Psalms 52—67
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Scripture Reading: Psa. 52; Psa. 53; Psa. 54; Psa. 55; Psa. 56; Psa. 57
With the divine revelation in the Psalms, there are stations for the revelation concerning Christ. The last of these stations which we have covered thus far is Psalm 45, and the next will be Psalm 68. Between Psalm 45 and Psalm 68 there are twenty-two psalms. As we have seen, Psalms 46—48 are concerned with the city, and Psalms 49—51 deal with three categories of persons regarding the enjoyment of God in Christ. Before we come to Psalm 68, we need to pass through sixteen psalms, and we will devote three messages to these psalms. Psalms 52—67 present us with a "marsh," a kind of "muddy" situation that is hard for us to pass through. Nevertheless, we need to get through these sixteen psalms. In this message we will consider Psalms 52—57.
These psalms were treasured by God's people in ancient times, with each psalm being valued as a "gem." Otherwise, these six psalms would not have been included in the book of the Psalms. Although some have highly appreciated these psalms, I find it difficult to be impressed with them. Furthermore, because these psalms are very much alike, I also find it difficult to see how each of them differs from the others. Moreover, it is hard to say what they talk about. The sentiment here is surely strong, mixed, and complex. Therefore, these psalms may be considered the pious expressions of the psalmists uttered out of their complex sentiments while enjoying God in His house. Let us now consider these psalms one by one.
The superscription to Psalm 52 calls it "a Maschil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, David has come to the house of Ahimelech." The word "Maschil" may indicate that this is a psalm of instruction.
In the first seven verses the psalmist condemns the evil man, and in the last two verses the psalmist speaks concerning his enjoyment of God in His house.
"Why do you boast in evil, O mighty one?/God's lovingkindness endures continually" (v. 1). Who is this mighty one? Why, after referring to the mighty man, does the psalmist immediately go on to speak of God's lovingkindness? There seems to be no connection here.
In verses 2 through 7 it appears that David, the psalmist, is full of hatred for this mighty one. Although David does not say that God will curse this one, he says, "God will likewise bring you down forever;/He will take you and pluck you up from your tent,/And uproot you from the land of the living" (v. 5). David's word here is very strong. How could a godly man pray in such a way concerning one of his persecutors?
In verses 8 and 9 David continued, "But I, like a flourishing olive tree/In the house of God,/Trust in God's lovingkindness/Forever and ever./I will give You thanks forever,/For You have acted;/And I will hope in Your name in the presence of Your godly ones,/For it is good." Since David was flourishing in God's house and since he trusted in God's lovingkindness, why did he still need to pray so strongly regarding the mighty one?
What should we think of David? After reading such a psalm as this, will we continue to consider him to be perfectly spiritual? When I was young, I appraised David highly, but after studying the Bible for so many years, my appreciation of him has decreased. On the one hand, David enjoyed God in His house, even as an olive tree flourishing in the dwelling of God; on the other hand, in his prayer he condemned the evil man, saying that God would uproot him from the land of the living. How could David at the same time enjoy God and hate one of his enemies to the uttermost? Surely this mixture of hate for an enemy and praise to God for His enjoyment of God in His house is not right. How could a godly man mix together hatred to his enemy and praise to God in the same psalm? This is what David did in Psalm 52.
The superscription to Psalm 53 says, "To the choir director: according to mahalath. A Maschil of David." Concerning "mahalath," the meaning of the Hebrew is obscure. It may refer to a kind of sad melody. This psalm of instruction refers to a time when David was being attacked by the Gentiles.
In verses 1 through 5 we are told that none among all the sons of men was doing good. Here David is saying that none among the Gentiles is doing good. This psalm puts all the Gentiles into a "ditch" and uplifts the Jews to heaven.
Verse 1 says, "The fool has said in his heart,/There is no God./They are corrupt and do abominable deeds;/There is none who does good." This verse refers not to Jews but to Gentiles, and the fool here is a Gentile. Paul quoted this verse, along with verses 2 and 3 in Romans 3:10-12, referring to all men.
