Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.
Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts,
who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?”
“Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”
Yahweh’s words are flawless words, as silver refined in a clay furnace, purified seven times.
You will keep them, Yahweh. You will preserve them from this generation forever.
The wicked walk on every side, when what is vile is exalted among the sons of men.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–8 To the chief musician upon the eighth. With respect…
To the chief musician upon the eighth. With respect to the word eighth, there are two opinions among interpreters. According to some, it means a musical instrument; while others are rather inclined to think that it is a tune. But as it is of no great importance which of these opinions is adopted, I do not trouble myself much about this matter. The conjecture of some, that it was the beginning of a song, does not seem to me to be so probable as that it refers to the tune, and was intended to point out how the psalm was to be sung. “Et que c’est pour exprimer comment se devoir chanter le pseaume.” — Fr.
“Tant plus Dieu est prest d’aider et secourir les siens.” — Fr.
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1. The merciful man hath failed. Some think that this is a complaint that the righteous had been unjustly put to death; as if the Psalmist had said, Saul has cruelly cut off all who observed justice and faithfulness. But I would understand the words in a simpler sense, as meaning that there is no longer any beneficence or truth remaining among men. He has expressed in these two words in what true righteousness consists. As there are two kinds of unrighteousness, violence and deceit; so men live righteously when, in their intercourse with each other, they conscientiously abstain from doing any wrong or injury to one another, and cultivate peace and mutual friendship; when they are neither lions nor foxes. When, however, we see the world in such a state of disorder as is here described, and are afflicted thereby, we ought to be careful not to howl with the wolves, nor to suffer ourselves to be carried away with the dissipation and overflowing flood of iniquity which we see prevailing around us, but should rather imitate the example of David.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 Which dare defend the truth and show mercy to…
Which dare defend the truth and show mercy to the oppressed.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–8 Psa 12:1 « To the chief Musician upon Sheminith,…
Psa 12:1 « To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. » Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
Ver. 1. Help, Lord] It was high time to call to heaven for help when Saul cried, Go, kill me up the priests of Jehovah (the occasion, as it is thought, of making this psalm), and therein committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, as some grave divines are of the opinion, 1Sa 22:17. David, after many sad thoughts about that slaughter, and the occasion of it, Doeg’s malicious information, together with the paucity of his fast friends and the multitude of his sworn enemies at court, breaks forth abruptly into these words, "Help, Lord," help at a dead lift. The Arabic version hath it, Deliver me by main force, as with weapons of war, for the Lord is a man of war, Exo 15:3.
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For the godly man ceaseth] Heb. the merciful man, who, having obtained mercy from thee, would show me mercy, and defend mine innocence; such as these are banished the court, which is now possessed by parasites and sycophants.
For the faithful fail] Veraces, the true and trusty ones, such as a man may safely confide in; these are rare birds. See Mic 7:1-3, &c., {See Trapp on "Mic 7:1"} {See Trapp on "Mic 7:2"} {See Trapp on "Mic 7:3"} When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith (in this sense also) in the earth? Luk 18:8, hard and scarce. When Varus was slain Augustus complained that now he had none left that would deal plainly and faithfully with him. Lewis XI of France would say, that he had plenty of all things but of one. And being asked of what? Of truth, quoth he, Aurelian the emperor was brought and sold by his counsellors, for he might know nothing but as they informed him. David complaineth of Saul, that he was too apt to hearken to every claw back tell tale, 1Sa 24:9; 1Sa 26:19, so that he could have no fair dealing.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–8 Help; or, save me and other good men from…
Help; or, save me and other good men from the subtlety and rage of wicked men. Saul will not help us, and other men cannot help; therefore it is a fit season for thee to help.
The godly; or, kind, or merciful, as this word is oft used, as Psa 30:5; 31:24; 86:2; q.d. I and my friends are sorely and causelessly persecuted, banished from our homes and friends, and, which is worst of all, from God’s sanctuary, and yet few or none pity us; all mercy and humanity is lost.
