A prayer for help in an age of apparently universal hypocrisy, dissimulation, and untrustworthiness. The title assigns it to David, who might have written it while he was at the court of Saul, or during his outlaw life. Men like Doeg were in positions of authority. Unscrupulous enemies were poisonin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Help_ Render save, as in Psalms 3:7; Psalms 6:4; Psalms 7:1, and elsewhere; and note the connexion with _in safety, Psalms 12:5_. _for the godly man ceaseth_&c. Godly, or kindly, men are no more: the faithful fail (or as R.V. marg., _faithfulness faileth_) from among the sons of men. Mercy and trut... [ Continue Reading ]
A cry for help in the midst of prevailing faithlessness.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hypocrisy and duplicity are universal. Men's words are _vanity_, or _falsehood_, hollow and unreal. Their flatteries come from -a double heart," lit. _a heart and a heart_, which thinks one thing and utters another, and has no constancy or consistency, but thinks one thing today and another thing to... [ Continue Reading ]
Render: May Jehovah cut off &c. Cp. Psalms 31:17-18. _proud things_ Lit. as R.V., great things; further defined in Psalms 12:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
The prayer for help passes into a prayer for the excision of these false-hearted braggarts. Cp. Psalms 5:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who_ Namely, the owners of the flattering lips and boastful tongues. - _Our tongue_," they say, - _we will make mighty: our lips are with us_," under our own control, at command as faithful allies; _who is lord over us_? No one can call us to account for our use of them (Psalms 10:4). Unscrupulous... [ Continue Reading ]
Render: Because of the spoiling of the poor, because of the groaning of the needy. Cp. Exodus 2:24. _Now will I arise_&c. Cp. Isaiah 33:10. The moment for action has at length come. _I will set him_&c. An obscure clause. Either (1) as R.V., I will set him in safety at whom they puff. Cp. Psalms 10:... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist hears God's answer, and affirms its trustworthiness.... [ Continue Reading ]
A general truth with direct application to the promise of the preceding verse. In Jehovah's words there is no dross of flattery or insincerity or falsehood. Unlike the words of men, they are wholly to be relied on. as _silver tried_ Omit _as_. Silver is a natural emblem of purity and preciousness.... [ Continue Reading ]
More exactly: Thou, O Jehovah, wilt preserve them (as Psalms 16:1); Thou wilt guard him &c. The first Thou is emphatic: them refers to the poor and needy of Psalms 12:5: him in the second line singles out _each one_of the victims of persecution as the object of divine care. Comp. the similar chan... [ Continue Reading ]
Concluding expression of confidence in Jehovah's protection, which is sorely needed when wickedness prevails unchecked.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah will preserve the righteous; although when vileness is exalted among the sons of men, when worthless or profligate men are raised to positions of authority, the wicked stalk insolently everywhere, unabashed and unrestrained. Cp. Psalms 11:1-3. The Psalmist returns to the thought of the preva... [ Continue Reading ]