Psalm 52: The Psalms & History

In Psalm 52, David writes, "'See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and sought refuge in his own destruction.'"

See, there it is. Trusted in the abundance of his riches, and this is so powerful, and sought refuge in his own destruction. Isn't that a description of so much of the world that surrounds us? People thinking that they will be protected by the very things that are destroying them. The human heart is the same in every generation, seeking the opposite of what God dictates and justifying the pursuit of harmful things.

We in the 21st century must learn that lesson as well. Today on Renewing Your Mind, Dr. Robert Godfrey takes us to Psalm 52 to show us how tragic events in David's life remind us to pursue God alone. It's interesting that the Psalms in the 50s in the Psalter are closely tied to David's own life and experience. Several of them have historical titles, and I want us to take a look at one of them, one I think that is so often overlooked and yet actually is a very, I think, powerful and thought-provoking psalm. And its title is one of the longer titles in the Psalter, to the choirmaster, a maskle of David, when Doag the Edomite came and told Saul, David has come to the house of Ahimelech.

So, this is a very specific title, a very specific historical event, as I'm sure you all remember. This is really a reference to what is told to us in 1 Samuel chapters 20, 21, and 22. David is fleeing from Saul. David has been anointed king by Samuel, but Saul is still alive, and Saul is now determined to kill David. And so David is fleeing from one place to another to try to preserve his life.

And in his desperation, you remember, he comes to the tabernacle of God, which is resting in the town of Nob. We don't know where exactly that town was, but we do know that the tabernacle was there and David, all but dying of hunger with a small band of men, comes and begs for food. And the high priest, Ahimelech, says, I have only the showbread before the Lord.

And David says, give me the showbread. And even though it was technically a violation of the law, Ahimelech gives him the showbread and gives him the sword of Goliath that was being held at the tabernacle as a trophy of war. Then David goes off with his men, and other men join him, and Saul sees this as an act of treachery and betrayal and treason. This is reported to Saul by Doeg, the Edomite.

And Doeg is the chief herdsman, we're told, of Saul, so he's not a soldier, but he thinks he can curry the favor of the king by going to report to Saul what has just happened. And the text tells us that Saul was at Gibeah. Now for any careful student of Old Testament history, that location would send shivers up the spine.

I mean the closest equivalent you'd have today would maybe be Saul was at Auschwitz, not a neutral kind of town. Gibeah was that town in the tribe of Benjamin described to us in Judges chapter 19 as the place that gang raped the woman, killed her, and then her husband took the body, cut it into twelve pieces. It's one of the grimmer Old Testament stories, sent the twelve pieces to the twelve tribes demanding justice for his wife, and Benjamin refused justice where Gibeah was located, and it led to civil war in Israel and almost the destruction of the whole tribe of Benjamin. And now, a good deal later, Gibeah, which had been destroyed, has now been rebuilt, and Saul the Benjaminite is in Gibeah, but immediately the storyteller is alerting us to the fact that this is going to be horrible because the Saul of Gibeah is going to be just as violent and ruthless and evil as the Gibeahites have always been. And so Saul becomes livid with Ahimelech and the priests for supporting David, and he orders his soldiers to kill the high priest and the other priests, and the soldiers refuse. They'll not lift their swords against the Lord's anointed, and Doeg says, I'll do it. And so Doeg kills the high priest and the priests of God, and just one of Ahimelech's sons escapes to carry word to David and to carry on the high priestly family, Abiathar. So this is a historical event that we're probably inclined to think how important can this be, and yet suddenly we realize this is really a historic moment in Israel. Who's the true king? Will the priesthood of God survive?

What is going on here? It reminds us that really none of the stories in the Bible, none of the events in the Bible are really trivial. They're all preserved for us for a very specific point. I remember reading that in the early part of the 20th century, the leading liberal Protestant preacher in the country was Harry Emerson Fosdick. And his most famous sermon was, Shall the Fundamentalists Win?

And it was a call to arms by the liberals to stop the terrible fundamentalists from winning in the churches. In another sermon, Fosdick rather famously said, Who cares who the Jebusites were? Well, we might well say today, who cares who Doeg the Edomite was?

Well, God cares. And again, this is not just history of somebody else long ago. This is our history. As Christians, we're connected to this history, and David saw it important enough that he wrote a psalm reflecting on it. I've rehearsed this history. Most of the time we don't know a lot about the history that stands behind psalms.

Occasionally we're given a hint. Here we're given a fairly specific statement about that history, but the more history we know, the more it gives us the context of the psalm. And notice how the psalm begins, Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? So there's the scene set for us. It's a scene of evil, evil done, evil boasted about.

