John Gill Commentary Psalms 12

Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases. A godly man, according to the notation of the word ^F26, is one that has received grace and mercy of the Lord; as pardoning mercy, justifying and adopting grace; and who has principles of grace, goodness, and holiness, wrought in him;

who fears the Lord, and serves him acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, and sorrows for sin, after a godly sort; who loves the Lord, and hopes and believes in him; who is regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit of God, and is a true worshipper of God, and lives in all holy conversation and godliness; and, particularly, is "beneficent", "kind", and "merciful" ^F1 unto men:

such may be said to "cease" when there are but few of them; when their number is greatly reduced ^F2, either by death, or when such who have seemed, and have been thought to be so, prove otherwise: in a view of which, the psalmist prays for help and salvation; "help", or "save" for the faithful fail from among the children of men;

so that there are none left among them but carnal, unregenerate, ungodly, and unfaithful men. The "faithful" are such who are upright in heart and conversation; who trust in the Lord, and believe in the Messiah; who abide by the truths and ordinances of God; and are faithful in what is committed to their trust, whether they be gifts of nature, Providence, or grace; and to their fellow Christians, in advising, reproving when needful: these may fail in the exercise of grace, and in the discharge of duty, but not so as to perish eternally.

The words design the paucity of them, and the sad degeneracy of the times to which they refer: and they may belong either to the times of David, when Saul's courtiers flattered him, and spoke evil of David; when the men of Keilah intended to have delivered him up; when the Ziphites discovered him to Saul, and invited him to come and take him; or when Absalom rose up in rebellion against him, and so many of the people fell off from him:

or else to the times of Christ; the people of the Jews in his age were a wicked and faithless generation; and even among his own disciples there was great want of fidelity: one betrayed him, another denied him, and all forsook him and fled; after his death, some doubted his being the Redeemer, and one of them could not believe he was risen from the dead, when he was. And these words may be applied to the antichristian times, the times of the grand apostasy, and falling away from the faith, upon the revealing of the man of sin; since which the holy city is trodden under foot; the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth; and the church is in the wilderness, and is hid there. Yea, to the second coming of Christ, when there will be great carnality and security, and little faith found in the earth. A like complaint with this see in (Isaiah 57:1) (Micah 7:2).

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: (dyox) "passive pro beneficiario, sive alterius beneficiis gratiosis cumulato", Gejerus.
• F1: "Misericors", Pagninus, Mariana; beneficus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
• F2: "Rari quippe boni" Juvenal. Satyr. 13. v. 36.
• F3: Lord; meaning himself, being destitute of the company, counsel, and assistance of good and gracious men; or the cause and interest of religion, which he feared would sink by the ceasing of godly men. When all friends and refuge fail, saints betake themselves to God, and their salvation is of him; and he is their present help in a time of trouble; and he saves and reserves for himself a number in the worst of times; as he did in Elijah's time, who thought there was no godly man left but himself; see (Romans 11:1–5) ;

They speak vanity everyone with his neighbour
That which is false and a lie, either doctrinal or practical; what was not according to the word of God, and was vain and empty, frothy, filthy, and corrupt; and which no godly and faithful man would do. And this being done in common, by the generality of men, one with another, shows the degeneracy of the age, and supports the complaint before made. They speak even

[with] flattering lips ;
as Cain did to Abel, Joab to Amasa, the Herodians to Christ, Judas to his Master, false teachers to those that are simple, hypocrites to God himself, when they draw nigh to him only with their lips, and all formal professors to the churches of Christ, when they profess themselves to be what they are not. And this is a further proof of the justness of the above complaint;

[and] with a double heart do they speak :
or "with an heart and an heart" ^F4 ; such are double minded men, who say one thing, and mean another; their words are not to be depended upon; there is no faithfulness in them. The Chinese ^F5 reckon a man of "two hearts", as they call him, a very wicked man, and none more remote from honesty.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (blw blb) "in corde & corde", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus.
• F5: Martin. Sinic. Hist. p. 144. a heart having (dicomuyon nohma) , a double meaning, as Pittacus says, Laert. in Vit. Pittac. l. 1. p. 53.

The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips
This is either a prophecy or a prayer, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe; that God either would or should cut off such who used flattery with their lips, by inflicting some judgment in this life, or everlasting punishment hereafter; by taking them away by death "out of the world", as the Targum paraphrases it; or by casting them into hell, where all liars and deceitful persons will have their portion; see (Job 32:21Job 32:22) ;

[and] the tongue that speaks proud things ^F6 ,
or "great things", as the little horn, (Daniel 7:20Daniel 7:25) ; and the beast, or Romish antichrist, who is designed by both, (Revelation 13:5Revelation 13:6) ; and which will be accomplished when Christ shall destroy him with the breath of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming; and indeed every tongue that rises up against God, Christ, and his people, will be condemned; when unGodly sinners will be convinced of all their hard speeches, (Isaiah 54:17) (Jude 1:15) . Perhaps some regard may be had to the tongue of Doeg the Edomite; see (Psalms 52:3–5) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: (twldg) "magna", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis; "grandia", Cocceius.

