Psalms · Chapter 12

Verse 1. Help, Lord] Save me, O Lord; for merciful men fail, and faithful men have passed away from the sons of Adam. Make safe me, Lord; for haly failed, for lessed es sothfastnes fra sons of men. OLD MS.

Verse 1. Help, Lord — Hebrew, h[yvwh, hoshigna, save, Jehovah; namely, me and other good men, from the subtlety and rage of wicked men; for the godly man ceaseth — dysj, chasid, the kind, or, merciful man, as the word properly means. The faithful fail, &c. — Men have lost, not only serious piety, that even truth and honesty in their conversation and dealings with men. “The universal depravity of Jew and Gentile caused the church of old to pray earnestly for the first advent of Christ; and a like depravity among those who call themselves Christians may induce her to pray no less earnestly for this appearance the second time unto salvation.” — Horne.

Verse 1. Help, Lord; for the godly, Hebrews dysj chasid, the merciful man ceaseth. The true reading is preferable, because it joins piety with usefulness. In this manner David is thought to have prayed in the wilderness of Ziph, against the vices of the court, after the eighty priests of Nob, and their city, were destroyed. 1 Samuel 22:23.

1. Help, Lord—The call is abrupt, impassioned, and universal. The verb has no object, because the evil is not local and personal, but general. The godly man ceaseth—Better, the merciful man ceaseth; exactly parallel to Micah 7:2: “The good man is perished out of the earth.” The earth is given up to violence and rapine. On the use of dysj, (hhasid,) godly, merciful, see on Psalm 4:3; 86:2. The faithful—Literally, the amen people. Those who believe and speak the truth and keep their word. Men have ceased to regulate their conduct one with another by the law of kindness and truth. Compare the complaint of Elijah, 1 Kings 19:10,

14. Children of men—Sons of Adam, a designation of an earthborn, degenerate race, as opposed to “sons of God.”

Verse 2. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour] They are false and hollow; they say one thing while they mean another; there is no trusting to what they say.

Flattering lips, and with a double heart do they speak] blw blb beleb valeb, “With a heart and a heart.” They seem to have two hearts; one to speak fair words, and the other to invent mischief. The old MS. both translates and paraphrases curiously.

Trans. Dayn spak ilkan til his neghbur: swykil lippis in hert, and thurgh hert thai spak. Par.—Sothfastnes es lessed, and falsed waxes: and al sa vayn spak ilkone to bygyle his neghbur: and many spendes thair tyme in vayne speche withoutyn profyte and gastely frute. And that er swyku lippis; that er jangelers berkand ogaynes sothfastnes. And swykel, for thai speke in hert and thurgh hert; that es in dubil hert, qwen a fals man thynkes ane, and sais another, to desaif hym that he spekes with.

This homely comment cannot be mended.

Verse 2. They speak vanity — Or, falsehood, which is a vain thing, and wants the solidity of truth. With a double heart do they speak — See the margin. They speak as if they had two hearts, the one inclining them to hate their neighbour, and form designs against him, and the other to prompt the tongue to pretend a friendship for him. “When men cease to be faithful to their God, he who expects to find them so to each other will be much disappointed. The primitive sincerity will accompany the primitive piety in her flight from the earth; and then interest will succeed conscience in the regulation of human conduct, till one man cannot trust another further than he holds him by that tie.”

2. They speak vanity—That is, emptiness; their words are devoid of meaning, because they do not truly represent any thing, the speaker having no intention of fulfilling what is promised, or of stating things as they really exist. Flattering lips—Slippery words. A double heart—Literally, a heart and a heart; that is, a heart to make a given impression by his slippery words, and another heart to do the opposite to that impression. Opposed to a “perfect heart,” 1 Chronicles 12:33, 38.

Verse 3. Proud things] twldg gedoloth, great things; great swelling words, both in their promises and in their commendations.

