Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man?
A social betrayer
This psalm may be regarded as presenting to us a social betrayer in a variety of aspects. Doeg was an “informer,” one whom Webster defines as “a man who informs against others from base or unworthy motives.”
I. The social betrayer depicted.
1. Pride (Psalms 52:1). Proud of the secret he holds. He feels he has the reputation and destiny of some one entrusted to him.
2. Malice (Psalms 52:2).
3. Craft (Psalms 52:2). He is a moral assassin; moves in the dark, and carries his javelin under the costume of deception. Dishonesty (Psalms 52:3). He runs more readily with the false than with the true; with the wrong than with the right; with the cruel than with the kind. The base man, what careth he whom he betrays, how he betrays, or what sufferings he entails upon the innocent and even the holy, in order to advance his own personal and selfish ends?
II. The social betrayer doomed (Psalms 52:5). What is his punishment? Destruction. Not annihilation; but--
1. A removal: “He shall take thee away.” Hengstenberg renders it, “take thee away as a coal.” Fling thee away as an intolerable brand. He has been as fire in society, inflaming others with bad passions, devouring the true, the good, and the happy. God will fling him away as a hissing coal. “Pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place” (or tent). His present dwelling-place is a scene of discipline, grace, redemption: hope is taken from him, he is taken from it for ever.
2. An uprootal. “And root thee out of the land of the living.” The roots of a wicked man’s life are in this world, they don’t strike into the spiritual and the eternal; the present and the palpable are everything to him: their roots shall be destroyed. All these are figures, but they mean something terrible; and reason, analogy, conscience, and the Bible tell us that something terrible is before such a man as this’.
III. The social betrayer derided (Psalms 52:6-7). “There is a twofold laughter,” says Arndt. “One, when a man out of an evil spirit of revenge laughs at his enemy. This no Christian, virtuous mind does, but exercises compassion towards an enemy. But the other sort of laughing arises from a consideration of the wonderful judgment and righteousness of God, as when a man says; like Pharaoh, “I ask nothing after the Lord, nor will I let Israel go,” and soon thereafter is made to sink in the Red Sea. This is for just derision. Is it not a matter of ridicule for a man to fight against God?
IV. The social betrayer defeated. Doeg, by his betrayal, considered perhaps that he had ruined David; but instead of this, whilst he himself got destroyed, uprooted from the land of the living, his victim was like “a green olive-tree.” David here indicates that his own life was--
1. A growing life. “A green olive-tree.” Well nourished and well protected.
2. A trusting life. “I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” God’s goodness is a tide that must bear everything before it and will outlive the universe itself. Therefore it is wise to trust in it.
3. A thankful life: “I will praise Thee for ever.” Divine praise is the heaven of the soul. It employs all its faculties harmoniously, and gratifies all its moral cravings fully and for ever.
4. An obedient life. “I will wait on Thy name.” This is the highest attitude of an intelligent creature; it is the attitude of the greatest angel. (Homilist.)
On the character of Doeg
I. Doeg made not God his strength. To make God our strength implies that we regard the Almighty as the author of all our blessings; that we repose an implicit trust in Him in every situation; that we own our dependence on Him for everything which we enjoy; and that we live under the habitual influence of these convictions. The conduct of Doeg was the very reverse of this.
II. He trusted in the abundance of his riches. The only true felicity of man is in God; but the love of the world seduces the heart from God, and leads it, like Doeg, to trust in the abundance of riches, instead of making God its strength. When the love of riches becomes thus predominant, how baneful must be its influence to the principles and affections of the soul! It darkens the understanding; it deadens the conscience; it chills and hardens the heart. But why should men trust to their wealth, when its influence is so baneful and destructive? The accumulated treasures of the world cannot arrest the arm of death, or purchase from him a moment’s reprieve. Are riches necessary to the enjoyment of life? This depends on health of body and contentment of mind, and neither of these can wealth bestow.
III. He strengthened himself in his wickedness. The first resource of an abandoned sinner is debauchery; and to it he betakes himself, not so much to gratify sensual appetite and licentious desire, as to drown thought, to bury reflection, to lull the cow, science. His only joys are intemperance, riot and dissipation. The best principles of his nature are entirely perverted, and his heart is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Having thus succeeded in corrupting or silencing the faithful guardians of innocence and virtue, he triumphs in the imaginary security with which he may now indulge in licentiousness and vice, and strengthens himself still farther in wickedness.
IV. This character is recorded for our instruction. It is intended as a beacon to point out to us the dangerous consequences of sin. It is preserved as a memorial, to all ages of the world, of this important; and impressive truth, that sin and misery are most closely united. Would we avoid Doeg’s fate, then let us avoid his conduct. With this view, let us guard most anxiously against the first deviations from piety and virtue. (G. Goldie.)
A challenge to the mighty sinner
This psalm is a bold and outspoken challenge to a big sinner--a proud personage who “trusted in the abundance of his riches”; and, as often happens to men--and to women, too--luxury had made him slanderous and foul-mouthed, and brutal and monstrous: “he strengthened himself in his wickedness.” The psalm challenges the “big man”: “Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man?” but it tries also to convert him: “The goodness of God is from day to day.” What is the connection between these two clauses of verse 17 The big sinner, wicked and proud, is shut up, as it were, in a close and ill-smelling room--shut up with his ugly thoughts, shut up with his own evil, selfish self. Let him come out, says the psalmist, out into the sunshine of God’s mercies, out into the open where the winds blow fresh o’er the world; let him think of God’s goodness, and may it lead him to repentance. Old Testament piety haunts the open air for its images (Psalms 52:8). We of to-day may not be big men, and have psalms written about us, but we need the same teaching. Let a man be ever-reached in business, let him come home and brood over it, and how soon will arise the thought and plan of revenge! Let another come to him with her prattling lips, and how easily does she convince him that he is a hero and a martyr I Why not the rather, reaching a hand for God’s Book, remember His goodness, which is from day to day? Young men may not know amassed wealth, but they know how, in act or in fancy, they pass into the house of passion, where the blinds are drawn and the windows dimmed by heat, and the sounds are pleasing, and sweet desire arises. Young men, come forth--into the open, out from your narrow selves to God, out into His love’s free atmosphere. You are not alone (Psalms 52:9). Here are the saints, the heroes, the men of faith; and above the helmets of salvation which they wear, see the Captain, Christ Himself, beckoning you onwards to glory and to God. (British Weekly.)
The goodness of God endureth continually.--
The goodness of God infinite and everlasting
There is not so much sin in man as there is goodness in God. There is a vaster proportion between sin and grace than between a spark and an ocean. Who would doubt whether a spark could be quenched in an ocean? Thy thoughts of disobedience towards God have been within the compass of time, but His goodness hath been bubbling up towards thee from all eternity. (W. Culverwell.)