Who have said, with our tongue will we prevail
Either through the eloquence of them, or the outward force and power with which they are backed. The sense is, as we say, so shall it be; our words are laws, and shall be obeyed, there is no standing against them; our edicts and decrees shall everywhere be regarded: or "we will make one to prevail", or "have the dominion" ^F7 ; meaning antichrist, the man of sin; for all this is true of the tongues of the antichristian party, and of their laws, edicts, and decrees and which have obtained everywhere, and by which the wicked one has been established in his tyrannical power and authority;

our lips [are] our own ,
or "with us" ^F8 : we will say what we please, and make what laws and decrees we think fit, and impose them upon men; and so change times and laws without control, (Daniel 7:25) ;

who [is] Lord over us ?
which is the very language and conduct of antichrist, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, (2 Thessalonians 2:4) ; and is indeed the language of the hearts and lives of all wicked and ungodly men, sons of Belial, men without any yoke or restraint; who walk, and are resolved to walk, after the imagination of their own evil hearts; not knowing the Lord, and being unwilling to obey him, or to be restrained by him; see (Exodus 5:2) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: (rybgn) "prevalere ac dominare, faciemus, scil. aliquem regem, dominum", Cocceius.
• F8: (wnta) "nobiscum", Musculus, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Ainsworth.

For the oppression of the poor
The servants and people of God, who, for the most part, are poor in a temporal sense, and are all of them, and always, so in a spiritual sense, standing continually in need of fresh supplies of grace; and being often afflicted, as the word signifies, are mean and despicable in the eyes of the men of this world, and so oppressed by them, as the poor generally are by the rich; and as the people of Israel were oppressed by the Egyptians, so are the people of God by antichrist, and by his tyrannical laws and edicts, and by such haughty and insolent persons as before described;

for the sighing of the needy ;
who groan under their oppressions; being stripped of all good things, their friends, and worldly substance, they sigh inwardly, and cry unto the Lord, who sees their oppressions, hears their groans; and though he cannot be moved, as men are, by anything without himself, yet, according to his abundant mercy and sovereign will, he appears and exerts himself on the behalf of his people, and for their relief and assistance;

now will I arise, saith the Lord ;
to have mercy on the poor and needy, and to avenge them on their oppressors, and free them from them. And this the Lord promises to do "now", speedily, immediately; God arises in the most seasonable time, when his people are in the greatest straits, and in the utmost distress and herein displays his wisdom, power, and goodness. This is an answer to the petition of the psalmist in (Psalms 12:1);

I will set [him] in safety [from him that] puffeth at him ;
or "in salvation" ^F9 ; in Christ the Saviour. All God's people are put into the hands of Christ, and are preserved in him; there they are in safety, for out of his hands none can pluck them; and being built on him, the Rock, they are safe, notwithstanding the waves and winds of temptation, persecution come with ever so much force upon them.

Here it seems to signify, that God would deliver his poor and needy from their oppressions, and put them into a comfortable, prosperous, safe, and happy situation, in which they will be out of the reach of their enemies; as will be the witnesses, when they shall ascend to heaven, (Revelation 11:11Revelation 11:12) ; even out of the reach of him that "puffeth at" them, despises them, and treats them with the utmost scorn and contempt; see (Psalms 10:5) .

Or that "breathes", or "let him breathe" ^F11 threatenings and slaughters; as Saul did against the disciples of Christ, (Acts 9:1) ; or that "lays snares for him" ^F12 , as the wicked do for the righteous; or that "speaks unto him" in such haughty and insolent language as before expressed. Some make this clause a proposition of itself, "he puffeth at him"; meaning either that he that is secure, safety puffs at his enemy, despises him, as he has been despised by him; or God, who breathes upon him, and whose breath is as a stream of brimstone, which kindles in him a fire of divine wrath, which is unquenchable; or else the sense is, God will "speak to himself", or "to him" ^F13 ; in which sense the word is used (Habakkuk 2:4) ; that is, good and comfortable words to the poor; or "he will give him refreshment", or "rest": which he will determine in himself to speak to him: or "he shall have breathing", or "let him breathe" ^F14 : he shall have times of refreshing from the Lord, and rest from adversity, from the oppositions and persecutions of his enemies.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: (evyb) "in salute", Pagninus, Montanus, Mariana, Vatablus, Junius, & Tremeliius, Piscator; so Ainsworth.
• F11: (wl xypy) "spiret vel spirabit sibi", De Dieu.
• F12: "Qui ponit ei laqueum", Munster; "qui laqueum injicit illis", Heb. "illi", Muis; so Kimchi.
• F13: "Loquetur sibi vel ei", Vatablus.
• F14: "Respirationem dabit illi", Cloppenburgius; so Ainsworth, and some in Michaelis.