Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 14:4

"Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people [as] they eat bread, And call not upon Jehovah?" — Psalms 14:4 (ASV)

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? — literally, “Do they not know, all the workers of iniquity, eating my people, they eat bread; Jehovah they call not.” The several statements in this verse confirming the fact of their depravity are:

• That they have no knowledge of God.
• That they find pleasure in the errors and imperfections of the people of God—sustaining themselves in their own wickedness by the fact that the professed friends of God are inconsistent in their lives.
• That they do not call on the name of the Lord, or that they offer no worship to him.

The whole verse might have been, and should have been, put in the form of a question. The first statement implied in the question is that they have “no knowledge.” This can be regarded as a proof of guilt only:

1. As they have opportunities of obtaining knowledge.
2. As they neglect to improve those opportunities and remain in voluntary ignorance.
3. As they do this from a design to practice wickedness.

See this argument stated at length by the apostle Paul in Romans 1:19-28. Compare the note at that passage. This proof of human depravity is still everywhere manifested in the world—in the fact that men have the opportunities of gaining the knowledge of God if they choose to do it; in the fact that they voluntarily neglect those opportunities; and in the fact that the reason for this is that they love iniquity.

Who eat up my people as they eat bread — They sustain themselves in their own course of life by the imperfections of the people of God. That is, they make use of their inconsistencies to confirm themselves in the belief that there is no God.

They argue that a religion which produces no better fruits than what is seen in the lives of its professed friends can be of no value or cannot be genuine. They also contend that if a professed belief in God produces no happier results than are found in their lives, it could be of no advantage to worship God, and that they are themselves as good as those who profess to be religious. Therefore, they conclude, there can be no evidence from the lives of the professed friends of God that religion is either true or of any value.

A significant part of the evidence in favor of religion, it is intended, should be derived from the lives of its friends; and when that evidence is not furnished, of course, a considerable part of the proof of its reality and value is lost. Hence, so much importance is attached everywhere in the Bible to the necessity of a consistent life on the part of the professed friends of religion. .

The words “my people” here are properly to be regarded as the words of the psalmist, identifying himself with the people of God and speaking of them thus as “his own people.” Thus one speaks of his own family or his own friends.

. Or this may be spoken by David, considered as the head or ruler of the nation, and he may thus speak of the people of God as his people. The connection does not allow for the construction which would refer the words to God.

And call not upon the Lord — They do not worship Yahweh. They give this evidence of wickedness: that they do not pray, that they do not invoke the blessing of their Maker, and that they do not publicly acknowledge him as God. It is remarkable that this is placed as the last or the crowning thing in the evidence of their depravity; and if rightly considered, it is so.

To one who looks at things as they are, to one who sees all the claims and obligations which rest upon mankind, to one who appreciates his own guilt, his dependence, and his exposure to death and woe, to one who understands rightly why man was made—there can be no more striking proof of human depravity than in the fact that a man in no way acknowledges his Maker: that he renders him no homage, that he never supplicates his favor nor deprecates his wrath, and that, amidst the trials, temptations, and perils of life, he endeavors to make his way through the world “as if there were no God.”

The highest crime that Gabriel could commit would be to renounce all allegiance to his Maker and henceforth to live as if there were no God. All other iniquities that he might commit would spring from that and would be secondary to that. The great sin of man consists in renouncing God and attempting to live as if there were no Supreme Being to whom he owes allegiance. All other sins spring from that and are subordinate to it.