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The faithful fail; men have lost not only serious piety, but even common honesty, in their words and dealings with men.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 This psalm furnishes us with good thoughts for bad…
This psalm furnishes us with good thoughts for bad times, in which, though the prudent will keep silent (Amo 5:13) because a man may then be made an offender for a word, yet we may comfort ourselves with such suitable meditations and prayers as are here got ready to our hand.
I. Let us see here what it is that makes the times bad, and when they may be said to be so. Ask the children of this world what it is in their account that makes the times bad, and they will tell you, Scarcity of money, decay of trade, and the desolations of war, make the times bad. But the scripture lays the badness of the times upon causes of another nature. Ti2 3:1, Perilous times shall come, for iniquity shall abound; and that is the thing David here complains of.
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1. When there is a general decay of piety and honesty among men the times are then truly bad (Psa 12:1): When the godly man ceases and the faithful fail. Observe how these two characters are here put together, the godly and the faithful. As there is no true policy, so there is no true piety, without honesty. Godly men are faithful men, fast men, so they have sometimes been called; their word is as confirming as their oath, as binding as their bond; they make conscience of being true both to God and man. They are here said to cease and fail, either by death or by desertion, or by both. Those that were godly and faithful were taken away, and those that were left had sadly degenerated and were not what they had been; so that there were few or no good people that were Israelites indeed to be met with. Perhaps he meant that there were no godly faithful men among Saul's courtiers; if he meant there were few or none in Israel, we hope he was under the same mistake that Elijah was, who thought he only was left alone, when God had 7000 who kept their integrity (Rom 11:3); or he meant that there were few in comparison; there was a general decay of religion and virtue (and the times are bad, very bad, when it is so), not a man to be found that executes judgment, Jer 5:1.
2. When dissimulation and flattery have corrupted and debauched all conversation, then the times are very bad (Psa 12:2), when men are generally so profligate that they make no conscience of a lie, are so spiteful as to design against their neighbours the worst of mischiefs, and yet so base as to cover the design with the most specious and plausible pretences and professions of friendship. Thus they speak vanity (that is, falsehood and a lie) every one to his neighbour, with flattering lips and a double heart. They will kiss and kill (as Joab did Abner and Amasa in David's own time), will smile in your face and cut your throat. This is the devil's image complete, a complication of malice and falsehood. The times are bad indeed when there is no such thing as sincerity to be met with, when an honest man knows not whom to believe nor whom to trust, nor dares put confidence in a friend, in a guide, Mic 7:5, Mic 7:6; Jer 9:4, Jer 9:5. Woe to those who help to make the times thus perilous.
3. When the enemies of God, and religion, and religious people, are impudent and daring, and threaten to run down all that is just and sacred, then the times are very bad, when proud sinners have arrived at such a pitch of impiety as to say, "With our tongue will we prevail against the cause of virtue; our lips are our own and we may say what we will; who is lord over us, either to restrain us or to call us to an account?" Psa 12:4. This bespeaks, (1.) A proud conceit of themselves and confidence in themselves, as if the point were indeed gained by eating forbidden fruit, and they were as gods, independent and self-sufficient, infallible in their knowledge of good and evil and therefore fit to be oracles, irresistible in their power and therefore fit to be lawgivers, that could prevail with their tongues, and, like God himself, speak and it is done. (2.) An insolent contempt of God's dominion as if he had no propriety in them - Our lips are our own (an unjust pretension, for who made man's mouth, in whose hand is his breath, and whose is the air he breathes in?) and as if he had no authority either to command them or to judge them: Who is Lord over us? Like Pharaoh, Exo 5:1. This is as absurd and unreasonable as the former; for he in whom we live, and move, and have our being, must needs be, by an indisputable title, Lord over us.
