Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 92:6
A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
6. A brutish man a fool ] Men who are mere sensuous animals, stupid and unreceptive, incapable of discerning spiritual things. Cp. Psa 49:10; Psa 73:22; Psa 94:8.
this ] Namely, the truth expressed in Psa 92:7-8, that the wicked flourish only to perish, while Jehovah is eternally supreme. There should be a colon only at the end of Psa 92:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A brutish man knoweth not – A man who is stupid, and who is like the beasts or brutes; that is, a man whose tastes and propensities are like the brutes, or who does not seem to act as if endowed with a rational nature. The idea evidently is, that there are many such people, and that it is not to be wondered at that they have no exalted idea of the greatness of God. As a matter of fact there are many in human form – many made in the image of God – who seem to have no more notion of God, and who see no more wisdom and goodness in his works, than the horse or the ox. Compare Isa 1:3.
Neither doth a fool understand this – A fool, in the sense that he has been made foolish and stupid by sin; that he does not worship and honor God. He has no right understanding in regard to the Maker and the Governor of the universe.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 92:6
A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
The degradation of man
In this psalm we have a contrast between the animal and the spiritual life, the latter exulting in God, uttering His praise, receiving His thoughts, studying His works; the former cleaving to the earth, wallowing in the dust, with no ambition that soars higher than the husks which it eats, or the roof of the sty which it occupies. A brutish man. It is originally a compound expression–a brute-man. It is a degrading epithet, and it is employed in common daily life.
I. Mans nature is very closely allied to that of the animal. It is difficult to define the boundary between instinct and reason. The mental faculties of man and of the animals run in parallel lines to a point high up on the scale, Where the difference begins. Animals serve man, and should be treated justly, considerately, kindly.
II. The degradation of man to the level of the animal.
1. When he is ruled by appetite, not by conscience. A man will sometimes attempt to justify his avarice, his pride, his vindictiveness, his sensuality by saying that he is only following the lead of passions which God has implanted in him; that the light which leads astray is light from heaven, that God has created the appetite in his nature. Yes; but God never intended it to rule or lead; He intended it to serve, to be under the control of reason and conscience and religious principle.
2. When he eats and drinks, and does not worship. Training may produce a great change in animals; education may turn the stolid rustic into an intelligent, cultured scholar; but there is something greater than any advantage which education may confer–that is, the capacity of union and communion with God of lifting up the soul to the Most High. And yet there are some who ignore this, who cast this pearl before the swine of evil passions, darken the window that looks heavenwards, nail the shutters over it, so that not a ray of light can reach the spirit; go down, down to the animal, as if there were no God, no worship, no adoration, no gratitude. The altar is in ruins; and the man has become as the brute.
3. Because he is working blindly. Take a man who is bent on acquiring wealth, who sacrifices everything on the altar of Mammon; he is shrewd, quick to take advantage of the favourable breeze, successful, makes his pile, as they say. Is he working blindly? Yes, blindly; he has never discerned the meaning of what he is doing, he has never appraised the course at its right value, never estimated its bearing, its consequences to his moral nature; he is like a mole, scratching and burrowing in the dust, with no eye for the broad universe, and the light of God that floods it. And there is no thought of the future. He degrades himself to an equality with the brute, forgetting that while the beast goes downwards to the earth, the spirit of man goeth upward, and that man shall receive in another state according to that he hath done in the body, whether it be good or bad.
III. The consequences of this degradation.
1. He has no eye for the greatest and noblest in life. Just as the eyes and the light, the air and the lungs correspond to each other, so it is with beauty and taste, science and intellect, friends and affection. And there is a spiritual faculty by which we discern spiritual things. The brutish man represses, restrains, stifles this faculty; resists the Spirit of God, who would quicken, direct, enlarge it.
2. He does not, then, value his nature, as God values it. He has degraded himself to a level with the swine; he has no sense of sonship, no feeling of spiritual dignity, he has gone down and down to the mire. Happy is he if he comes to himself, if in a sane moment the animal is cowed, and the angel asserts itself, and the ragged swineherd says, I will arise and go to my Father.
3. He has no resources in time of suffering and trouble. God is a stranger–he dreads the thought of God–would fain hope that God does riot exist. He is like the brute; he has nothing to fall back upon. Very different is the experience of the spiritual man. Trouble comes; but he sees God in it. The tempest gathers; but His way is in the whirlwind, etc. The deep, full, bitter cup is presented–but it has been mingled by a Fathers love. The bear deprived of her whelps can only rage and moan; the brutish man bereaved of his children can only curse and rebel; the godly man, missing his loved ones in the gloom of the gorge of death, can say (Job 1:21). (J. Owen.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. A brutish man knoweth not] ish baar, the human hog-the stupid bear-the boor; the man who is all flesh; in whom spirit or intellect neither seems to work nor exist. The brutish man, who never attempts to see God in his works.
Neither doth a fool understand this.] kesil, the fool, is different from baar, the brutish man; the latter has mind, but it is buried in flesh; the former has no mind, and his stupidity is unavoidable.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A brutish man; who cannot or doth not seriously consider things, whose mind is corrupted by his sensual and brutish appetites; who is led by sense, and not by reason and faith.