In verse 4 David goes on to say, "Have they no knowledge, all who do iniquity,/Who devour my people as they would devour bread/And do not call upon God?" Here David seems to be saying that this is God's word to the Gentiles.
In verse 6 we see that the psalmist wanted to enjoy God in His salvation from His house when God turned the captivity of His people. This verse says, "Oh that the salvation of Israel might come forth from Zion!/When God turns the captivity of His people,/Jacob will exult, Israel will rejoice." The salvation here is only for the Jews.
Psalm 54 is in the same category as Psalms 52 and 53. Here the psalmist asked God to annihilate his enemies, while he himself was seeking to participate in the enjoyment of God in His help, sustenance, and salvation. It is hard to believe that a God-man could pray for such a thing.
In verse 1 the psalmist says, "O God, save me by Your name,/And execute judgment for me by Your might." On whom was judgment to be executed? According to the psalmist, it was to be executed on his enemies, who were Gentiles.
Verses 2 and 3 continue, "O God, hear my prayer;/Give ear to the words of my mouth./For strangers have risen up against me,/And those who terrorize seek my soul;/They do not set God before them." The strangers here are Gentiles. For the Gentiles not to set God before them means that they do not fear God. To them, there is no God.
In verse 4 the psalmist goes on to say, "Behold, God is my help;/The Lord is among those who sustain my soul." Those who sustained the psalmist's soul, helping God to save David, must have been Jews.
It is in verse 5 that the psalmist prays for the annihilation of his enemies, saying, "He will return the evil to those who lie in wait for me./Annihilate them in Your faithfulness." Instead of asking the Lord to have mercy on them in His faithfulness, the psalmist prays that God will annihilate them. This does not fit in with the psalmist David's spirituality. In typifying Christ as the fighting victor, it is all right for David to ask God to annihilate his enemies. But in his spiritual living, in his spirituality, it is altogether not right for him to hate his enemies, to ask God to destroy, to annihilate, his enemies. This is against the nature of the spiritual life of God's chosen people, and even against God's holy word in the Old Testament, Proverbs 25:21-22, quoted by the apostle Paul in Romans 12:20. Hence, we cannot admit that David's spirituality is perfect.
Then the psalmist says, "I will offer a freewill offering to You;/I will praise Your name, O Jehovah, for it is good./For He has delivered me from all distress,/And my eye looks triumphantly upon my enemies" (vv. 6-7). Is this the prayer of a spiritual man, or is it the utterance of a man in his natural concept? After reading such a psalm, can we still hold David in high regard?
I have learned that it is altogether not easy to understand the Bible. In particular, it is not easy to have the proper understanding of a psalm like Psalm 54. In studying this matter, I have been helped by John Nelson Darby's use of the word sentiment in relation to the Psalms. Darby says that the Psalms are the expressions of the sentiments of the saints. Regarding Psalms 52—57, I would say that here we have not merely the sentiments of the psalmists but their complex sentiments. Their sentiments are a matter of mixture. To trust in God is certainly right, and part of Psalm 54 is an expression of David's trust in God. But how can we justify David's praying, in the same psalm, for the annihilation of his enemies? He hated them to such an extent that he asked God to annihilate them. We must admit that in this psalm we have a mixture and that the sentiments of the psalmist are complex.
In Psalm 55 the psalmist seeks to experience God's salvation. At the same time, being under the oppression of his enemy, he asks God to deal with his enemy.
Verses 1-2, 4-8, 16-18a, 22, and 23b show us that the psalmist is seeking to experience God's salvation. Verse 22, a "golden" verse, says, "Cast your burden upon Jehovah,/And He will support you;/He will never allow the righteous to be moved." This verse assures us that with God we are safe, for He, the supporting One, will not allow anything to move us. Do you have any kind of burden, and are you still bearing it by yourself? You need to cast your burden upon Jehovah, and He will support you.