4. When the poor and needy are oppressed, and abused, and puffed at, then the times are very bad. This is implied (Psa 12:5) where God himself takes notice of the oppression of the poor and the sighing of the needy; they are oppressed because they are poor, have all manner of wrong done them merely because they are not in a capacity to right themselves. Being thus oppressed, they dare not speak for themselves, lest their defence should be made their offence; but they sigh, secretly bemoaning their calamities, and pouring out their souls in sighs before God. If their oppressors be spoken to on their behalf, they puff at them, make light of their own sin and the misery of the poor, and lay neither to heart; see Psa 10:5.
5. When wickedness abounds, and goes barefaced, under the protection and countenance of those in authority, then the times are very bad, Psa 12:8. When the vilest men are exalted to places of trust and power (who, instead of putting the laws in execution against vice and injustice and punishing the wicked according to their merits, patronise and protect them, give them countenance, and support their reputation by their own example), then the wicked walk on every side; they swarm in all places, and go up and down seeking to deceive, debauch, and destroy others; they are neither afraid nor ashamed to discover themselves; they declare their sin as Sodom and there is none to check or control them. Bad men are base men, the vilest of men, and they are so though they are ever so highly exalted in this world. Antiochus the illustrious the scripture calls a vile person, Dan 11:21. But it is bad with a kingdom when such are preferred; no marvel if wickedness then grows impudent and insolent. When the wicked bear rule the people mourn.
II. Let us now see what good thoughts we are here furnished with for such bad times; and what times we may yet be reserved for we cannot tell. When times are thus bad it is comfortable to think,
1. That we have a God to go to, from whom we may ask and expect the redress of all our grievances. This he begins with (Psa 12:1): "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth. All other helps and helpers fail; even the godly and faithful, who should lend a helping hand to support the dying cause of religion, are gone, and therefore whither shall we seek but to thee?" Note, When godly faithful people cease and fail it is time to cry, Help, Lord! The abounding of iniquity threatens a deluge. "Help, Lord, help the virtuous; few seek to hold fast their integrity, and to stand in the gap; help to save thy own interest in the world from sinking. It is time for thee, Lord, to work."
2. That God will certainly reckon with false and proud men, and will punish and restrain their insolence. They are above the control of men and set them at defiance. Men cannot discover the falsehood of flatterers, nor humble the haughtiness of those that speak proud things; but the righteous God will cut off all flattering lips, that give the traitor's kiss and speak words softer then oil when war is in the heart; he will pluck out the tongue that speaks proud things against God and religion, Psa 12:3. Some translate it as a prayer, "May God cut off those false and spiteful lips." Let lying lips be put to silence.
3. That God will, in due time, work deliverance for his oppressed people, and shelter them from the malicious designs of their persecutors (Psa 12:5): Now, will I arise, saith the Lord. This promise of God, which David here delivered by the spirit of prophecy, is an answer to that petition which he put up to God by the spirit of prayer. "Help, Lord," says he; "I will," says God; "here I am, with seasonable and effectual help." (1.) It is seasonable, in the fittest time. [1.] When the oppressors are in the height of their pride and insolence - when they say, Who is lord over us? - then is God's time to let them know, to their cost, that he is above them. [2.] When the oppressed are in the depth of their distress and despondency, when they are sighing like Israel in Egypt by reason of the cruel bondage, then is God's time to appear for them, as for Israel when they were most dejected and Pharaoh was most elevated. Now will I arise. Note, There is a time fixed for the rescue of oppressed innocency; that time will come, and we may be sure it is the fittest time, Psa 102:13. (2.) It is effectual: I will set him in safety, or in salvation, not only protect him, but restore him to his former prosperity, will bring him out into a wealthy place (Psa 66:12), so that, upon the whole, he shall lose nothing by his sufferings.