That's what's happening here. And then when we think of Doeg, I think probably there's something ironic, derisive, O mighty man. Remember the men who escorted David and were his soldiers were referred to as David's mighty men. I think the chief herdsman was probably not really a mighty man. There's a little joke here, a little needling of Doeg.

We don't know what happened to Doeg. He disappears from history after he kills. But, you know, how brave a man was it to kill eighty-five unarmed priests and then lead soldiers back to Knob to kill women and children there? This was a vicious act.

For what purpose? Saul had promised him money. Saul had promised him money. Remember Psalm 49? It's only four Psalms earlier. What's it going to do with all that wealth?

What became of it? Well, this Psalm, you see, is reflecting in this profound way about the truth. The Psalms are always helping us see the truth.

Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all day. Now, if you have an NIV, your NIV would read very differently.

I think the ESV is much to be preferred here. The Hebrew literally says what the ESV has translated, the steadfast love of God endures all the day. The NIV slightly repointed the text because they thought the steadfast love of God endures all day doesn't fit here. But that's sometimes the point in the Psalms. Remember we talked about artful variation. Sometimes one line repeats another line, but sometimes one line stands in contrast to another line.

And I think that's what's happening here at the opening. There's this evil of this mighty man contrasted with the steadfast love of God that endures all the day. Then returning to the mighty man, your tongue plots destruction like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. You see how intimately this ties into the history, how we have to know the history to see, not to appreciate the Psalm at all, but to really grasp how pointed this is as a memory of David. You know, some people ask, did David really write any of these Psalms?

And I think he did, and I think this is one that shows that intimate touch and connection with the events being described. Verse 3, you love evil more than good and lying more than speaking what is right. It's interesting how frequently the Psalms turn to the subject of truth and lying and how destructive the tongue is, how destructive lies are, how important the truth is. And that's what's being talked about here, that the lie has seriously, seriously led to death and to destruction. Lies are not innocent things. Lies are not light things, but they have huge and tragic consequences. You love evil more than good and lying more than speaking what is right. There's no doubt that Doeg had lied to Saul about the involvement of the priests. That is what complicated this whole scene, and so it's a tragic scene.

It's a terrible scene. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. And you see that history shows what a devouring had taken place, dozens of people wiped out because of Doeg. And then really coming to the center of the Psalm, but God will break you down forever.

David, in the midst of this carnage, turns to the theme of God's justice, of God's judgment, of God bringing right into the world. He will snatch and tear you from your tent. He will uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous shall see and fear and shall laugh at Him.

How do you feel about that? You know, this is again one of those images that sometimes we just move quickly over, and other times we ponder, what are we to make of this? However bad Doeg is, if he snatched and torn from his tent and uprooted from the land of the living, should we laugh at that?

Yes, we should. This is a vile, murderous man who did what he knew was evil. He had the witness of all of Saul's soldiers said, no, we won't do that. That'd be wrong. Kill the Lord's anointed? That's not right.

We won't do that. You know, you didn't disobey Saul very lightly because Saul was a vicious man. And his soldiers knew they were putting their own lives at risk by refusing to follow Saul's orders. But they had enough regard for God and God's law and God's priesthood that they wouldn't touch them. And that was a testimony to Doeg about what was true and what was right and what was godly. And Doeg didn't care because Saul offered him a lot of money. And so this vicious man will be judged, says the psalmist.

And the righteous will see it and fear God and laugh. Most of us, I think, are too young to remember when the news came that Adolf Hitler was dead. There were a lot of people who rejoiced. Is that wrong? No, a monster was taken out of the world.

There were people who danced in the streets when the word came that Osama bin Laden was dead. Is that wrong? Well, it can be wrong.

I mean, people can overdo. But there is a rightness to justice, and this is a problem in the world in which we live, I think. Justice has become a problematic concept, that justice is good and right and proper. And that's what the psalmist is saying here, that these things are right. And that leads us on then to consider perhaps the whole question of the imprecations in the psalm, the calling down of judgment in the Psalms.

Clearly, David is not so much calling down judgment as anticipating judgment and rejoicing in that judgment, but other psalms, many other psalms, go further and call down judgment. And there are many people who say, well, that's just not Christian. That's just not right. Well, it's clearly not right that we as Christians call down judgment on our enemies. But the question here is not whether it's right to call down judgment on our enemies.

That's not right. Jesus said, love your enemies. But the question is, does Jesus' call to love our enemies mean there can never be any calling down of judgment on God's enemies?

Now that's a question to ponder, isn't it? And the question is, what does the Scripture teach us about that? And in some ways, the fullest statement about that is from Paul, who often makes full theological statements for our benefit. And Paul in Romans 11 talks about just this theme of loving the enemies and what it means and how we should understand it.

