Psalms 52 - Introduction

This psalm purports to be “a psalm of David,” and there is no reason to doubt that he was the author. The occasion on which it was composed is stated in the title. The correctness of this title has been called in question by DeWette and Rudinger, on the ground that the contents of the psalm do not seem to them to be so well suited to that occasion as to the times of Absalom or Ahithophel. There does not, however, appear to be any just reason for doubting the correctness of the title, as all the circumstances referred to in the psalm are susceptible of application to the act of Doeg the Edomite, on the occasion referred to, namely, that mentioned in 1 Samuel 22:9 ff. David had fled to Ahimelech the priest at Nob, 1 Samuel 21:1. By Ahimelech he had been supplied with bread, and furnished with the sword with which he himself had slain Goliath. On this occasion, an Edomite was present, named Doeg, whose character was, from some cause well known; and David felt that he would not hesitate to betray anyone, or do any act of wickedness or meanness, if it would subserve his own purposes 1 Samuel 22:22. Apprehensive of danger, therefore, even in the presence and under the protection of Ahimelech, and supposing that his place of retreat could not be concealed from Saul, he fled to Achish, king of Gath 1 Samuel 21:10, until in the fear of danger there, he feigned madness, and was driven away as a madman 1 Samuel 21:14. he found refuge for a time in the cave of Adullam, where he supposed he would be safe, 1 Samuel 22:1. From that cave he went to Mizpeh, in Moab 1 Samuel 22:3, and thence, at the suggestion of the prophet Gad, he went into the forest of Hareth, 1 Samuel 22:5.

At this time, Doeg the Edomite, in order to secure the favor of Saul, and to show that there was one at least who was friendly to him, and was willing to deliver up to punishment those who had encouraged David in his rebellion, informed Saul of the fact that David had been seen with Ahimelech at Nob, and that Ahimelech had given him food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine. The result was, that Ahimelech and the priests who were with him were summoned before Saul; that they were accused by him of the crime; that Saul commanded those who were around him to fall on Ahimelech and the priests and to put them to death; and when they all hesitated, Doeg himself fell upon them and executed the barbarous order. Eighty-five priests thus perished by the sword, and the city of Nob was destroyed, 1 Samuel 22:9. It was the conduct of Doeg in this matter that is the subject of this psalm. Doeg is called “the Edomite.” He was probably a native of Idumea, who had connected himself with Saul, and who hoped to secure his special favor by thus informing him of those who were in league with his enemy David. Some have supposed that he was a native-born Jew, and that he is called an Edomite because he may have had his residence in Idumea; but the more obvious supposition is that he was a native of that land. On Idumea, see the notes at Isaiah 11:14; notes at Isaiah 34:5; notes at Isaiah 63:1.

On the phrase in the title, “To the chief Musician,” see the notes at the introduction to Psalms 4:1. The fact that it is thus addressed to the overseer of the public music shows that, though it originally had a private reference, and was designed to record an event which occurred in the life of David, it yet had so much of public interest, and contained truth of so general a nature, that it might properly be employed in the public devotions of the sanctuary.

On the word “Maschil,” see introduction to Psalms 32:1. The psalm is divided, in the original, apparently for musical purposes, or to adapt it in some way to the music of the sanctuary, into three parts, which are indicated by the word “Selah,” at the close of Psalms 52:3, Psalms 52:5. These, however, have no reference to the sense, or to the natural divisions of the psalm.

As respects the sense or the contents of the psalm, it is divided into three parts, which are not indicated by this musical mark.

I. The first refers to the character of the calumniator and informer, Psalms 52:1. He was a man who was confident in himself, and who did not regard the goodness of God, Psalms 52:1; a man whose tongue devised mischiefs like a sharp razor, Psalms 52:2; a man who loved evil more than good, and a lie more than the truth, Psalms 52:3; and a man who loved to utter words that would destroy the character and the happiness of others, Psalms 52:4.

II. The judgment, or punishment that would come upon such a man, Psalms 52:5.

(a) God would destroy and root him out of the land, Psalms 52:5;

(b) the righteous would see this, and would triumph over him as one who was brought to a proper end - the proper end of one who did not make God his strength; who trusted in his riches; who strengthened himself in the purposes of wickedness, Psalms 52:6.

III. The security - the preservation - the joy, of the author of the psalm, Psalms 52:8. The aim - the purpose - of the informer referred to in the psalm, namely Doeg, had been really to disclose the place of David’s retreat, and to have him delivered into the hands of Saul. This he hoped to accomplish through Ahimelech the priest. He supposed, evidently, that when Saul was informed that David had been with “him,” Ahimelech would be brought before Saul and required to give information as to the place where David might be found, and that thus David would be delivered into the hands of Saul. But in this he had been disappointed. David had fled, and was secure.

