Psalms 53 commentary

This psalm is almost the same as the 14th. The scope of it is to convince us of our sins. God, by the psalmist, here shows us how bad we are, and proves this by his own certain knowledge. He speaks terror to persecutors, the worst of sinners. He speaks encouragement to God's persecuted people. How comes it that men are so bad? Because there is no fear of God before their eyes. Men's bad practices flow from their bad principles; if they profess to know God, yet in works, because in thoughts, they deny him. See the folly of sin; he is a fool, in the account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right, that harbours such corrupt thoughts. And see the fruit of sin; to what it brings men, when their hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. See also the faith of the saints, and their hope and power as to the cure of this great evil. There will come a Saviour, a great salvation, a salvation from sin. God will save his church from its enemies. He will save all believers from their own sins, that they may not be led captive by them, which will be everlasting joy to them. From this work the Redeemer had his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins, Mt 1:21.

PSALM 53

This psalm being almost identical with the fourteenth, it has not been considered necessary to subjoin any distinct commentary. Some slight differences will be found, on comparison, between this and the 14th psalm; the chief of which is in the 5th verse. For Calvin’s explanation of this verse, see volume 1, p. 199. It is not easy to say whether these variations are owing to transcribers, or whether they were made by some prophetic bard, who, during some afflictive period of Jewish history, adapted the 14th psalm, by a few alterations, to circumstances different from those for which it was originally composed. Theodoret is of this last opinion, and refers it to the alarm created by Sennacherib’s invasion under the reign of Hezekiah; others think it was written during the captivity — a conjecture which is founded on the last verse, “O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!”

To the chief musician upon Mahalath. What מהלת, mahalath, signifies, in the title of this and the 88th psalm, must be uncertain, the word not being found elsewhere. It is most probably the name of an instrument on which the psalm was to be sung; and it may fitly be deduced from חלל, perforavit, or incidit, either from the hollowness of the instrument, or farther, from the holes cut in it; in which respect חליל is ordinarily used for fistula, or tibia, a pipe.” — Hammond

A Psalm of David for instruction.

Psalm 53:1-6

1. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God: they have become corrupt, they have done abominable works: there is none that doeth good. 2. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. 3. Every one of them has gone back; they have together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? eating my people as they eat bread: “C’est, n’en font non plus de conscience, que de manger un morceau de pain.” — Fr. marg. “That is, they have no more scruple in doing this than in eating a morsel of bread.” they have not called upon God. 5. There were they in great fear where no fear was; for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them. 6. Who shall give the salvation of Israel out of Zion? When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, “C’est, son peuple captif.” — Fr. marg. “That is, his captive people.” Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall triumph.

PSALM 53

Psa 53:1-6. Upon Mahalath--(See on Psa 88:1, title). Why this repetition of the fourteenth Psalm is given we do not know.

1-4. with few verbal changes, correspond with Psa 14:1-4.

5. Instead of assurances of God's presence with the pious, and a complaint of the wicked, Psa 14:5, 6 portrays the ruin of the latter, whose "bones" even "are scattered" (compare Psa 141:7), and who are put to shame as contemptuously rejected of God.

The fool hath said in his heart - The whole of this Psalm, except a few inconsiderable differences, is the same as the fourteenth; and, therefore, the same notes and analysis may be applied to it; or, by referring to the fourteenth, the reader will find the subject of it amply explained. I shall add a few short notes.

Have done abominable iniquity - Instead of עול avel, evil or iniquity, eight of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. have עלילה alilah, work, which is nearly the same as in Psa xiv.

Have the workers of iniquity - For פעלי, poaley, workers seventy-two of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., with several ancient editions, the Chaldee, though not noticed in the Latin translation in the London Polyglot, the Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and the Arabic, with the Anglo-Saxon, add the word כל col, all, - All the workers of iniquity; which is the reading in the parallel place in Psa 14:1-7 : It may be necessary to observe, that the Chaldee, in the Antwerp and Paris Polyglots, and in that of Justinianus, has not the word כל col, All.

Have not Called upon God - אלהים Elohim; but many MSS. have יהוה Jehovah, Lord.

For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them - The reader will see, on comparing this with the fifth and sixth verses of Psa 14:1-7, that the words above are mostly added here to what is said there; and appear to be levelled against the Babylonians, who sacked and ruined Jerusalem, and who were now sacked and ruined in their turn. The sixth verse of Psa 14:1-7, "Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge," is added here by more than twenty of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS.

O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! - I have already shown that the proper translation is, "Who shall give from Zion salvation to Israel?" The word salvation is in the plural here, deliverances: but many MSS., with the Septuagint, Vulgate, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon, have it in the singular.

When God brinyeth back - When Jehovah bringeth back, is the reading of more than twenty of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., with the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee, and Justinianus' Polyglot Psalter.

For larger notes and an analysis, the reader is requested to refer to Psa 14:1-7; and for a comparison of the two Psalms he may consult Dr. Kennicott's Hebrew Bible, where, under Psa 14:1-7, in the lower margin, the variations are exhibited at one view.

Scattered - Hath not only broken their bones, their strength, and force, but also dispersed them hither and thither, so as there is no hope of a restoration. Thee - Against my people. Thou - Thou oh Jerusalem, which they besiege.

5. There were they in great fear, where no fear was : for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee , thou hast put them to shame , because God hath despised them .