4. That, though men are false, God is faithful; though they are not to be trusted, God is. They speak vanity and flattery, but the words of the Lord are pure words (Psa 12:6), not only all true, but all pure, like silver tried in a furnace of earth or a crucible. It denotes, (1.) The sincerity of God's word, every thing is really as it is there represented and not otherwise; it does not jest with us, not impose upon us, nor has it any other design towards us than our own good. (2.) The preciousness of God's word; it is of great and intrinsic value, like silver refined to the highest degree; it has nothing in it to depreciate it. (3.) The many proofs that have been given of its power and truth; it has been often tried, all the saints in all ages have trusted it and so tried it, and it never deceived them nor frustrated their expectation, but they have all set to their seal that God's word is true, with an Experto crede - Trust one that has made trial; they have found it so. Probably this refers especially to these promises of succouring and relieving the poor and oppressed. Their friends put them in hopes that they will do something for them, and yet prove a broken reed; but the words of God are what we may rely upon; and the less confidence is to be put in men's words let us with the more assurance trust in God's word.
5. That God will secure his chosen remnant to himself, how bad soever the times are (Psa 12:7): Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. This intimates that, as long as the world stands, there will be a generation of proud and wicked men in it, more or less, who will threaten by their wretched arts to ruin religion, by wearing out the saints of the Most High, Dan 7:25. But let God alone to maintain his own interest and to preserve his own people. He will keep them from this generation, (1.) From being debauched by them and drawn away from God, from mingling with them and learning their works. In times of general apostasy the Lord knows those that are his, and they shall be enabled to keep their integrity. (2.) From being destroyed and rooted out by them. The church is built upon a rock, and so well fortified that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In the worst of times God has his remnant, and in every age will reserve to himself a holy seed and preserve that to his heavenly kingdom.
In singing this psalm, and praying it over, we must bewail the general corruption of manners, thank God that things are not worse than they are, but pray and hope that they will be better in God's due time.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–8 Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth,.... A godly…
Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth,.... A godly man, according to the notation of the word (z), is one that has received grace and mercy of the Lord; as pardoning mercy, justifying and adopting grace; and who has principles of grace, goodness, and holiness, wrought in him; who fears the Lord, and serves him acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, and sorrows for sin, after a godly sort; who loves the Lord, and hopes and believes in him; who is regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit of God, and is a true worshipper of God, and lives in all holy conversation and godliness; and, particularly, is "beneficent", "kind", and "merciful" (a) unto men: such may be said to "cease" when there are but few of them; when their number is greatly reduced (b), either by death, or when such who have seemed, and have been thought to be so, prove otherwise: in a view of which, the psalmist prays for help and salvation; "help", or "save" (c) Lord; meaning himself, being destitute of the company, counsel, and assistance of good and gracious men; or the cause and interest of religion, which he feared would sink by the ceasing of godly men. When all friends and refuge fail, saints betake themselves to God, and their salvation is of him; and he is their present help in a time of trouble; and he saves and reserves for himself a number in the worst of times; as he did in Elijah's time, who thought there was no godly man left but himself; see Rom 11:1;
for the faithful fail from among the children of men; so that there are none left among them but carnal, unregenerate, ungodly, and unfaithful men. The "faithful" are such who are upright in heart and conversation; who trust in the Lord, and believe in the Messiah; who abide by the truths and ordinances of God; and are faithful in what is committed to their trust, whether they be gifts of nature, Providence, or grace; and to their fellow Christians, in advising, reproving, &c. when needful: these may fail in the exercise of grace, and in the discharge of duty, but not so as to perish eternally. The words design the paucity of them, and the sad degeneracy of the times to which they refer: and they may belong either to the times of David, when Saul's courtiers flattered him, and spoke evil of David; when the men of Keilah intended to have delivered him up; when the Ziphites discovered him to Saul, and invited him to come and take him; or when Absalom rose up in rebellion against him, and so many of the people fell off from him: or else to the times of Christ; the people of the Jews in his age were a wicked and faithless generation; and even among his own disciples there was great want of fidelity: one betrayed him, another denied him, and all forsook him and fled; after his death, some doubted his being the Redeemer, and one of them could not believe he was risen from the dead, when he was. And these words may be applied to the antichristian times, the times of the grand apostasy, and falling away from the faith, upon the revealing of the man of sin; since which the holy city is trodden under foot; the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth; and the church is in the wilderness, and is hid there. Yea, to the second coming of Christ, when there will be great carnality and security, and little faith found in the earth. A like complaint with this see in Isa 57:1.
