Psalms · Chapter 53

Verse 1. The fool hath said in his heart] The whole of this Psalm, except a few inconsiderable differences, is the same as the fourteenth; and, therefore, the same notes and analysis may be applied to it; or, by referring to the fourteenth, the reader will find the subject of it amply explained. I shall add a few short notes.

Have done abominable iniquity] Instead of lw[ avel, evil or iniquity, eight of Kennicott’s and Deuteronomy Rossi’s MSS. have hlyl[ alilah, work, which is nearly the same as in Psalm 14:1, &c.

Verse 1. The fool, the brutish, the sottish man, who sets up his judgment and pleasure above all law, and all religion. The being of a God is the foundation of all worship and obedience. Assuredly there is a Creator, a judge, a ruler of the whole earth.

3. Every one of them—The distributive, each one, denoted by the suffix pronoun instead of the collective, the all, the totality, denoted by the prefix article in Psalm 14:3. The two passages, taken together, furnish the most literal declaration of universal, total, depravity, that words can give.

Verse 4. Have the workers of iniquity] For פעלי, poaley, workers seventy-two of Kennicott’s and Deuteronomy Rossi’s MSS., with several ancient editions, the Chaldee, though not noticed in the Latin translation in the London Polyglot, the Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, Æthiopic, and the Arabic, with the Anglo-Saxon, add the word lk col, all,—ALL the workers of iniquity; which is the reading in the parallel place in Psalm 14:3, 4. It may be necessary to observe, that the Chaldee, in the Antwerp and Paris Polyglots, and in that of Justinianus, has not the word lk col, ALL.

Have not called upon God] אלהים Elohim; but many MSS. have hwhy Jehovah, LORD.

Ver. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? We must catechise and instruct the rising age, or the people will perish for lack of knowledge.—They eat up my people as they eat bread. The Chaldean army devoured the land, which is here called eating and devouring the people, who in another place are said to be devoured by the sword.

V. 5. Scattered-Hath not only broken their bones, their strength, and force, but also dispersed them hither and thither, so as there is no hope of a restoration. Thee-Against my people. Thou-Thou oh Jerusalem, which they besiege.

Verse 5. For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.] The reader will see, on comparing this with the fifth and sixth verses of Psalm 14:5, 6, that the words above are mostly added here to what is said there; and appear to be levelled against the Babylonians, who sacked and ruined Jerusalem, and who were now sacked and ruined in their turn. The sixth verse of Psalm 14:6, “Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge,” is added here by more than twenty of Kennicott’s and Deuteronomy Rossi’s MSS.

Verse 5. Where no fear was — Where there was no great or sufficient cause of fear. They who designed to secure themselves from all fear and danger, by their contempt of God, and by the persecution of good men, and by other wicked courses, were, by these means, filled with the terrors which they sought to avoid. For God hath scattered the bones, &c. — Hath not only broken the bones, that is, their strength and force, which are often signified by bones; but also dispersed them hither and thither, so that there is no hope of a restoration. Of him that encampeth against thee — That is, against thy people, expressed verse 4, or Israel, or Zion, as it is in the next verse. Many refer this to Sheba, who blew the trumpet of rebellion afresh, 2 Samuel 20:2, and who, being left at last to shift for himself, was shut up in the city of Abel, and there taken and beheaded; after which, it is thought, his body was exposed to the fowls of the air, or the wild beasts, insomuch that his bones were at last scattered. Thou hast put them to shame — Thou, O Zion, or Jerusalem, or thou church of God, for the great and strange disappointment of their hopes and confidence; because God hath despised them — Or rejected them. Therefore it is no wonder if they could not stand before thee.

5. There were they in great fear—The particle µv, (sham,) may refer to time as well as place; then they trembled with fear, etc. Where no fear was—Where there was no ground of fear, no visible cause. This has been supposed to refer to a supernatural panic, such as God struck his enemies with at different times. Thus Hammond: “God struck them with a sudden consternation for which there was no visible cause, and so they fled.” Others suppose it may mean, as in the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, that “in the midst of their proud security, when they were free from all apprehension, they were smitten with terror.”—Perowne. So, also, Venema. It is a warning to the proud enemies of God and persecutors of Zion, that their destruction will come by the invisible agencies of God at a moment of fancied and fatal security. See Job 15:21; 1 Thessalonians 5:3. For God hath scattered the bones—The judgment is from God, sudden, wide, wasting, terrible. Their “bones” should be dismembered, and strewn upon the earth without burial, to bleach in the sun. Thou hast put them to shame—This address is to the persecuted righteous. The enemies of the Church had already “encamped against” them. But the righteous shall “put them to shame, because God hath despised them.” Thus faith triumphs and the godly are delivered.

Verse 6. O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!] I have already shown that the proper translation is, “Who shall give from Zion salvation to Israel?” The word salvation is in the plural here, deliverances: but many MSS., with the Septuagint, Vulgate, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon, have it in the singular.

When God bringeth back] When Jehovah bringeth back, is the reading of more than twenty of Kennicott’s and Deuteronomy Rossi’s MSS., with the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee, and Justinianus’ Polyglot Psalter. For larger notes and an analysis, the reader is requested to refer to Psalm 14:1, &c.; and for a comparison of the two Psalms he may consult Dr. Kennicott’s Hebrew Bible, where, under Psalm 14:1, &c., in the lower margin, the variations are exhibited at one view. PSALMS

Verse 6. O that the salvation, &c. — See on Psalm 14:7.

Ver. 6. Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion. The Vulgate more exactly renders the Hebrew, Quis dabit ex Zion salutare Israel? Who will give out of Zion One to save Israel? The glory or shekinah dwelt in Zion, and Messiah arose of David’s line. Therefore this prayer is addressed to the Messiah in time of trouble, and in unison with all prayers of a like nature. “Thou that dwellest between the cherubims shine forth.” Psalm 80:1. Other prophets have used the same language. “Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people.—Oh the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble.” Habakkuk 3:13. Jeremiah 14:8. To this refuge we must always run in the evil day. See the answer to those prayers in 2 Chronicles 32:21. See also on Psalm 14.