(i. e.) Where there was no great nor sufficient Cause of Fear, See Levit. 26. 36. Deut. 28. 65. Iob 15. 21. Prov. 28. 1. They who designed to secure themselves, from all Fear and Danger by their Contempt of God, and by the Persecution of good Men, and by other wicked Courses, were by those means filled with the Terrors which they sought to avoid.

Hath not onely broken their Bones, (i. e.) Their strength and force, which is oft noted by the Bones, as Psal. 6. 2. and 31. 10. and 51. 8. but also dispersed them hither and thither, so as there is no Hopes of a Re-union and Restauration.

(i. e.) Against my People, expressed v. 4. or Israel, or Zion, as it is in the next Verse.

Thou Oh Zion or Ierusalem, which they besiege.

For the great and strange disappointment of their Hopes and Confidence. It was a great Reproach to them, for such numerous and mighty Forces, to be baffled and Conquered by those whom they thought to swallow up at a Morsel.

Or, Rejected them, Cursed them. Therefore it is no wonder if they could not stand before thee.

Marginal references: Heb. they [illegible: 1+ letters] ed a Fear.

Psa 53:1

The well-grounded asyndeton השׁהיתוּ התעיבוּ is here dismissed; and the expression is rendered more bombastic by the use of עול instead of עלילה. עול (the masculine to עולה), pravitas, is the accusative of the object (cf. Eze 16:52) to both verbs, which give it a twofold superlative attributive notion. Moreover, here השׁחיתו is accented with Mugrash in our printed texts instead of Tarcha. One Mugrash after another is contrary to all rule.

Psa 53:2

In both recensions of the Psalm the name of God occurs seven times. In Psa 14:1-7 it reads three times Elohim and four times Jahve; in the Psalm before us it is all seven times Elohim, which in this instance is a proper name of equal dignity with the name Jahve. Since the mingling of the two names in Psa 14:1-7 is perfectly intentional, inasmuch as Elohim in Psa 53:1, Psa 53:2 describes God as a Being most highly exalted and to be reverentially acknowledged, and in Psa 52:5 as the Being who is present among men in the righteous generation and who is mighty in their weakness, it becomes clear that David himself cannot be the author of this levelling change, which is carried out more rigidly than the Elohimic character of the Psalm really demands.

Psa 53:3

Instead of הכּל, the totality, we have כּלּו, which denotes each individual of the whole, to which the suffix, that has almost vanished (Psa 29:9) from the genius of the language, refers. And instead of סר, the more elegant סג, without any distinction in the meaning.

Psa 53:4

Here in the first line the word כּל־, which, as in Psa 5:6; Psa 6:9, is in its right place, is wanting. In Psa 14:1-7 there then follow, instead of two tristichs, two distichs, which are perhaps each mutilated by the loss of a line. The writer who has retouched the Psalm has restored the tristichic symmetry that had been lost sight of, but he has adopted rather violent means: inasmuch as he has fused down the two distichs into a single tristich, which is as closely as possible adapted to the sound of their letters.

Psa 53:5

The last two lines of this tristich are in letters so similar to the two distichs of Psa 14:1-7, that they look like an attempt at the restoration of some faded manuscript. Nevertheless, such a close following of the sound of the letters of the original, and such a changing of the same by means of an interchange of letters, is also to be found elsewhere (more especially in Jeremiah, and e.g., also in the relation of the Second Epistle of Peter to Jude). And the two lines sound so complete in themselves and full of life, that this way of accounting for their origin takes too low an estimate of them. A later poet, perhaps belonging to the time of Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah, has here adapted the Davidic Psalm to some terrible catastrophe that has just taken place, and given a special character to the universal announcement of judgment. The addition of לא־היה פּחד (supply אשׁר = אשׁר שׁם, Psa 84:4) is meant to imply that fear of judgment had seized upon the enemies of the people of God, when no fear, i.e., no outward ground for fear, existed; it was therefore חרדּת אלהים (1Sa 14:15), a God-wrought panic. Such as the case with the host of the confederates in the days of Jehoshaphat (2Ch 20:22-24); such also with the army of Sennacherib before Jerusalem (Isa 37:36). כּי gives the proof in support of this fright from the working of the divine power. The words are addressed to the people of God: Elohim hath scattered the bones (so that unburied they lie like dirt upon the plain a prey to wild beasts, Psa 141:7; Eze 6:5) of thy besieger, i.e., of him who had encamped against thee. חנך .eeht tsniaga instead of חנך = חנה עליך.So it has been explained by Menachem; whereas Dunash wrongly takes the ך of חנך as part of the root, overlooking the fact that with the suffix it ought rather to have been חנך instead of חנך. It is true that within the province of the verb âch does occur as a pausal masculine suffix instead of écha, with the preterite (Deu 6:17; Isa 30:19; Isa 55:5, and even out of pause in Jer 23:37), and with the infinitive (Deu 28:24; Eze 28:15), but only in the passage before us with the participle. Attached to the participle this masculine suffix closely approximates to the Aramaic; with proper substantives there are no examples of it found in Hebrew. Simson ha-Nakdan, in his חבור הקונים (a MS in Leipzig University Library, fol. 29 b), correctly observes that forms like שׁמך, עמּך, are not biblical Hebrew, but Aramaic, and are only found in the language of the Talmud, formed by a mingling of the Hebrew and Aramaic.