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(z) "passive pro beneficiario, sive alterius beneficiis gratiosis cumulato", Gejerus. (a) "Misericors", Pagninus, Mariana; beneficus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (b) "Rari quippe boni", &c. Juvenal. Satyr. 13. v. 36. (c) "serva", Pagninus, Cocceius; "da salutem", Junius & Tremellius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 6, 7 David begs help of God, having no man whom…
David begs help of God, having no man whom he could trust, ver. 1, 2. Describes the wicked and assures himself, that God would punish them, and preserve the just, ver. 3-8. To the chief musician upon Sheminith, A psalm of David. Title of the psalm. Sheminith - The same title is prefixed to chap. vi, 1.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–8 The psalmist, destitute of human comfort, craves help from…
PSALM XII
The psalmist, destitute of human comfort, craves help from God,
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1;
gives the character of those who surrounded him, and denounces
God's judgments against them, 2-5;
confides in the promises of God, and in his protection of him
and all good men, 6-8.
NOTES ON PSALM XII
The inscription to this Psalm is: To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. See on the title of Ps 6:1. The Arabic has "Concerning the end (of the world which shall happen) on the eighth day. A prophecy relative to the Advent of the Messiah."
Some think that this Psalm was made when Doeg and the Ziphites betrayed David to Saul, see 1Sa 22:9; 1Sa 23:19; c., but it is most likely that was written during the Babylonish captivity.
Verse 1. Help, Lord] Save me, O Lord for merciful men fail, and faithful men have passed away from the sons of Adam. Make safe me, Lord; for haly failed, for lessed es sothfastnes fra sons of men. OLD MS.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–8 Psa 12:1. Help, Lord — Hebrew, הושׁיעה, hoshigna, save,…
Psa 12:1. Help, Lord — Hebrew, הושׁיעה, hoshigna, save, Jehovah; namely, me and other good men, from the subtlety and rage of wicked men; for the godly man ceaseth — חסיד, chasid, the kind, or, merciful man, as the word properly means. The faithful fail, &c. — Men have lost, not only serious piety, that even truth and honesty in their conversation and dealings with men. “The universal depravity of Jew and Gentile caused the church of old to pray earnestly for the first advent of Christ; and a like depravity among those who call themselves Christians may induce her to pray no less earnestly for this appearance the second time unto salvation.” — Horne.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–8 Help, Lord - Hebrew, “Save, Yahweh.” The idea is…
Help, Lord - Hebrew, “Save, Yahweh.” The idea is that there was no human help, and, therefore, the divine help is implored. The psalmist saw that those on whom reliance was usually placed for the promotion of the cause of truth and virtue now failed, and hence, he invites the divine interposition.
For the godly man - The word used here properly denotes the “merciful” man - חסיד châsı̂yd. It is a term applied to the righteous, because it is a prominent trait in the character of a pious man that he is merciful, kind, benignant. Hence, the general character is often denoted by the special characteristic; in the same way as we speak of a pious man as a good man, a just man, a righteous man. The idea suggested by the use of the term here is, that it is always a characteristic of a pious man that he is merciful or benignant. Compare Psa 4:3; Psa 32:6, where the same word is rendered “godly;” Psa 30:4; Psa 31:23; Psa 37:28; Psa 50:5; Psa 52:9; Psa 79:2; Psa 85:8, where it is rendered saints; and Deu 33:8; Psa 16:10; Psa 86:2; Psa 89:19, where it is rendered “holy.” “Ceaseth.” The word used here - גמר gâmar - means properly to bring to an end; to complete; to perfect. Hence, it means to come to an end, to cease, to fail.
