Psalms 52:3

_THOU LOVEST EVIL MORE THAN GOOD; AND LYING RATHER THAN TO SPEAK RIGHTEOUSNESS. SELAH._ Thou lovest evil more than good ... lying ... than ... righteousness - or justice: in direst defiance of Deuteronomy 16:20, margin. SELAH. The pause marks the close of the strophe. As the first strophe (Psalms 52:1) showed the foe's character, so this second his punishment in kind....

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 52:3. _THOU LOVEST EVIL_] This was a finished character. Let us note the particulars: 1. He boasted in the power to do evil. 2. His tongue devised, studied, planned, and spoke mischiefs. 3. He was a deceitful worker. 4. He loved evil and not good. 5. He loved lying; his delight was in falsity. 6. Every word that tended to the destruction of others he loved. 7. His tongue was deceitful; he pretended friendship while his heart was full of enmity, Psalms 52:1. Now behold the _punishment_: -...

THOU LOVEST EVIL MORE THAN GOOD - Thou dost prefer to do injury to others, rather than to do them good. In the case referred to, instead of aiding the innocent, the persecuted, and the wronged, he had attempted to reveal the place where he might be found, and where an enraged enemy might have an opportunity of wreaking his vengeance upon him. AND LYING RATHER THAN TO SPEAK RIGHTEOUSNESS - He preferred a lie to the truth; and, when he supposed that his own interest would be subserved by it, he preferred a falsehood that would promote that interest, rather than a simple statement of the truth. The “lying” in this case was that which was “implied” in his being desirous of giving up David, or betraying him to Saul - as if David was a bad man, and as if the suspicions of Saul were wellfounded. He preferred to give his countenance to a falsehood in regard to him, rather than to state the exact...

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 ...

THOU LOVEST EVIL MORE THAN GOOD,.... Indeed not good at all; such comparatives being strong negatives; see Psalms 118:8; 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; 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. SELAH; on this word, Psalms 3:2. The Targum renders the word

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

EVIL. Hebrew. _ra'a_. App-44. SELAH. Connecting the deceitful tongue of Doeg (Psalms 52:4) with the imprecation on it. See App-66....

Denunciation of the evil-doer and prediction of his fate....