By the might of his God, who has overthrown them, the enemies of His people, Israel has put them to shame, i.e., brought to nought in a way most shameful to them, the project of those who were so sure of victory, who imagined they could devour Israel as easily and comfortably as bread. It is clear that in this connection even Psa 53:5 receives a reference to the foreign foes of Israel originally alien to the Psalm, so that consequently Mic 3:3 is no longer a parallel passage, but passages like Num 14:9, our bread are they (the inhabitants of Canaan); and Jer 30:16, all they that devour thee shall be devoured.

Psa 53:6

The two texts now again coincide. Instead of ישׁוּעת, we here have ישׁעות; the expression is strengthened, the plural signifies entire, full, and final salvation. Consolation in the Presence of Bloodthirsty Adversaries (In the Hebrew, Psa 54:1-2 comprise the designation 'To the leader, with the accompaniment of stringed instruments, a Maskil of David...'; from then on Psa 54:1-7 in English translation corresponds to vv. 3-9 in the Hebrew)

Here again we have one of the eight Psalms dates from the time of Saul’s persecution - a Maskı̂l, like the two preceding Psalms, and having points of close contact both with Psa 53:1-6 (cf. Psa 54:5 with Psa 53:3) and with Psa 52:1-9 (cf. the resemblance in the closing words of. v. 8 and Ps 52:11): To the Precentor, with the accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid., on Psa 4:1), a meditation, by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul: Is not David hidden among us? Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, had escaped to David, who with six hundred men was then in the fortified town of Keïla (Keilah), but received through Abiathar the divine answer, that the inhabitants would give him up if Saul should lay siege to the town. Thereupon we find him in the wilderness of Zîph; the Ziphites betray him and pledge themselves to capture him, and thereby he is in the greatest straits, out of which he was only rescued by an invasion of the Philistines, which compelled Saul to retreat (1Sa 23:19.). The same history which the earlier narrator of the Books of Samuel relates here, we meet with once more in 1 Sam. 26, related with fuller colouring. The form of the inscription of the Psalm is word for word the same as both in 1Sa 23:19 and in 1Sa 26:1; the annals are in all three passages the ultimate source of the inscription.

Human Depravity.

1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. 2 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. 3 Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God. 5 There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them. 6 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

This psalm was opened before, and therefore we shall here only observe, in short, some things concerning sin, in order to the increasing of our sorrow for it and hatred of it. 1. The fact of sin. Is that proved? Can the charge be made out? Yes, God is a witness to it, an unexceptionable witness: from the place of his holiness he looks on the children of men, and sees how little good there is among them, v. 2. All the sinfulness of their hearts and lives in naked and open before him. 2. The fault of sin. Is there any harm in it? Yes, it is iniquity (v. 1, 4); it is an unrighteous thing; it is that which there is no good in (v. 1, 3); it is an evil thing; it is the worst of evils; it is that which makes this world such an evil world as it is; it is going back from God, v. 3. 3. The fountain of sin. How comes it that men are so bad? Surely it is because there is no fear of God before their eyes: they say in their hearts, "There is no God at all to call us to an account, none that we need to stand in awe of." Men's bad practices flow from their bad principles; if they profess to know God, yet in works, because in thoughts, they deny him. 4. The folly of sin. He is a fool (in the account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right) that harbours such corrupt thoughts. Atheists, whether in opinion or practice, are the greatest fools in the world. Those that do not seek God do not understand; they are like brute-beasts that have no understanding; for man is distinguished from the brutes, not so much by the powers of reason as by a capacity for religion. The workers of iniquity, whatever they pretend to, have no knowledge; those may truly be said to know nothing that do not know God, v. 4. 5. The filthiness of sin. Sinners are corrupt (v. 1); their nature is vitiated and spoiled, and the more noble the nature is the more vile it is when it is depraved, as that of the angels. Corruptio optimi est pessima—The best things, when corrupted, become the worst. Their iniquity is abominable; it is odious to the holy God, and it renders them so; whereas otherwise he hates nothing that he has made. It makes men filthy, altogether filthy. Wilful sinners are offensive in the nostrils of the God of heaven and of the holy angels. What decency soever proud sinners pretend to, it is certain that wickedness is the greatest defilement in the world. 6. The fruit of sin. See to what a degree of barbarity it brings men at last; when men's hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin see their cruelty to their brethren, that are bone of their bone—because they will not run with them to the same excess of riot, they eat them up as they eat bread; as if they had not only become beasts, but beasts of prey. And see their contempt of God at the same time. They have not called upon him, but scorn to be beholden to him. 7. The fear and shame that attend sin (v. 5): There were those in great fear who had made God their enemy; their own guilty consciences frightened them, and filled them with horror, though otherwise there was no apparent cause of fear. The wicked flees when none pursues. See the ground of this fear; it is because God has formerly scattered the bones of those that encamped against his people, not only broken their power and dispersed their forces, but slain them, and reduced their bodies to dry bones, like those scattered at the grave's mouth, Ps. cxli. 7. Such will be the fate of those that lay siege to the camp of the saints and the beloved city, Rev. xx. 9. The apprehensions of this cannot but put those into frights that eat up God's people. This enables the virgin, the daughter of Zion, to put them to shame, and expose them, because God has despised them, to laugh at them, because he that sits in heaven laughs at them. We need not look upon those enemies with fear whom God looks upon with contempt. If he despises them, we may. 8. The faith of the saints, and their hope and power touching the cure of this great evil, v. 6. There will come a Saviour, a great salvation, a salvation from sin. Oh that it might be hastened! for it will bring in glorious and joyful times. There were those in the Old-Testament times that looked and hoped, that prayed and waited, for this redemption. (1.) God will, in due time, save his church from the sinful malice of its enemies, which will bring joy to Jacob and Israel, that have long been in a mournful melancholy state. Such salvations were often wrought, and all typical of the everlasting triumphs of the glorious church. (2.) He will save all believers from their own iniquities, that they may not be led captive by them, which will be everlasting matter of joy to them. From this work the Redeemer had his name—Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, Matt. i. 21.