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Gesenius. - This might occur either by their being cut off by death; or by their ceasing to exert their influence in favor of religion; that is, by a general prevalence of wickedness among those who professed to be the friends of God. The latter seems to be the meaning here, since, in the following verses, the psalmist proceeds to specify the manner in which they “fail;” not by death, but by speaking vanity, falsehood, and flattery. That is, their conduct was such that their influence failed, or was lost to the community. No reliance could be placed on them, and, therefore, the psalmist so earnestly calls on God for his interposition. The idea is, that when men professing religion become conformed to the world - when they live like other men - when they cease to exert an influence in favor of piety - when they fall into habits of sin, it is a time to call on God with special earnestness for his aid. Often such conduct on the part of the professed friends of religion makes such an appeal to God more proper than even the death of good men does, for, in the latter case, their influence is simply withdrawn; in the former, not only is this influence which they might exert lost to the church, but there is a positive bad influence to be counteracted. The fall of a professor of religion into sin is a greater loss to the church than his death would be.
For the faithful - Those who profess faith; those who are bound by their vows to be faithful to God and to his cause. The word is equivalent to the believing, and is properly expressive of trust or faith in God.
Fail from among the children of men - Fail, as above noted, by their misconduct; by being false to the trust committed to them.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 12
Psalms 12
To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David
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1 Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth;
For the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour:
With flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
3 The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaketh proud things:
4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail;
Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now will I arise, saith the Lord;
I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
6 The words of the Lord are pure words:
As silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
7 Thou shalt keep them, O Lord,
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
8 The wicked walk on every side,
When the vilest men are exalted.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its character.—A prayer of David (Psa_12:1 a) under the impression of the decrease of piety and faithfulness in the world (Psa_12:1 b), and the increase of shameless and careless deceitfulness (Psa_12:2-4). In moral indignation against this, he calls upon God (Psa_12:3), receives a promise of Divine help for those who request it (Psa_12:5); he shows plainly the reliability of the promise of Jehovah (Psa_12:6), and expresses confidence in His protection (Psa_12:7), once more referring to the present condition of corruption (Psa_12:8) The Divine promise does not appear in the form of a citation of a prophetical word already given (Ewald), nor as a mere poetical dress (Hupf.), but as a true prophetical revelation. Even Hitzig refers not only to the holy lot which David took with him in war (2Sa_5:19; 2Sa_5:24); but he brings to mind the prophetical character of David (Act_2:30), and regards him “as competent to perceive a Divine word on the mirror of his soul which had been purified and unburdened by prayer.”6 There is no reason for transposing the two last verses in order not to conclude with a crying discord (Hupf.). “The psalm is a ring and that oracle is its jewel” (Delitzsch).
Str. I. Psa_12:1. Help.—[Perowne: “‘save’ is more emphatic, because no object is expressed, vid.Psa_116:1, where in like manner the verb ‘I love’ stands without its object.”—C. A. B.]—Disappear.—[A. V.: “ceaseth.” Barnes: “Their conduct was such that their influence failed or was lost to the community.”—C. A. B.]—Faithful.—The “Amen people,” according to Luther’s gloss. From the position of the predicate, before, in the plural, we would expect the persons to be mentioned, which also the parallel clause favors, as Psa_31:23. The double reason of the prayer does not force us to regard the plural as abstract = faithfulness (Sept. ἀλήθειαι), or “faith” (Syr.), which indeed is in itself possible.
Psa_12:2. Lies [A. V.: “vanity”].—This is not to be referred merely to false, unprofitable doctrines (Cocc., Schmidt, et al.).—Double heart.—[Alexander: “By a double heart we are probably to understand, not mere dissimulation or hypocrisy, but inconsistency and instability of temper, which leads men to entertain opposite feelings towards the same object. Comp. the description of the double minded ‘man’ in Jam_1:8.”—C. A. B.]