At verse 18 of Romans 12, he says, If possible, so far as depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves. That's the love your enemy, turn the other cheek. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So Paul's explaining here that the love of the enemy is not an absolute and forever ethical principle that would undermine God's right to judgment. We don't have a right to judge because we're sinners in need of mercy. But God is righteous, and He will bring judgment on the wicked. And when we cringe at imprecations in the Psalter, we have to remember that in the context of the Psalter, there is always, first of all, a call to repentance before there's a call to judgment. Not always in an individual psalm, but in the Psalter as a whole, the wicked are always called to repentance before there's a call to judgment.

And I think that's very important and important for us to see. Let me offer you one example of that. In Psalm 10, verses 4 and 15, we read, In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are there is no God. Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer. Call his wickedness to account till you find none.

Now, that's an imprecation. That's a calling down of judgment on the wicked. But in Psalm 9, we read at verse 10, And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

God always responds to those who seek Him. Had Doag repented at any point, God would have forgiven him. The point is, Doag refuses to repent. Doag rejoices in his wickedness.

Doag embraces his ill-gotten gain. And the Psalter says, the Psalm says, the Scripture says, there will be judgment for him for that. He doesn't have to be judged if he turns and repents. But if he doesn't turn and repent, there will be judgment.

And so the word of the prophets echoes through the centuries. Prophet Ezekiel, turn, turn, why will you perish, says the Lord. It's not that there isn't mercy for the repentant. The imprecations relate to those who refuse to repent.

Doag more than most saw the truth, saw righteousness in action when the other soldiers would not kill the priests. But he did it anyway, and there's no evidence there was ever any repentance in his heart. And so verse 7 says, see the man who would not make God his refuge. Would not make God his refuge. He could have made God his refuge, but he would not make God his refuge. When I say he could have, I'm not talking about the counsels of eternity now. I'm talking about the well-meant offer of the gospel. See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches.

See, there it is. Trusted in the abundance of his riches, and this is so powerful, and sought refuge in his own destruction. Isn't that a description of so much of the world that surrounds us, people thinking that they will be protected by the very things that are destroying them? And then David responds to this in terms of his life and who he is and says, I am like a green olive tree in the house of the Lord. It's an image that will be taken up again in Psalm 92, Psalm for the Sabbath. But this beautiful picture that he's a living green thing, living before God in God's house. But I'm like a green olive tree in the house of the Lord. I trust in the steadfast love of the Lord forever and ever.

I will thank you forever because you have done it. I will await your name, for it is good in the presence of the godly. Here's David since the Lord has preserved him. The Lord has protected him. The Lord has enabled him to endure in spite of the mighty man who would destroy him because the steadfast love of the Lord surrounds him and protects him. Now we might say, what about Porohemelek and the 85 priests with him? Well, the steadfast love of the Lord endures every day for them too, no longer in this world, but in that world that is to come that the Scriptures do talk about.

I was to the funeral of a fellow I knew recently who in his younger days had been a top gun pilot, and his unit had a number of Christians in it. And it was reported that the motto of their unit was, today I am invincible unless the Lord has other plans. And this is sort of what David is rejoicing in here, is in the mercy of the Lord. But here this little historical incident has been captured and preserved for us in this poem of David, but a poem that is not just a poem for that historic incident long ago, but remains true today. The tragedy of those who take refuge in their own destruction and will be destroyed by the Lord stands in such contrast to those who will live before the Lord in the house of the Lord. And so this is a wonderful place for us to close this lecture. I trust in the steadfast love of the Lord forever and ever.

That's what we're all called to be and to do. That's Dr. Robert Godfrey from his series, Learning to Love the Psalms. Thank you for joining us for Renewing Your Mind on this Thursday.

I'm Lee Webb. Dr. Godfrey is a Ligonier Teaching Fellow and the Chairman of the Board of Ligonier Ministries, and he's a man who loves the Psalms. In this series, he shows us that this grand book of poetry is one of the greatest treasures the Lord has given to His people. It's more than just a songbook. It's an inspired guide for our prayers. We'd like to send you the full 12-part series on two DVDs when you give a donation of any amount to Ligonier Ministries. I think when you complete all the lessons, you'll have a new understanding of the themes, structure, and beauty of the Psalms.

So make your request and give your gift at renewingyourmind.org, where you can call us at 800-435-4343. By the way, when I type the word Psalms in the search block at tabletalkmagazine.com, I get nearly a thousand results for articles and helpful Bible studies. Table Talk is a discipleship magazine written by today's leading theologians and pastors to help Christians grow in their knowledge of God. First-time subscribers will receive a free three-month trial subscription, and I hope you'll check it out at tritabletalk.com. Well, tomorrow we wrap up our highlights of Dr. Godfrey's series by taking a look at how the Psalms help us deal with grief. I hope you'll join us Friday for Renewing Your Mind. .