Psalms 52:2

_THY TONGUE DEVISETH MISCHIEFS; LIKE A SHARP RASOR, WORKING DECEITFULLY._ Thy tongue - the organ of thy inner man. LIKE A SHARP RAZOR. Saul's charge of high treason against David was the instrument used to cut off Abimelech and the priests. So the charge of treason to Caesar was the pretext for cutting off Messiah (Luke 23:2; John 19:12)....

2._Thy tongue reckons up mischiefs _David is not to be considered as here venting a flood of reproaches against his adversary, as many who have been unjustly injured are in the habit of doing, merely to gratify a feeling of revenge. He brings these charges against him in the sight of God, with a view to encourage himself in the hopefulness of his own cause: for it is plain that the farther our enemies proceed in the practice of iniquity, they proportionally provoke the anger of the Lord, and are nearer to that destruction which must issue in our deliverance. His object, therefore, is not to blacken the character of Doeg in the estimation of the world, but rather to set before his own eyes the divine punishment which the flagrant offenses he specifies were certain to draw down upon his head. Amongst these he singles out, as more especially worthy of reprobation, the hidden treachery with...

1-5 Those that glory in sin, glory in their shame. The patience and forbearance of God are abused by sinners, to the hardening of their hearts in their wicked ways. But the enemies in vain boast in their mischief, while we have God's mercy to trust in. It will not save us from the guilt of lying, to be able to say, there was some truth in what we said, if we make it appear otherwise than it was. The more there is of craft and contrivance in any wickedness, the more there is of Satan in it. When good men die, they are transplanted from the land of the living on earth, to heaven, the garden of the Lord, where they shall take root for ever; but when wicked men die, they are rooted out, to perish for ever. The believer sees that God will destroy those who make not him their strength....

Verse Psalms 52:2. _DEVISETH MISCHIEFS_] Lies and slanders proceeding from the tongue argue the desperate wickedness of the heart. _LIKE A SHARP RAZOR, WORKING DECEITFULLY._] Which instead of taking off the beard, cuts and wounds the flesh; or as the operator who, when pretending to trim the beard, cuts the throat....

THY TONGUE DEVISETH MISCHIEFS - The word rendered “mischiefs” means (a) desire, cupidity: Proverbs 10:3; then (b) fall, ruin, destruction, wickedness: Psalms 5:9; Psalms 38:12. The meaning here is, that he made use of his tongue to ruin others. Compare Psalms 50:19. The particular thing referred to here is the fact that Doeg sought the ruin of others by giving “information” in regard to them. He “informed” Saul of what Ahimelech had done; he informed him where David had been, thus giving him, also, inform

EXPOSITION HERE, again, the title is the best guide to the origin, intent, and authorship of the psalm. It is ascribed to David, and said to have been written on the occasion when Doeg the Edomite acquainted Saul with the fact of David's visit to Ahimelech the priest, recorded in 1 Samuel 21:1. This information led to a fearful massacre, in which Doeg himself took the chief part (1 Samuel 22:11-9). The bitterness of feeling displayed in the psalm is thus accounted for. Metrically, the psalm seems to consist of three strophes, extending respectively to four, three, and two verses. In the first strophe Doeg's wickedness is set forth (1 Samuel 21:1); in the second ...

THY TONGUE DEVISETH 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; 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; a

Psalms 52 The Proud and Boasting Man __ 1. The character of the man of sin (Psalms 52:1) 2. The character of the righteous (Psalms 52:8) The four Psalms which follow (all Maschil Psalms) give mostly a prophetic picture of the man of sin, the final Antichrist, the false messiah-king, under whom the godly in Israel will especially suffer. He is first described as the mighty man, the super-man, who boasts in evil. He is also a lying, deceitful man, “working deceitfully” and having a “deceitful tongue.” But God is going to deal with him, destroy him forever, take him away, pluck him out of his dwelling place, and out of the land of the living. He will be destroyed with the brightness of the Lord's com

LII. The Psalmist denounces an enemy of his who trusts in his wealth and in unscrupulous falsehood. He is confident that this adversary will be rooted up and that he himself will flourish and abide in the Temple. The reference to the Temple and the complete silence about the massacre of the priests shows that the title gives an impossible explanation of the Ps. PSALMS 52:1_ b_. Read, Against the godly man continually. Psalms 52:2. Translate O thou that workest deceitfully. But the text is probably corrupt. Psalms 52:5. Translate Shall snatch thee away and pluck thee up tentless. Psalms 52:7. w

MISCHIEFS. malignity. Plural for singular. a great malignity....