Str. II. Psa_12:3-4. [Perowne: “The burning of righteous indignation uttering itself in a fervent prayer for the uprooting of the whole kingdom of lies.”—“The men here described are evidently men occupying a high position, smooth and supple courtiers, perfect in the art of dissembling, yet glorying in their power of saying what they list, however atrocious the falsehood or the calumny.”—C. A. B.]
Psa_12:4. With regard to our tongues we show strength.—Hupf. translates: We are masters of our tongues; [A. V.: “with our tongues will we prevail”]; on the other hand Ewald and Olsh. with Geier et al.: we are confederates of our own tongues; Hitzig: we strengthen our tongues.—Our lips are our own-[Wordsworth: “the wicked say (or rather are with us, on our side), (comp. 2Ki_6:16; Psa_46:7). They rely on their lips, their smooth, flattering speeches fitted to deceive; on their proud and haughty words, able to overcome. This (they say) is our artillery, with it we are invincible.”—C. A. B.]
Str. III. Psa_12:5. I will set him in safety who panteth after it.—Eum qui inhiat illi sc. saluti (Maurer, similarly Ewald, Olsh., Hengst., Delitzsch [Alexander]. Comp. Hab_2:3, where panting for an end is described with a similar expression. The translation of Geier, Rosenm., et al., “against whom they puff” [A. V., “from him that puffeth at him”], has against it the construction with לִ. The translation adopted by Mich. and Hupf.=in order that he may recover breath=refresh himself, causes us to miss the object of the verb. [The translation of A. V. et al. is to be preferred. Barnes: “By this construction, also, the connection with the main statement will be best preserved—that the inquiry referred to in the Psalm was done by words, by the breath of the mouth—thus indicating that by a word or breath they could destroy them.”—C. A. B.]
Psa_12:6. Work-shop.—Since the etymology allows this translation of the obscure Hebrew word, and the additional words “in the earth” are best suited with this, because pure silver flows down out of the ore heaped up in the furnace, Delitzsch prefers this rendering, following Cocc., Mich., Gesenius, Olsh. It may, however, be translated “melting vessel,” that is, crucible or oven; but the earth must then mean either, in an oven belonging to the earth=enclosed with earth (Chald., Maur., De Wette, Hupf. [A. V.], which is against the usage of melting houses, or if it is only an indication of its place it is superfluous; or it must be connected with the participle = purified on account of the earth, that is from its earthly ingredients (Rosenm., Ewald et al.). Against this is the fact that ארץ does not mean the earth as material. The seven times is regarded by most interpreters as a holy number, by Saadia et al. as a round number. Following the Jewish interpreters (who, however, think of the sovereign of the land, among whom Vatab. understands God, vid. Hupf.), Hengst. and Lengerke translate: “silver of a prince of the land,” whilst they regard it as a secondary form of בעל. Hitzig now translates: melted into the bar in the crucible. He regards רע=ארץ, Psa_68:30. Böttcher would read לָאָבֶץ = to the lustre of white = to the pure bright mass.
Str. IV. Psa_12:7. This generation.—[Perowne: “Spoken of those who not only live in the same age, but are pervaded by the spirit of that age. So Isa_53:8. Here the world as opposed to the Church.”—C. A. B.]