PSAL. LIII.

To the master of the musicke on Machalath, an instructing Psalme of David.

THe foole saith in his heart there is no God: they have corrupted, and have made themselves abominable with injurious evill; there is none that doth good.

God from the heavens looked downe upon the sonnes of Adam, to see if there were any that understandeth, that seeketh God. Every one is gone backe, together they are become unprofitable: there is none that doth good, none, not one. Doe they not know, that worke painfull iniquitie, that eat my people as they eat bread, they call not upon God. There they dreaded a dread where no dread was, for God hath scattered the bones of him that besiegeth thee; thou hast made them abashed, for God hath contemptuously cast them off. Who will give out of Sion the salvations of Israel? when God returneth the captivitie of his people, Iakob shall be glad, Israel shall rejoyce.

Annotations. MAchalath] this seemeth to be a kind of instrument much like Nechiloth, Psal. 5. 1. It may also be interpreted sicknesse or infirmitie. So in the title of Psal. 88. an instructing Psalme] Maskil: see Psal. 32. 1. This Psalme is the same in effect, and almost in words, with the 14 Psalme, some few things changed. See the notes there. Vers. 2. with injurious evill] so the Greeke saith, with iniquities they are made abominable. Or, wee may read, they have done abominable [illegible: 1 span]. Vers. 4. every one is gone backe] Hebr. All he, that is, Each one, or whosoever he be, in particular. In Psalm. 14. 3. he speaketh generally, all is departed. Vers. 6. where no dread was] that is, no cause of droad. God giveth to the wicked a trembling [illegible: 1 letter]eart, Deut. 28. 65. and a sound of feare is in their [illegible: 1 letter]ares, Iob 15. 21. yea the sound of a lease chaseth them, and they flee when none pursueth, Lev. 26. 36. Prov. 28. 1. of him that besiegeth thee] or, that pitcheth c[illegible: 2 letters]pe against thee, speaking to the godly man. The Greeke turneth it, of men-pleas[illegible: 1 letter]rs. hast made them abashed] or, shalt make abashed, (for it is a promise, but set downe as already performed, for the more assurance,) or, shalt put to confusion, to wit, them, or their counsell, as they would have confounded thine. See Psal. 14. 6. Vers. 7. who will give] a wish; O that therewere given, &c. See the notes on Psal. 14. 7. salvations] that is, full salvation, health or deliverance.

PSAL. LIII.

MAſchil, a Pſalm of David] Purpoſely ſet down here the ſecond time, (ſee Pſal. 14.) to inſtruct what every man is by nature, and that hee who is ſcholar to his own carnal reaſon, is ſure to have a fool to his maſter. The Heathens are very obſtinate in propugning mans nature, witneſs Cicero, and both the Senecaes, ſaying, that if men would but follow the bent of their own natures, they could not do amiſs. And we have much ado to perſwade people that their Natures are ſo foul, their ways ſo wicked, &c. twice therefore is this Pſalm recorded, that all may be convinced, that there is no ſafety in ſuch a condition, nothing better than to haſten out of it.

Verſ. 1, 2. The Fool, &c.] See the Notes on Pſal. 14.1, 2.

Verſ. 3. Every one of them is gone back] Diogenes in a great aſſembly going backward of purpoſe, and ſeeing every one laughing him to ſcorn, asked them aloud, if they were not aſhamed ſo to do? ſith he went backward but once, they did ſo all the days of their life.

Verſ. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?] Etiam ſcient in fine, & dolebunt, ſaith one, Know they ſhall to their ſorrow in the end, that they have eaten that on earth which they muſt diſgeſt in hel.

Verſ. 5. There were they in great fear] Heb. They feared a fear. God they feared not, of men they were greatly feared, and yet here they feared a fear where no fear was, viz. without themſelves; only facti ſunt à corde ſuo fugitivi, they feared and fled before their own conſciences, their own trembling heart, Deut. 28.65. the ſound of fear that is in their ears, Job 15.21. the ſound of a leaf chaſeth them, Levit. 26.36. they flee when none purſueth, Prov. 28.1. Naturaliſts tell us of a certain little bird, quae fertur metu ne in ipſam coelum ruat, imponere ſibi ſemper dormienti alterum pedem, which for fear leſt the Skie ſhould fall on her head, ſleepeth ſtill with one foot laid upon her head. The Gaules that dwelt neer the Adriatick Sea, being asked by Alexander the Great, what they moſt feared? anſwered, ne ſupra ſe coelum corruat, leſt the Skie ſhould fall upon them. Galen writeth of a certain Melancholick fellow, who hearing that Atlas ſupported Heaven with his ſhoulders, was therefore ſore afraid leſt he ſhould faint under the burthen; and therefore carried his arm before him to ſave his head. Heraclides out of Anacreon telleth of one Artemon a timorous man, who kept home as much as might be, having ever a couple of ſervants to hold a brazen buckler over his head, leſt any thing ſhould fall upon him from above. And if he were at any time neceſſitated to go abroad, he was carried in a horſe-litter that touched the ground almoſt;Piut. in Pericl[illegible: 1 letter] and was thereupon called Periphoretus.

