John Gill Commentary Psalms 52

Why do you boast yourself in mischief ?
&c.] Or "in evil" ^F23 ; in that which is sinful; to glory in riches, wisdom, and strength, which are not in themselves evil, is wrong; and to rejoice in such boastings, all such rejoicing is evil; to be a doer of mischief, or sin, is bad; to make a sport of it, worse; but to glory in it, and boast of it when done, is worse still: to be boasters of evil things, is the character of antichrist and his followers, (2 Timothy 3:2) ; who not only boast of their merit, their good works, and works of supererogation, and of their riches, and honour, and grandeur, saying, "I sit as a queen", (Revelation 18:7) ; but of their wickedness in shedding the blood of the saints, thinking thereby they do God good service, and merit heaven, and eternal happiness; as Doeg boasted of his slaughter of the priests, and of your gaining the king's favour by it;

O mighty man !
referring either to his office, being the chief of Saul's herdmen, and set over his servants, (1 Samuel 21:7) (22:9) ; or ironically, to the mighty deed he had done, in slaying the unarmed priests, and putting to death the very sucklings at the breast, and even the innocent sheep, oxen, and asses; or to his great wickedness and power to commit it; though man has no power and free will to that which is good, yet he has to that which is evil; so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and the eastern versions render it, "O you! mighty in wickedness"; and to the same purpose the Targum paraphrases it, "mighty to shed innocent blood"; and the note of Aben Ezra is, "mighty to do evil". A learned writer ^F24 thinks this relates to Saul, and describes him as a man of power and dignity. The character well agrees with the little horn and Romish beast, (Daniel 7:20) (Revelation 13:2Revelation 13:4Revelation 13:7) ;

the goodness of God [endureth] continually :
that is, the love, grace, and mercy of God; this is observed as what is the matter of the saints' boasting, in opposition to the wicked boasting of Doeg; they glory in the love of God, and in that they know him who exercises lovingkindness, which is the source of all the blessings of grace and goodness; and in Christ, through whom all are communicated to them; and in him, as made every blessing to them, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption: they ascribe the whole of their salvation, and all they have, to the grace of God, and glory in nothing as of themselves, and as though not received of the Lord.

Moreover, the psalmist may take notice of this, as what was his support under all the persecutions he endured from men; that he had an interest in the grace and goodness of God, which is immutable and everlasting, invariably the same in all states and conditions; and that he was encompassed about with the favour of God as with a shield; and that it was not in the power of his most implacable enemies to separate him from the love of God; and therefore it was egregious folly in Doeg to boast himself in mischief; for, be he as mighty as he might, he could not prevent his sharing in the divine goodness, which always continues.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: (herb) "in malo", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus.
• F24: Delaney's Life of King David, vol. 1. p. 119.

Your tongue devises mischiefs
Abundance of mischiefs, in a variety of ways, against many persons, even all good men. What properly belongs to the heart is here ascribed to the tongue; because, as Aben Ezra observes, it is the interpreter and discoverer of the thoughts of the heart: out of the abundance of that the tongue speaks and declares the mischief it has devised. Doeg intended mischief to David, when he spoke to Saul, (1 Samuel 22:9 1 Samuel 22:10); so antichrist devises mischiefs against the saints of the most High, to wear them out, and thinks to change times and laws, (Daniel 7:25);

like a sharp razor, working deceitfully ;
that is, his tongue was like a razor; the razor is but a small instrument, and the tongue is but a little member: the razor is a sharp and cutting one, and so is the tongue; and therefore compared to a sharp sword, (Psalms 57:4); see (Jeremiah 18:18); the razor takes off the beard cleanly and wholly; Doeg's tongue was the cause of the utter ruin of Ahimelech's family and the city of Nob; and as a razor may be said to "work deceitfully", when it turns aside in the hand of him that uses it, and with the hair takes off more than it should, even skin and flesh, or cuts the man's throat; so in a deceitful and insidious manner did Doeg work the destruction of Ahimelech and the priests of the Lord.

You love evil more than good
Indeed not good at all; such comparatives being strong negatives; see (Psalms 118:8Psalms 118:9) ; a wicked man loves evil, and nothing else; his carnal mind being enmity to all that is good

[and] lying rather than to speak righteousness ;
as appears by his affirming that Ahimelech inquired of the Lord for David, when he did not, (1 Samuel 22:10 1 Samuel 22:15) ; and by suffering some things to pass for truths which were falsehoods, when it lay in his power to have disproved them: and such a lover of lies is antichrist; see (1 Timothy 4:2) (2 Thessalonians 2:11) .

Selah; on this word, (See Gill on Psalms 3:2). The Targum renders the word "Selah" here "for ever", as in (Psalms 52:5) .

You love all devouring words
Or "words of swallowing up" ^F25 ; such as lies, calumnies, and detractions are, which devour the characters and reputations of men, and are the cause sometimes of their utter ruin and destruction; of the devouring and blasphemous words of antichrist see (Revelation 13:5Revelation 13:6) ;

O [thou] deceitful tongue; (See Gill on Psalms 52:2).

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: (elb yrbd) "verba absorptionis", Vatablus, Gejerus, Schmidt.

God shall likewise destroy you for ever
As a just retaliation for the mischief done to others; or, "therefore God shall destroy" ^F26 even body and soul in hell, with an everlasting destruction, which will be the case of every wicked man, and particularly of the antichristian party, (Revelation 14:10Revelation 14:11); the word is used of breaking down the house in which the leprosy was, (Leviticus 14:45); and denotes the utter extinction of Doeg's family, and the irrecoverable ruin of antichrist, (Revelation 18:21);

he shall take you away ;
as fire from the hearth, (Isaiah 30:14); or as burning coals from the altar: a word from the root here used signifies a censer: and the meaning is, that as his tongue was a fire, and set on fire of hell, and he was as a burning coal, he was fit for nothing but to be cast into everlasting burnings;

and pluck you out of [your] dwelling place ;
"tent", or "tabernacle" {a}; referring to the tents of shepherds, he being the chief of Saul's shepherds, or to some stately palace he had built for himself to dwell in, upon his advancement at court; or rather to the tabernacle of the Lord, where he had been an hypocritical worshipper; but now should be cut off from the church of God, as a rotten member, and cast out of the tabernacle of Jacob, (Malachi 2:12); while David flourished as an olive tree in the house of the Lord, (Psalms 52:8);

and root you out of the land of the living .
In retaliation for his rooting out Ahimelech's family, and the inhabitants of Nob; so in like manner he and his should be destroyed root and branch, and not see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, nor enjoy eternal life in the world to come.

Selah; on this word, (See Gill on Psalms 3:2). The Targum renders the word "Selah" here "for ever", as in (Psalms 52:3).

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: (Mg) (dia touto) , Sept. "propterea", V. L. "idcirco etiam", Piscator; "ideo etiam", Michaelis.