Verse 3. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips — All such as speak kind things to any one, at the same time that they mean quite the contrary in their hearts; and the tongue that speaketh proud things — Hebrew, twldg, gedoleth, great things, or, great words, boasting what they have done, or declaring, or threatening what they will do, and what great things they will effect, namely, with their tongues, as they themselves explain it in the next words.

3. Flattering lips… tongue that speaketh proud things—Two opposite characters, the dissembler and the self-confident boaster, alike abominable to God.

V. 4. Prevail-By raising and spreading evil reports concerning him. Our own-At our own disposal to speak what we please, who can control or restrain us?

Verse 4. Our lips are our own] Many think, because they have the faculty of speaking, that therefore they may speak what they please. Old MS.—The qwilk sayd, our toung we sal wyrchip, our lippes er of us, qwas our Lorde? Tha Ypocrites worchepes thair toung; for thai hee tham self janglyng and settes in thaire pouste to do mykil thyng and grete: and thai rose tham that thair lippes that es thair facund and thair wyls er of tham self, nought of God, ne of haly menes lare; for thi that say qua es our Lord? that es, qwat es he to qwas rewle and conversacioun we sal be undir lout? and confourme us til? Als so to say, That es none.

Verse 4. With our tongues will we prevail — By raising and spreading evil reports concerning him. We will have the better of all that oppose us; and our tongues are the instruments whereby we will get the victory. Our lips are our own — At our own disposal to speak what we please. Who is lord over us? — Who can, or has any right to control us; or to call us to an account?

4. With our tongue will we prevail—The tongue is often a more deadly weapon than the sword, and these boasters seem to have been aware of its envenomed power. These men would be weak in open war, but were terrible in flattery, evil counsel, and lies. Here-in lay their strength, of which they boasted, not knowing that a just God rules, and that the world is not abandoned to become the victim of tricks and contrivances. Our lips are our own—Literally, our lips are with us; are our servants, subject to our will. Who is lord over us—Here is the climax of their arrogance and impudence.

V. 5. Puffeth-From him that despises him, and hopes to destroy him with a puff of breath.

Verse 5. For the oppression of the poor] This seems to refer best to the tribulations which the poor Israelites suffered while captives in Babylon. The Lord represents himself as looking on and seeing their affliction; and, hearing their cry, he determines to come forward to their help. Now will I arise] I alone delivered them into the hands of their enemies, because of their transgressions; I alone can and will deliver them from the hands of their enemies; and the manner of their deliverance shall show the power and influence of their God.

From him that puffeth at him.] Here is much interpolation to make out a sense. Several of the versions read, “I will give him an open salvation.” My work shall be manifest.

Verse 5. For the oppression of the poor — Because the poor that put their trust in me, and send up their prayers to me for help, are thus oppressed; now will I arise, saith the Lord — Speedily, sooner than they imagine or expect. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him — That despises him, and hopes to destroy him with a puff of breath. “The beauty and energy of this fine prosopopœia,” says Dr. Dodd, “must be felt by every reader.” When oppressors are in the height of their pride and insolence; when they say, Who is lord over us? then is God’s time to let them know, to their cost, that he is above them. And when the oppressed are in the depth of their distress and despondency; when they are sighing like Israel in Egypt, by reason of the cruel bondage, then is God’s time to appear for them, as he did for Israel when they were dejected, and Pharaoh was most elevated and determined to carry things with a high hand.

5. For the oppression of the poor— “For” is here causal, because of the oppression, and marks the point where the divine forbearance ends and the work of judgment begins. Saith the Lord—This is the date of the answer of prayer; Jehovah saith, or will say. The word goes forth, and faith is assured. From him that putteth at him—Many critics read, “I will set him in safety who panteth after it;” but it seems more in conformity with the connexion to understand jwp, (pooahh,) to breathe, blow, puff, in the contemptuous sense of scorn—see note on Psalm 10:5.

V. 6. Pure-Without the least mixture of falsehood; and therefore shall infallibly be fulfilled.

Verse 6. The words of the Lord are pure words] None of his promises shall fall to the ground; the salvation which he has promised shall be communicated.