For thou haſt ſcattered the bones] i. e. The ſtrength, the ſtrong troops ſaith the Chaldee; they want decent burial, as Jer. 22. ſaith the Syriack.

Thou haſt put them to ſhame] viz. The poor afflicted, Pſal. 14.5. becauſe

God hath deſpiſed them] i. e. Subjected them to the contempt of the wicked.

Verſ. 6. O that the ſalvation] Heb. Salvations; Indicat plenam ſatutem, ſaith Kimchi.

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. And this he does because he is a fool. Being a fool he speaks according to his nature; being a great fool he meddles with a great subject, and comes to a wild conclusion. The atheist is, morally as well as mentally, a fool, a fool in the heart as well as in the head; a fool in morals as well as in philosophy. With the denial of God as a starting point, we may well conclude that the fool's progress is a rapid, riotous, raving, ruinous one. He who begins at impiety is ready for anything.

No God, being interpreted, means no law, no order, no restraint to lust, no limit to passion. Who but a fool would be of this mind? What a Bedlam, or rather what an Aceldama, would the world become if such lawless principles came to be universal! He who heartily entertains an irreligious spirit, and follows it out to its legitimate issues is a son of Belial, dangerous to the commonwealth, irrational, and despicable. Every natural man is, more or less a denier of God. Practical atheism is the religion of the race.

Corrupt are they. They are rotten. It is idle to compliment them as sincere doubters, and amiable thinkers —they are putrid. There is too much dainty dealing nowadays with atheism; it is not a harmless error, it is an offensive, putrid sin, and righteous men should look upon it in that light. All men being more or less atheistic in spirit, are also in that degree corrupt; their heart is foul, their moral nature is decayed.

And have done abominable iniquity. Bad principles soon lead to bad lives. One does not find virtue promoted by the example of your Voltaires and Tom Paines. Those who talk so abominably as to deny their Maker will act abominably when it serves their turn. It is the abounding denial and forgetfulness of God among men which is the source of the unrighteousness and crime which we see around us. If all men are not outwardly vicious it is to be accounted for by the power of other and better principles, but left to itself the "No God" spirit so universal in mankind would produce nothing but the most loathsome actions.

There is none that doeth good. The one typical fool is reproduced in the whole race; without a single exception men have forgotten the right way. This accusation twice made in the Psalm, and repeated a third time by the inspired apostle Paul, is an indictment most solemn and sweeping, but he who makes it cannot err, he knows what is in man; neither will he lay more to man's charge than he can prove.

God looked down from heaven upon the children of men. He did so in ages past, and he has continued his steadfast gaze from his all surveying observatory. To see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Had there been one understanding man, one true lover of his God, the divine eye would have discovered him. Those pure heathens and admirable savages that men talk so much of, do not appear to have been visible to the eye of Omniscience, the fact being that they live nowhere but in the realm of fiction. The Lord did not look for great grace, but only for sincerity and right desire, but these he found not. He saw all nations, and all men in all nations, and all hearts in all men, and all motions of all hearts, but he saw neither a clear head nor a clean heart among them all. Where God's eyes see no favourable sign we may rest assured there is none.

Every one of them is gone back. The whole mass of manhood, all of it, is gone back. In the fourteenth Psalm it was said to turn aside, which was bad enough, but here it is described as running in a diametrically opposite direction. The life of unregenerate manhood is in direct defiance of the law of God, not merely apart from it but opposed to it. They are altogether become filthy. The whole lump is soured with an evil leaven, fouled with an all pervading pollution, made rank with general putrefaction. Thus, in God's sight, our atheistic nature is not the pardoned thing that we think it to be. Errors as to God are not the mild diseases which some account them, they are abominable evils. Fair is the world to blind eyes, but to the all seeing Jehovah it is otherwise. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. How could there be, when the whole mass was leavened with so evil a leaven? This puts an end to the fictions of the innocent savage, the lone patriarch, "the Indian whose untutored mind, "etc. Pope's verse —

"Father of all, in every age;

In every clime adored,

By saint, by savage, or by sage,

Jehovah, Jove, or Lord, " —evaporates in smoke. The fallen race of man, left to its own energy, has not produced a single lover of God or doer of holiness, nor will it ever do so. Grace must interpose, or not one specimen of humanity will be found to follow after the good and true. This is God's verdict after looking down upon the race. Who shall gainsay it?

Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? They have no wisdom, certainly, but even so common a thing as knowledge might have restrained them. Can they not see that there is a God? that sin is an evil thing? that persecution recoils upon a man's own head? Are they such utter fools as not to know that they are their own enemies, and are ruining themselves? Who eat up my people as they eat bread. Do they not see that such food will be hard to digest, and will bring on them a horrible vomit when God deals with them in justice? Can they imagine that the Lord will allow them to devour his people with impunity? They must be insane indeed. They have not called upon God. They carry on their cruel enterprises against the saints, and use every means but that which is essential to success in every case, namely, the invocation of God. In this respect persecutors are rather more consistent than Pharisees who devoured widow's houses, and prayed too. The natural man, like Ishmael, loves not the spiritual seed, is very jealous of it, and would fain destroy it, because it is beloved of God; yet the natural man does not seek after the like favour from God. The carnal mind envies those who obtain mercy, and yet it will not seek mercy itself. It plays the dog in the manger. Sinners will out of a malicious jealousy devour those who pray, but yet they will not pray themselves.