This; the depth of Gods counsels and works mentioned Psa 92:5, or that particular work of God described Psa 92:7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. A brutish man knoweth notthatis, God’s works, so the Psalmist describes himself (Ps73:22) when amazed by the prosperity of the wicked, nowunderstood and explained.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A brutish man knoweth not,…. The lovingkindness of the Lord, and his faithfulness, nor how to show them forth, nor his great works and deep thoughts; man was made originally far above the brute creatures, and had them all under his dominion; but, sinning, became like the beasts that perish; and is in Scripture often compared to one or other of them, as the horse, ass, c. a brutish man is one that only knows things naturally, as brute beasts do, and in which also he corrupts himself he is governed by sense, and not by reason, and much less by faith, which he has not; one that indulges his sensual appetite, whose god is his belly, and minds nothing but earth and earthly things; and, though he has an immortal soul, has no more care of it, and concern about it, than a beast that has none; he lives like one, without fear or shame; and in some things acts below them, and at last dies, as they do, without any thought of, or regard unto, a future state:
neither doth a fool understand this; what is before said, or else what follows in the next verse, as Jarchi and others interpret it, concerning the end and event of the prosperity of the wicked; Arama interprets it of the Gentiles not knowing this law of the land, the sabbath, and so rejected it: a “fool” is the same with the “brutish” man, one that is so, not in things natural and civil, but in things moral, spiritual, and religious.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6 The foolish man shall not know them. This is added with propriety, to let us know that the fault lies with ourselves, in not praising the Divine judgments as we ought. For although the Psalmist had spoken of them as deep and mysterious, he here informs us that they would be discerned without difficulty, were it not for our stupidity and indifference. By the foolish, he means unbelievers in general, tacitly contrasting them with believers who are divinely enlightened by the word and Spirit. The ignorance and blindness to which he alludes have possession of all without exception, whose understandings have not been illuminated by Divine grace. It ought to be our prayer to God, that he would purge our sight, and qualify us for meditation upon his works. In short, the Psalmist vindicates the incomprehensible wisdom of God from that contempt which proud men have often cast upon it, charging them with folly and madness in acting such a part; and he would arouse us from that insensibility which is too prevalent, to a due and serious consideration of the mysterious works of God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) A brutish man.The Hebrew is apparently from a root meaning to eat, and so refers to the man of mere animal nature, who lives for his appetites.
Fool.From root meaning fat, hence gross, stupid.
In the one case the moral sense has not come into play at all, in the other it is overgrown by sensuality, so that spiritual discernment, insight into the glories of the Divine mind, is impossible.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Brutish man A stupid man. Compared to a brute because he lives to appetite, and enters not into the true reasons of things; not recognising God as creator and ruler. See Psa 49:12; Psa 49:20.
Fool The word signifies a dull, sluggish person, with the accessory idea of impiety, and answers to “brutish man” in the preceding line. Such men have no perception of the wise and wonderful moral government which is pledged to the certain overthrow of the wicked and the establishment of the righteous.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 92:6-7. A brutish man, &c. The foolish man doth not observe, nor the thoughtless man take notice of this: Psa 92:7. That when the wicked spring up like the grass, and all the practisers of idolatry flourish, it is that they may be destroyed for ever. See Green and Mudge. It is clear to a demonstration from these verses, that this psalm could not have been composed by Adam.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
How strikingly do these verses represent the state of the ungodly and unregenerate! What can they know, or what can they discover? Jesus, with all his beauty, glory, fulness, suitableness, and all-sufficiency, is nothing in their eyes, neither is there any loveliness that they should desire him. My soul! mark the properties of discriminating grace!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 92:6 A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
Ver. 6. A brutish man knoweth not ] A sottish sensualist, who hath his soul for salt only, to keep his body from putrefying (as we say of swine); he takes no knowledge of God’s great works, but grunts and goes his ways, contenting himself with a natural use of the creatures, as beasts do.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
A brutish: Psa 32:9, Psa 73:22, Psa 94:8, Pro 30:2, Isa 1:3, Jer 10:14, 1Co 2:14
a fool: Psa 14:1, Psa 49:10, Psa 75:4, Pro 1:22, Pro 24:7, Luk 12:20
Reciprocal: Jdg 2:10 – knew not Job 5:2 – the foolish Job 11:12 – For vain Psa 5:5 – The Psa 10:5 – thy judgments Psa 53:1 – fool Psa 107:17 – Fools Pro 1:32 – and the Pro 12:1 – he that Pro 28:5 – General Ecc 3:19 – that which Isa 5:12 – they regard Isa 19:11 – brutish Isa 44:18 – cannot Jer 51:17 – Every Mat 5:22 – fool Mat 11:19 – But 1Co 2:10 – the deep 2Pe 2:12 – as natural
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 92:6. A brutish man Who cannot, or doth not, seriously consider things; whose mind is corrupted by sensual and brutish appetites; who is led by sense, and not by reason and faith, knoweth not That thy works are so inexpressibly great and wonderful; neither doth a fool understand this The depth of wisdom displayed in thy counsels, and of power in thine operations, or the particular work of God, described Psa 92:7. Glorious are thy works, profound thy counsels, marvellous thy dispensations in nature, in providence, in grace; but all are lost to the man void of spiritual discernment; who, like his fellow-brutes, is bowed down to earth, and knoweth no pleasures but those of sense. Here he hath chosen his paradise, and set up his tabernacle; not considering that his tabernacle must shortly be taken down, and he must remove hence for ever. Horne. Reader, is this thy character?
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
92:6 A {e} brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
(e) That is, the wicked do not consider God’s works nor his judgments against them, and therefore most justly perish.