Ahimelech was summoned to meet Saul 1 Samuel 22:11, and with him were summoned also all “his father’s house, the priests that were in Nob.” In reply to the charge that he had conspired against Saul; that he had befriended David; that he had “given him,” in modern language, “aid and comfort;” that he had assisted him so that he could “rise against Saul,” and that he had so befriended him that he could “lie in wait for him” at that time - he boldly declared his conviction that Saul had not a more faithful subject in his realm than David was; “And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king’s son-in-law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honorable in thine house?” There Ahimelech stood - an example of a bold, firm, independent, honorable, honest man. He maintained the innocence of David, as well as his own. He sought no favor by joining in the clamor against David. He did not seek to avert the blow which he could not but see was impending over himself, by any mean compliance with the prejudices of the king.

He did nothing to flatter the offended monarch, or to gratify him in his purpose to arrest David, the fugitive. He made no offer to disclose to him the place of his concealment. Any one of these things - any act in the line of that which Doeg had performed - might have saved his life. That he knew the place of David’s retreat, is apparent from a circumstance incidentally referred to in the ultimate account of the affair, for, after Ahimelech had been put to death, it is said that one of his sons - Abiathar - fled at once to David 1 Samuel 22:20, and disclosed to him the dreadful manner of his father’s death; thus showing that the knowledge of the place of his retreat was in the possession of the family, and could easily have been disclosed to Saul, and yet it was not done. Neither Ahimelech, nor anyone of his family, even intimated to Saul that they knew where David then was, and that they could put him in possession of the means of securing him. That the fact that they did not and would not betray the place of his retreat was one cause of the wrath of Saul, is apparent from the reason assigned why the “footmen” were commanded to put them to death; “And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me,” 1 Samuel 22:17.

It cannot be doubted, therefore, that if there had been an offer of furnishing the information; if there had been a tender of their services in the case; if there had been evinced a spirit of ready compliance with the prejudices and passions of Saul; if there had been among them the same spirit of mean sycophancy which characterized Doeg - Ahimelech and the whole family would have been safe. But no such thing was done; no such offer was made; no such spirit was evinced. There they stood - noble-minded people - father, son, all the family, true to honor, to virtue, to religion; true to God, to Saul, to David, and to themselves. They hid the secret in their own bosoms; they neither proffered nor submitted to any mean or dishonorable compliances that they might save their lives. There was, on the one hand, Doeg, “the “mighty” man,” but “the mean informer;” on the other, a noble-minded man standing up in the conscious integrity of what he had done, and maintaining it even at the hazard of life.

The result is well known, and was that which, so far as the fate of Ahimelech was concerned, could easily have been anticipated. Saul, maddened against David, was now equally infuriated against the honest man who had befriended him. He commanded him to be put to death at once. And here, in this remarkable transaction, where so much of meaness and honor, of fidelity and falsehood, of integrity and corruption, of soberness and passion, come so near together, we have another strikng instance of firmness and virtue. Saul commanded the “footman,” (margin, the “runners,”) who were about him, to “turn and slay” Ahimelech and his sons. Yet the “footmen” declined to do the bloody work. Noble men, themselves, they saw here an instance of true nobleness of character and of deed in the priests of the Lord; and they refused, even at the peril of the wrath of Saul, to execute an unrighteous sentence on men so noble, so honorable, so true. There was one, however, that would do it. There stood the mean, the sycophantic, the base man, Doeg, who had ‘informed’ against the priests, and he was ready to do the work. The command was given, and he consummated the work of betrayal and of meanness, by putting at once to the sword, fourscore and five priests of the Lord, and by carrying desolation and death through the city of their habitation, smiting “with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep;” 1 Samuel 22:18.

In the meantime David was safe, and it is this fact which he celebrates when he says in this psalm, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God,” Psalms 52:8; and it is for this that he gives praise, Psalms 52:9.

The psalm refers, therefore, to the character and the conduct of an “informer,” one of the most odious characters among men. In a book claiming to be a revelation from God, as the Bible does - a book designed for all mankind, and intended to be adapted to all ages, and in a world where such people would be found in all lands and times, it was proper that the character of such should be at least once held up in its true light, that men may see what it really is. Any bad man may make himself more odious by becoming an “informer;” any good man may suffer, as David did, from the acts of such a one; and hence, the case in the psalm may suggest useful lessons in every age of the world.