There were they in great fear, where no fear was. David sees the end of the ungodly, and the ultimate triumph of the spiritual seed. The rebellious march in fury against the gracious, but suddenly they are seized with a causeless panic. The once fearless boasters tremble like the leaves of the aspen, frightened at their own shadows. In this sentence and this verse, this Psalm differs much from the fourteenth. It is evidently expressive of a higher state of realisation in the poet, he emphasises the truth by stronger expressions. Without cause the wicked are alarmed. He who denies God is at bottom a coward, and in his infidelity he is like the boy in the churchyard who "whistles to keep his courage up." For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee. When the wicked see the destruction of their fellows they may well quail. Mighty were the hosts which besieged Zion, but they were defeated, and their unburied carcasses proved the prowess of the God whose being they dared to deny. Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them. God's people may well look with derision upon their enemies since they are the objects of divine contempt. They scoff at us, but we may with far greater reason laugh them to scorn, because the Lord our God considers them as less than nothing and vanity.

Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion. Would God the final battle were well over. When will the Lord avenge his own elect? When will the long oppression of the saints come to its close, and glory crown their heads? The word salvation is in the plural, to show its greatness. When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. Inasmuch as the yoke has been heavy, and the bondage cruel, the liberty will be happy, and the triumph joyous. The second advent and the restoration of Israel are our hope and expectation. We have attempted to throw into rhyme the last two verses of this Psalm:

The foes of Zion quake for fright.

Where no fear was they quail;

For well they know that sword of might

Which cuts through coats of mail.

The Lord of old defiled their shields,

And all their spears he scorned;

Their bones lay scattered over the fields,

Unburied and unmourned.

Let Zion's foes be filled with shame;

Her sons are blessed of God;

Though scoffers now despise their name,

The Lord shall break the rod.

Oh! would our God to Zion turn,

God with salvation clad;

Then Judah's harps should music learn,

And Israel be glad.

Whole Psalm. Probably the two Psalms refer to different periods; the fourteenth to the earlier portion of the world, or of Jewish history; the fifty-third to a later, perhaps a still future time. Jehovah, through Christ, is frequently said to turn to the world to see what its condition is, and always with the same result. "All flesh had corrupted its way" in the days of Noah, and, "when the Son of Man cometh" again, it is intimated that he will scarcely "find faith on the earth." The two Psalms also apply to different persons. The former refers to the enemies of God, who tremble when his presence is made known; they are in great fear, because vengeance is about to be inflicted on them for their sins. Here the Supreme Being is called Jehovah. In the fifty-third Psalm the interests of God's people are principally kept in view. The ungodly are regarded as plotting against the righteous, and it is in this relation their case is considered. The fear that was just and reasonable in the fourteenth Psalm, because it concerned the unrighteous under a sense of impending judgment, is said to be unfounded in the fifty-third, because God was in the midst of his people, scattering the bones of their enemies, and showing himself, not as Jehovah, but as the Elohim of his redeemed children. The fourteenth Psalm contemplates judgment; the fifty-third deliverance; and thus, though seemingly alike, a different lesson is conveyed in each. The Psalm, then, descriptive of the universal and continuous corruption of man's nature, very properly occupies an introductory place in a series intended to represent the enemies of Messiah, who oppose his church during his absence, and who are to attempt to resist his power when he comes again. Before entering upon an examination of the character of these opponents, this Psalm teaches that, until changed by grace, all are gone astray; "there is none righteous, no, not one, "and that for all there is but one remedy, the Deliverer coming out of Zion, who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. R. H. Ryland, M.A., in "The Psalms restored to Messiah," 1853.

Whole Psalm. The state of earth ought to be deeply felt by us. The world lying in wickedness should occupy much of our thoughts. The enormous guilt, the inconceivable pollution, the ineffably provoking Atheism of this fallen province of God's dominion, might be a theme for our ceaseless meditation and mourning. To impress it the more on us, therefore, the Psalm repeats what has been already sung in Psalm 14. It is the same Psalm, with only a few words varied; it is "line upon line, precept upon precept; "the harp's most melancholy, most dismal notes again sounded in our ear. Not that the Lord would detain us always, or disproportionately long, amid scenes of sadness; for elsewhere he repeats in like manner that most triumphant melody, Ps 40:6-12 108:6-13; but it is good to return now and then to the open field on which we all were found, cast out in loathsome degradation. Andrew A. Bonar, in "Christ and his Church in the Book of Psalms," 1859.

Whole Psalm. A second edition of the fourteenth Psalm, with variations more or less important, in each verse. That either of these compositions is an incorrect copy of the other is highly improbable, because two such copies of the same Psalm would not have been retained in the collection, and because the variations are too uniform, consistent, and significant, to be the work of chance or mere traditional corruption. That the changes were deliberately made by a later writer is improbable, because such a liberty would hardly have been taken with a Psalm of David, and because the latter form, in that case, would either have been excluded from the Psalter or substituted for the first form, or immediately connected with it. The only satisfactory hypothesis is, that the original author afterwards rewrote it, with such modifications as were necessary to bring out certain points distinctly, but without any intention to supersede the use of the original composition, which therefore still retains its place in the collection. Thus supposition is confirmed by the titles, which ascribe both Psalms to David... As a general fact, it may be stated, that the variations in the Psalm before us are such as render the expression stronger, bolder, and in one or two cases more obscure and difficult. J. A. Alexander, 1850.