While under the oppression of his enemy, the psalmist asked God to deal with his enemy (vv. 3, 9-15, 18b-21, 23a). His request was based not on the principle of mercy and grace but rather on the principle of good and evil. His prayer regarding his enemy was based on the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Verse 13 prophesies concerning Judas' betraying of Christ (41:9; John 13:18). This indicates that in the pious expressions of the psalmist there was a prophecy concerning Christ on the negative side, considering Judas, who betrayed Christ, as His enemy. David was the type of the suffering Christ. In his pious expression of his complex sentiment concerning his suffering of his enemies, he uttered this prophecy here, indicating that Judas' betrayal of Christ was a part of the sufferings of Christ.
While the psalmist was under the oppression and persecution of his enemy, he recalled his enjoyment of God with the throng in the house of God (Psa. 55:14). This may refer to the enjoyment of the festivals which the people of Israel used to have three times a year (Exo. 23:14-17).
"All day long they wrest my words;/All their thoughts are against me for evil./They gather themselves; they lurk; /They watch my steps,/As they have waited to take my life. /Will there be deliverance for them in spite of their iniquity? / In anger cast down the peoples, O God" (Psa. 56:5-7). On the one hand, the psalmist trusted in God; on the other hand, while trusting in God, he asked God to cast down his enemies. Many of us have done this very thing. While we are praying that the Lord will uphold us and sustain us, we may ask Him to deal with someone who is bothering us, perhaps our husband or wife, or our roommate. Have you not had this kind of prayer? Sometimes we may have such a sentiment within us but may not actually utter it to the Lord in our prayer.
The psalmist trusted in God and enjoyed God in His deliverance of him from death and stumbling (vv. 1-4, 8-13). In verse 8 the psalmist says, "You have counted my wanderings./Put my tears into Your bottle./Are they not in Your book?" This word of David regarding his tears and God's bottle may be a figure of speech in poetry as a comfort to himself under God's kind of care. There might be some readers of this verse who have applied David's word here to themselves and have been comforted by it.
In Psalm 57:6 the psalmist rejoiced at the misfortune of his enemies. The psalmist did this even while he was trusting in God and enjoying God in His salvation, lovingkindness, and faithfulness (vv. 1-5, 7-11). On the one hand, he trusted in God and enjoyed Him; on the other hand, he was happy to see that his enemies were suffering.
After reading these psalms, I am troubled that there is no hint here that David learned any lessons from his suffering under the attacks of his enemies. There is no indication that David said, "God, why is Saul persecuting me? Why are certain ones attacking me? Lord, I want to know the reason and learn the lesson."
My point is that David's prayers in these psalms are altogether different from what is taught in the New Testament. For instance, when Paul was suffering from "a thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7), he entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from him (v. 8). Eventually, the Lord said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness" (v. 9a). The Lord seemed to be saying to Paul, "I will not take the thorn away, and I will not do anything to reduce your suffering. Without the thorn, you might be lifted up with pride because of the revelations you have received from Me. Also, I will allow the thorn to remain so that you may have the opportunity to learn that My grace is sufficient for you." If David had learned this kind of lesson, he would not have prayed for the Lord to annihilate his enemies.
Many of today's Christian readers of the Psalms do not have any realization concerning the learning of lessons. Instead, they mainly see two things in these psalms: first, that David was good, that he was faithful and trusted in the Lord; second, that God was good and faithful in hearing David and in answering him. They do not see David's defects and shortages displayed in each of the psalms covered in this message. David did not learn any lessons or deal with his defects by God's mercy and grace. Instead, he prayed that his enemy would be plucked up and uprooted from the land of the living.
In our reading of these psalms, we need to receive enlightenment regarding our own situation. No doubt, we should trust in God. Surely He will take care of us according to His lovingkindness and faithfulness. But we also need to learn the lessons of God's discipline. We need to find out the reason for the oppositions against us in our environment, for they are God's discipline to correct us, to break us, and to bring us down. We should not pray that God would put others down; we are the ones who need to be brought down and broken by God. We should not have the shortage, displayed in nearly all the psalms, of being devoid of learning the lessons of God's discipline.
