Psalm 52, Pure Evil

For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: "David has gone to the house of Ahimelech."

In I Samuel 22: 9-10, Doeg tells Saul that he saw David at the house of the priest Ahimelech. Then in I Samuel 22: 16-19, Saul confronts the innocent priest, accusing him of harboring David. When Saul's men won't kill the priest, Doeg volunteers to slaughter the priest, and massacres 85 priests, the priest's family and others in the community.

Psalm 52: 1, Boast of evil

 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man? 

Why do you boast all day long, 

you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?

The evil man (such as Doeg the Edomite) is a disgrace, opposed to God. This sets up the theme of the psalm -- how does one respond to such an evil person?

Ancient manuscripts differ slightly in verse 1, with the Peshitta and Masoretic text transposing Hebrew words el and hesed (says Kidner.) The New American Standard Bible translates verse 1 as "Why do you boast in evil, you mighty man? The faithfulness of God endures all day long." The subtleties between the texts seem to rely on the translation of that strange Hebrew word hesed (see this earlier essay) and the ordering of the that word in the text. 

Psalm 52: 1-4, A sharpened razor of deceit

Your tongue plots destruction; 

it is like a sharpened razor, 

you who practice deceit.

You love evil rather than good, 

falsehood rather than speaking the truth.

Selah.

 You love every harmful word, 

O you deceitful tongue!

The evil man plots destruction, loves deceit -- indeed he practices deceit as an important skill. He arrogantly believes, with his slippery words, that he is being successful.

Psalm 52: 5, Blown away

Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: 

He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent; 

he will uproot you from the land of the living.

Selah.

But God will act to punish such a man. Note the tricolon, three parallel lines that build up, emphasizing the certainty and impending violence of God's action.

Psalm 52: 6-7, The righteous laugh

 The righteous will see and fear; 

they will laugh at him, saying,

 "Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold

but trusted in his great wealth

and grew strong by destroying others!"

Despite the apparent success of arrogant evil ones, the righteous will laugh and watch what happens.

Psalm 52: 8, Unfailing love

 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; 

I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.

In contrast to Doeg, David plans to be a fruitful green olive tree, growing in God's unfailing love.

The Hebrew word translated "unfailing love" is a version of hesed; see the comment on verse 1.

Psalm 52: 9, I will praise you.

I will praise you forever for what you have done; 

in your name I will hope, 

for your name is good. 

I will praise you in the presence of your saints. 

David concludes this attack on evil men (and Doeg) with a decision to praise and claim YHWH, instead of evil.

Anyone who has been betrayed will recognize the difficulty in making the choices that David makes -- to praise God and move on, confident that God is ultimately in charge.