Whole Psalm. This Psalm is a variation of Psalm 14. In each of these two Psalms the name of God occurs seven times. In Psalm 14, it is three times Elohim, and four times Jehovah; in the present Psalm it is seven times Elohim. Christopher Wordsworth, 1868.

Whole Psalm. God, in this Psalm, "speaketh twice, "for this is the same almost verbatim with the fourteenth Psalm. The scope of it is to convince us of our sins, to set us blushing, and to set us trembling because of them: there is need of "line upon line" to this purpose. God, by the psalmist, here shows —

1. The fact of sin. God is a witness to it. He looks down from heaven and sees all the sinfulness of men's hearts and lives. All this is open and naked before him.

2. The fault of sin. It is iniquity (Ps 53:1,4); it is an unrighteous thing; it is that in which there is no good (Ps 53:1,3); it is going back from God (Ps 53:3).

3. The fountain of sin. How comes it that men are so bad? Surely, it is because there is no fear of God before their eyes; they say in their hearts, there is no God at all to call us to account, none that we need to stand in awe of. Men's bad practices flow from their bad principles.

4. The folly of sin. He is a fool (in the account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right) who harbours such corrupt thoughts. The "workers of iniquity, "whatever they pretend to, "have no knowledge; "they may truly be said to know nothing that do not know God. Ps 53:4.

5. The filthiness of sin. Sinners are "corrupt" (Ps 53:1); their nature is vitiated and spoiled; their iniquity is "abominable; "it is odious to the holy God, and renders them so; whereas, otherwise he "hates nothing that he has made." What neatness soever proud sinners pretend to, it is certain that wickedness is the greatest nastiness in the world.

6. The fruit of sin. See to what a degree of barbarity it brings men at last! See their cruelty to their brethren! They "eat them up as they eat bread." As if they had not only become beasts, but beasts of prey. See their contempt of God at the same time —they have not called upon him, but scorn to be beholden to him.

7. The fear and shame that attends sin (Ps 53:5). "There were they in great fear" who had made God their enemy; their own guilty consciences frightened them and filled them with horror. This enables the virgin, the daughter of Zion, to put them to shame and expose them, "because God hath despised them."

8. The faith of the saints, and their hope and power touching this great evil (Ps 53:6). There will come a Saviour, a great salvation, a salvation from sin. O that it might be hastened! for it will bring in glorious and joyful times. There were those in Old Testament times that looked and hoped, that prayed and waited for this redemption. Such salvations were often wrought, and all typical of the everlasting triumphs of the glorious church. Condensed from Matthew Henry, 1662-1714.

The fool hath said in his heart, etc. It is in his heart he says this; this is the secret desire of every unconverted bosom. If the breast of God were within the reach of men, it would be stabbed a million of times in one moment. When God was manifest in the flesh, he was altogether lovely; he did no sin; he went about continually doing good: and yet they took him and hung him on a tree; they mocked him and spat upon him. And this is the way men would do with God again. Learn —First. The fearful depravity of your heart. I venture to say there is not an unconverted man present, who has the most distant idea of the monstrous wickedness that is now within his breast. Stop till you are in hell, and it will break out unrestrained. But still let me tell you what it is —you have a heart that would kill God if you could. If the bosom of God were nor within your reach, and one blow would rid the universe of God, you have a heart fit to do the deed. Second. The amazing love of Christ —"While we were enemies, Christ died for us." Robert Murray Macheyne, 1813-1843.

There is no God. ny'is properly a noun, and means nonentity, or nonexistence: "nothing of God, "or "no such thing as God." It cannot be explained as a wish —"No God!" i.e., O that there were no God! —because ny'in usage always includes the substantive verb, and denies the existence, or at least the presence, of the person or thing to which it is prefixed. This is also clear from the use of the same word in the last clause, where its sense is unambiguous. J. A. Alexander on Psalm XIV.

There is no God. Thus denying the agency of Providence, for the word Elohim, here translated God, means judge (compare Ex 22:28), and has reference not to the essence, but to the providence of the Deity. Daniel Cresswell, 1776-1844.

It is to be noted that Scripture saith, The fool hath said in his heart, and not "thought in his heart; "that is to say, he doth not so fully think it in judgment, as he hath a good will to be of that belief; for seeing that it makes not for him that there should be a God, he doth seek by all means accordingly to persuade and resolve himself, and studies to affirm, prove, and verify it to himself as some theme or position, all which labour, notwithstanding that sparkle of our creation light, whereby men acknowledge a Deity, burneth still within; and in vain doth he strive utterly to alienate it or put it out, so that it is out of the corruption of his heart and will, and not out of the natural apprehension of his brain and conceit, that he doth set down his opinion, as the comical poet saith, "Then came my mind to be of my opinion, "as if himself and his mind had been two diverse things; therefore, the atheist hath rather said, and held it in his heart, than thought or believed in his heart that there is no God. Francis Bacon (1560-1626), in "Thoughts on Holy Scripture".

That did seek God. Although all things are full of God, yet is he to be sought for of godly men, by reason of the darkness which compasseth our minds through original sin. For both the flesh, and the senses, and earthly affections do hinder us from knowing of him, yea, though he be present. Peter Martyr, 1500-1562.