Silver tried in a furnace of earth] A reference to the purification of silver by the cupel. This is a sort of instrument used in the purification of silver. It may be formed out of a strong iron ring or hoop, adjusted in width and depth to the quantum of silver to be purified, and rammed full of well pulverized calcined bone. The metal to be purified must be mingled with lead, and laid on the cupel, and exposed to a strong heat in an air furnace. The impurities of the metal will be partly absorbed, and partly thrown off in fume. The metal will continue in a state of agitation till all the impurities are thrown off; it will then become perfectly still, no more motion appearing, which is the token that the process is completed, or, according to the words of the text, is seven times, that is, perfectly purified.

Verse 6. The words of the Lord are pure — Without the least mixture of falsehood, and therefore shall be infallibly fulfilled. Men often speak rashly, and promise what they cannot perform, and deceitfully, what they never intend to perform. But God’s words are different; they are pure from all manner of dross; from all folly, or fraud, or uncertainty. “Often have they been put to the test, in the trials of the faithful, like silver committed to the furnace in an earthen crucible; but, like silver in its most refined and exalted purity, found to contain no dross. The words of Jehovah are holy in his precepts, just in his laws, gracious in his promises, significant in his institutions, true in his narrations, and infallible in his predictions. What are thousands of gold and silver, compared to the treasures of the sacred page?” — Horne.

6. The words of the Lord are pure words—The sayings of Jehovah are pure sayings. From the lying lips and perverse speeches of the wicked already noticed, by which they thought to compass their ends, the psalmist turns with adoring delight to the pure and perfect words of God, by which, and not by the falsehood and arrogance of man, the world shall be governed. Furnace of earth—The word lyl[, (aleel,) furnace, which occurs nowhere else in Scripture, has been translated workshop, from the root idea, to work, perform, accomplish: and of earth has been understood as denoting, as to earth, thus making the passage read, Silver tried in a workshop, (as to earth,) that is, purged from its earthy particles, its dross, scoria. Others more naturally understand it of a furnace, crucible, or melting pot made of earth, which gives a better construction, and one more in harmony with the figure. It is no objection to this latter view, that it takes “earth” in the unusual sense of element, or material. Seven times—A proverbial phrase for perfectly, completely.

V. 7. Thou shalt keep them-Thy words or promises: these thou wilt observe and keep, both now, and from this generation for ever.

Verse 7. Thou shalt keep them-thou shalt preserve them] Instead of the pronoun them in these clauses, several MSS., with the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Arabic, have us. The sense is equally good in both readings. God did bring forth the Israelites from Babylon, according to his word; he separated them from that generation, and reinstated them in their own land, according to his word; and most certainly he has preserved them from generation to generation to the present day, in a most remarkable manner.

Verse 7. Thou shalt keep them — Thy words or promises last mentioned. Hebrew, µrmvt, tishmerem, thou wilt observe them; and what thou hast promised shall surely be performed, since with thee is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Thou wilt preserve them — Hebrew, ynrxt, titzrennu thou wilt keep him, that is, thy poor and lowly servant, (spoken of verse 5,) from the craft and malice of this crooked and perverse generation of men, so that he shall neither be circumvented by treachery, nor crushed by power; and thou wilt keep him undefiled amid a corrupt age; and all that trust in and cleave to thee from generation to generation.

7. Thou shalt keep them—That is, thy people, thy suffering people, though surrounded on all sides by wicked persecutors. Thou shalt preserve them—Hebrew, Thou wilt preserve him, the persecuted saint; the singular being used as a personification. From this generation—From the men of this age, and from the same men of every age. The character of the age is given in verses 1, 2. Compare Acts 2:40; Matthew 11:16,

22. The hostile attitude of the world towards the Church distinguishes all generations. For ever—To eternity. The deliverance of the righteous shall not be temporal only, but perpetual, for ever. Less than this neither the language nor subject will admit.

