sings the Psalm in the Temple area.
In contrast with the man who will be rooted up is the one who, rather than being rooted up, is firmly established like a green olive tree in the house of God. A green olive tree was so because its roots went deep and were well watered (compare Psa 1:3). And being established as such in the house of God indicated his loyalty to God and to the covenant. It was this that made him fruitful. The covenant was the covenant established at Sinai (Exo 20:1 onwards), as partly reproduced and expanded on in Deuteronomy. It was the covenant of those who had been redeemed responding to their Redeemer. It was a covenant that constantly revealed God’s covenant love for his obedient people (Deu 7:8; Hos 11:1; Mal 1:2), a love that could be wholly relied on by those who walked with Him. It was a love in which they could trust for ever.
‘The green olive tree’ is said elsewhere to be God’s designation of Israel (Jer 11:16). Paul would later use it a picture of the remnant of Israel who received the Messiah, where it incorporated Gentiles who believed in the Messiah (Rom 11:17). These were the true Israel as opposed to the false who were broken off.
(We should note the clear indication in this and many Psalms that ‘not all Israel, were Israel’ (Rom 9:6). The covenant only benefited those who were obedient to it. The remainder would be rooted out and cast off. This was continually so throughout Israel’s history).
Psa 52:9
‘I will give you thanks for ever, because you have done it,
And I will hope in your name, for it is good, in the presence of your saints.’
The Psalmist ends with thanksgiving and praise. He gives thanks for what God has done, rooting out the unrighteous, and establishing the righteous. And this causes him to have continual hope in YHWH’s Name, the Name which is ‘good’, revealing the love and holiness of God. He is confident that God will continue to cause the righteous to flourish, and the unrighteous to be rooted out. And he does it in the presence of God’s ‘beloved ones’, that is, beloved within the covenant, those who are true to Him, an indication that this Psalm has been made suitable for public worship.
Psalms 53.
This Psalm is mainly a repetition of Psalms 14 but here using ‘God’ all the way through. The other main change occurs in Psa 52:5, a change which suggests that this Psalm is an adaptation of Psalms 14 written in order to celebrate the defeat of a particular enemy. But the adaptation is a careful one for the consonants used (in the Hebrew text) are very similar as though the writer wanted to keep as near to the original text as possible. It is a clever piece of adaptation.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 52:6. The righteous also shall see, and fear The peculiar judgments of God executed upon exemplary offenders, who have been guilty of treachery, rapine, and murder, good men will carefully observe, and observe with awful pleasure and thankfulness: not that they rejoice to see the punishments and miseries of mankind, in themselves considered; no person of humanity taking pleasure in the execution of the worst of criminals, as such. But as the administration of justice is always a right, and so far a pleasant thing; as instances of God’s vengeance are sometimes necessary to keep men in tolerable order; and as the cutting off such kind of incorrigible offenders prevents them from doing farther mischiefs, and is so far a public and common blessing to mankind; it was impossible that any good man who had seen the crimes of this treacherous and bloody Edomite, retaliated on him by divine Providence, could do otherwise than approve so righteous a retribution; and, when he observed it, forbear in triumph to say, as at the next verse;
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 52:6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:
Ver. 6. The righteous also shall see and fear ] With a reverential fear, from which shall spring sincere service. Aliorum perditio tua sit cautio, Let other men’s perdition be our caution; let us wash our feet in the blood of the wicked. There is an elegance in the original that cannot be translated into English.
And shall laugh at him
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
righteous = righteous ones (plural)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
righteous: Psa 37:34, Psa 64:9, Psa 97:8, Job 22:19, Mal 1:5, Rev 15:4, Rev 16:5-7, Rev 18:20, Rev 19:1, Rev 19:2
and fear: Psa 40:3, Psa 119:120
laugh: Psa 58:10, Psa 58:11, Isa 37:22
Reciprocal: Job 21:28 – Where Psa 27:3 – host Psa 64:8 – all that Psa 107:42 – righteous Jer 9:23 – rich Zep 2:15 – every Rev 14:10 – in the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 52:6-7. The righteous also shall see Namely, thy remarkable downfall, and, consequently, shall survive thee, in spite of all thy malice and violence against them; and fear Shall reverence Gods just judgment upon thee, and be afraid of provoking him. And shall laugh at him Not taking pleasure in his ruin, considered in itself, but only in the glory of Gods justice vindicated thereby, (Rev 18:20,) and deriding his vain and carnal confidence in his wicked courses. The peculiar judgments of God, executed upon exemplary offenders, who have been guilty of treachery, rapine, and murder, good men will carefully observe; and observe, though with awe, yet thankfulness; not that they rejoice to see the punishments and miseries of mankind, separately considered; no person of humanity taking pleasure in the execution of criminals as such; but as the administration of justice is always a right, and, so far, a pleasant thing; as instances of Gods vengeance are sometimes necessary to keep men in tolerable order; and as the cutting off such kind of incorrigible offenders prevents them from doing further mischiefs, and is so far a public and common blessing to mankind. It was therefore impossible that any good man, who had seen the crimes of this treacherous and bloody Edomite retaliated on him by Divine Providence, should do otherwise than approve so righteous a retribution, and when he observed it, forbear to say, as in Psa 52:7, Lo, this is the man, &c. The great and famous man, that made not God his strength That trusted in and feared Saul more than God, and was willing to purchase Sauls favour with Gods displeasure; but trusted in the abundance of his riches Thought himself secure in his great and growing wealth without Gods protection or blessing. Observe the fate of this haughty slanderer and murderer! Where now are all his boasted riches and prosperity? He and they are separated for ever! See Dodd and Chandler.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
52:6 The {e} righteous also shall see, {f} and fear, and shall laugh at him:
(e) For the eyes of the reprobate are shut at God’s judgments.
(f) With joyful reverence, seeing that he takes their part against the wicked.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The punishment of the wicked would delight the righteous, not because they had suffered, but because God would judge righteously. The person who does not trust in the Lord trusts in himself. He builds a refuge for himself often out of material things, but it always proves inferior to God Himself.