Verses 2-3. Their sin is described in gradation. They do not understand, because a true knowledge of things divine forms the basis of proper conduct towards God; they do not ask for God, because they only care for him whose clear and sure insight apprehends him as their highest possession; they are gone aside, because he who cares not for him is sure to get estranged from him, and to deviate from his paths; and they are altogether become filthy (i.e., worthless), because man's proper strength and fitness for virtue must well from the fountain of communion with God. Agustus F. Tholuck.

They are altogether become filthy. wxlag neelachu. They are become sour and rancid; a metaphor taken from milk that has fermented and turned sour, rancid, and worthless. Adam Clarke, 1760-1832.

(second clause). The word wxlag, rendered they are become filthy, might be read, they have become rotten or putrid. John Morison, 1829.

(last clause). Evil men are not only guilty of sins of commission, having done abominable iniquity, but they are guilty of many sins of omission. In fact, they have never done one holy act. They may be moral, decent, amiable, they may belong to the church; but there is none that doeth good, no, not one. William S. Plumer.

Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? Conscience is a means to curb and restrain, control and rebuke corrupt nature, and the swelling forms of it. It is not there as a native inhabitant, but as a garrison planted in a rebellious town by the great Governor of the world, to keep the rebellion of the inhabitants within compass, who else would break forth into present confusion. David, speaking of the corruption of man by nature, after this question, Whether there be not some knowledge to discover their evil doings to them? yes, says he, Have they no knowledge, who eat up my people as bread Yes; and therefore (Ps 53:5) They are often in fear, God having placed this there to overcome them with fear; and by that to restrain them from many outrages against God's people, whom in their desires, and sometimes practice, they eat up as bread Therefore this knowledge is put in as a bridle to corrupt nature, as a hook was put into Sennacherib's nostrils (Isa 37:29) to rule and tame men, and overcome them with fear. If they had no knowledge they would eat up one another, and the church, as bread; but there is their fear, says he, that is, thence it comes to pass they are kept in awe Thomas Goodwin, 1600-1679.

Who eat up my people as they eat bread C'est, n'en font non plus de conscience, que de manger un morceau de pain. (That is, they have no more scruple in doing this than in eating a morsel of bread.) French Margin.

My people. David may call the serious his people, because of his regard for them, and because they were his supporters and friends. They adhered to him in all his afflictions. ("Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God, " Ru 1:16.) Benjamin Boothroyd, 1836.

There were they in great fear, where no fear was. There is a fond and superstitious fear, when men are afraid of their shadows, as Pisander was afraid of meeting his own soul; and Antenor would never go forth of the doors, but either in a coach closed upon all sides, or with a target borne over his head, fearing, I guess, lest the sky should fall down upon it, according to that in the Psalm, They fear where no fear is. John King, 1559-1621.

There were they in great fear, where no fear was. Behold how fearful a hell a wounded conscience is! For why is Cain afraid to be killed, seeing there is none living to perform it, but his father and mother, and perhaps some women children, which the Scripture nameth not? It is God's just judgment, that they that will not fear the Lord who is only to be feared, should stand in fear of them who are justly no cause of fear. He that lately feared not to kill his brother, is now made a terror to himself. Hereby also we may consider what is the repentance of the wicked; they see perhaps the fault together with the punishment, but they admit the fault and lament the punishment. Nicholas Gibbens, 1602.

See the hints on Psalm 14.

The fool's inside and outside.

1. The folly of atheism. He who says there is no God is a fool.

(a) No reason for the assertion.

(b) All reason against it.

2. The seat of atheism is the heart; it is a moral unbelief not an intellectual, the language of the will not of the understanding.

3. Cause of atheism.

(a) Loving evil.

(b) Hating good. G. R.

1. God has not left the world to itself.

2. He takes particular notice of all that is in it.

3. The only thing he values in it is the knowledge of himself. G. R.

How far knowledge is and is not a restraint upon ungodliness.

It is a sin not to call upon God.

1. What is it to call upon God? Three things required in it.

(a) A drawing near to him.

(b) A speaking to him. 1Sa 1:12-13.

(c) A praying to him.

2. How should we call upon God?

(a) Reverently, considering (1) God's holiness and greatness; (2) our own sin and weakness. Ge 18:27.

(b) Understandingly. 1Co 14:15. (1) Of what we ask. (2) Of whom we ask it.

(c) Submissively.

(d) Believingly. Mr 11:24 Jas 1:6.

(e) Sincerely. Jas 4:3.

(f) Constantly. (1) So as to be always in a praying frame. (2) So as to take all occasions of pouring forth our souls in prayer to God. (3) So as to let no day slip without prayer.

3. How it appears to be a sin not to call upon God.

(a) He hath commanded it. Isa 55:6 1 Ti 2:8.

(b) Because praying is one of the principal parts of worship we owe to God.

4. Who are guilty of this sin?

(a) All who pray to any one else but God.

(b) All who neglect either public, private, or family prayer.

(c) All who pray, but not aright. William Beveridge (1636-1708), in "Thesaurus Theologicus."

1. What persecutors are to themselves-their own tormentors, full even of groundless fears.

2. What they are to one another-though in concert here, their bones are scattered hereafter.

3. What they are to those whom they persecute —made ashamed before them.

4. What they are to God-a contempt and derision. G. R.

1. There is salvation for Israel.

2. That salvation is in Zion.

3. Their salvation remains there when they are banished from it.

4. Their joy becomes greater when they return. G. R.