V. 8. Walk-They fill all places, and go about boldly and securely.

Verse 8. The wicked walk on every side] The land is full of them. When the vilest men are exalted; rather, As villany gains ground among the sons of Adam. See the Hebrew. The Vulgate has, “In circuito impii ambulant; secundum altitudinem tuam multiplicasti filios hominum;” which is thus translated and paraphrased in my old MS.:—

Trans. In umgang wiked gos: eftir thy heenes thu has multiplied the sons of man. Par. Us thy kepes; bot wiked gas in umgang; that es, in covatyng of erdley gudes, that turned with the whele of seven daies: in the qwilk covatys, thai ryn ay aboute; for that sett nane endyng of thaire syn: and tharfor settes God na terme of thair pyne, but sons of men that lyfs skilwisly and in ryghtwisnes, thu has multiplied, aftir thi heghnes in vertus; aftir the heghnes of thi consayll, thou hast multiplied men bath il and gude; for na man may perfitely witt in erd, qwy God makes so many men, the qwilk he wote well sal be dampned: bot it es the privete of his counsayle, so ryghtwis, that no thyng may be ryghtwiser.

In this we find a number of singular expressions, which, while they elucidate the text, will not be uninteresting to the antiquary. Here, for instance, we see the true etymology of the words righteous and righteousness, i.e., right wise and right wiseness. For we have it above as a noun, rightwisnes: as an adjective, rightwis; and as an adjective in the comparative degree, rightwiser: and we should have had it as an adverb, ryghtwisely, had not the word skilwisly occurred to the author. Righteousness is right wiseness, or that which is according to true wisdom. A righteous man is one who is right wise; properly instructed in Divine wisdom, and acts according to its dictates; and among them who act rightwisely, there are some who act rightwiser than others; and nothing can be rightwiser than ever to think and act according to the principles of that wisdom which comes from above.

Right, [Anglo-Saxon] rectus, straight, is opposed to wrong, from [A.S.] injury, and that from [A.S.], to twist. As [A.S.] rehtan signifies to direct, so [A.S.] wrangen signifies to twist, or turn out of a straight or direct line. Right is straight, and wrong, crooked. Hence the righteous man is one who goes straight forward, acts and walks by line and rule; and the unrighteous is he who walks in crooked paths, does what is wrong, and is never guided by true wisdom. Such a person is sometimes termed wicked, from the Anglo-Saxon [A.S.], to act by witch-craft, (hence [A.S.] wicca, a witch,) that is to renounce God and righteousness, and to give one’s self to the devil, which is the true character of a wicked man. Let him that readeth understand.

The vilest men are exalted] Were we to take this in its obvious sense, it would signify that at that time wickedness was the way to preferment, and that good men were the objects of persecution.

Verse 8. The wicked walk on every side — They fill all places, and go about boldly and securely, seeking to deceive, corrupt, and destroy others, being neither afraid nor ashamed to discover themselves; when the vilest of men are exalted — To places of trust and power, who, instead of putting the laws in execution against vice and injustice, and punishing the wicked according to their deserts, patronize and protect them, or give them countenance and support by their own example. The Hebrew, twlz µrk, cherum zulloth, is literally, when vilenesses are exalted, when all manner of wickedness, lying, slandering, profaneness, oppression, cruelty, and the like, instead of being punished and suppressed, are countenanced and encouraged by magistrates and persons of power and influence. Both these interpretations come to one. For when vile persons are exalted, so also are vile practices. Both these, it appears, were advanced and encouraged under Saul’s government, which caused David to complain that the foundations were destroyed, Psalm 11:3.

8. The wicked walk on every side—They walk round and round. The phrase not only intimates numerically their multitude, (Isaiah 49:18; 60:4,) but also, that they wear an air of wantonness and arrogance, as conscious of holding the sway of public affairs. When the vilest men are exalted—This gives the cause of the degeneracy of the times. Proverbs 28:12. Base, low, weak, and worthless men in power will ruin any age. Let Christian voters of this country see to it. The psalmist ends where he begins, with an echo of verses 1, 2, but sustained by the wordof Jehovah, who (verse 5) promises deliverance.