Psa_12:8. If the wicked walk about on every side in accordance with the increase of vileness among the children of men.—Some, as Grot., Rosenm., Umbreit, following Symm. and Jerome, regard כְ as a particle of time [so A. V., “when the vilest men are exalted”], yet so, that they unite the statement of the reason with that of the point of time. But it is better to regard it as a comparison, because it then expresses a corrective and comforting judgment respecting the previous clause (Hupf.). Hitzig unites the letters to other words and gets the meaning, “Unhappy destiny for the world of man!” In the Chald. and Rabbin מַזָּל means fate, yet in the plural properly signa zodiaci; therefore Hitzig is inclined to think partly of some idiom of common life, partly refers to Jdg_5:20, where the stars actively interfere with human affairs. Formerly he translated: if they rise, a terror to the children of men. In a similar way Gesenius Thesaurus. On the other hand G. Baur prefers the translation of Hengst.: lowliness is for men as sovereignty; which is thus improved by Lengerke: humiliation is to the children of men as exaltation; which should mean: they will not long carry it on—pride comes before a fall. Umbreit translates: The wicked walk round about, when the shame of the children of men rises. [Wordsworth translates thus: Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, Thou shalt guard him from this generation forever, although the wicked walk on every side because vileness is exalted among the children of men. The Psalmist foretells two things: that ungodliness will overflow, even unto the end; and that the righteous will be preserved from the flood of iniquity. And thus he prepares the way for the declaration of the Lord Himself in the Gospel concerning the latter days (Mat_24:12-13.”—C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Those are bad times when the number of the friends of God and of the faithful decreases, and the number of the double-tongued, deceitful and false increases in the land. The pious in this case have much to suffer internally and externally, yet they must not only suffer and endure and not make much complaint, still less fear, but they must testify against the mischief and its causes, and constantly implore the help of God.
2. The ungodly sin not only with their tongues, but also in acts by which the members of the Church of God are oppressed and threatened. But in spite of their vain glory and great boasting they are not in the position to carry out their wicked devices. They accomplish nothing by their hypocrisy and flattery, and do not attain their end any more by their threats than by their deceitful enticements, or indeed by their slander. God watches over His people and protects those who sigh after Him.
3. In times of trouble God comforts the afflicted by His holy word, and awakens in the Church itself voices which testify to the truth of the Divine promises, and to the reliability of the hope of salvation which is based upon them.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The world attacks the congregation of the Lord but God defends it.—It is not promised to the pious that they shall live without opposition; but that God will preserve them from the wicked generation and save them.—The growth of the congregation is at times interrupted, but it cannot be destroyed; for the Lord is its help and its salvation.—In the days of their affliction the pious have still, 1) the consolation of prayer; 2) the promise of the word of God; 3) the refreshment of the communion of saints.—God answers the supplication of His people; will not the people respond to the promises of the word of God?—The wicked man goes about for a short time, until he is cast down by the hand of God from his imaginary height. The same hand of God raises the pious from the depths of temporal need to the loftiness of eternal salvation.—The demeanor of the wicked corresponds with the vileness of corrupt human nature; the conduct of the pious expresses the nobility of the children of God.
Luther: Only he who is true to God, is true to men; but faith and the grace of God are necessary to both.—Calvin: God offers in His word only that which He will fulfill in deed.—Starke: If believers have diminished already in the time of David, how much more now with us, who are near the last days, when little faith and love is to be found.—If believers are few, then see to it that thou art found in the little band (Luk_12:32).—Ye men, watch over your tongue and your heart, that the former may speak the truth, the latter be without guile. To speak unprofitable things is an impure fruit of a bad heart. So long as we are not humbled under God and bowed down in heart, so long we are exposed to the judgment of being rooted out.—The sigh of the miserable awakens the vengeance of God; therefore trouble them not, else their sighs will make you anxious.—The greater our need, the nearer God.—The greater the fire, the nobler the trial.—False doctrine is neither gold nor silver, but only scum.—As long as we are in the world, we are obliged to be among the wicked, only we have to pray, that we may be delivered from their wickedness.—Osiander: The pious are sown scantily, but tares grow of themselves.—Menzel: Tyranny is indeed hard; but false doctrine is much harder; for tyranny kills the body, but false doctrine the soul.—Frisch: Hold to the few believers that are left; but take to heart the universal corruption and lament over it to the Lord.—Herberger: Help, Lord! That is short, but a good prayer.—All saints must believe, and only believers are saints before God.—Umbreit: Nothing hurts believers more than the lack of truthfulness and uprightness in the world.—Stiller: We need not fight with human strength; our only weapon is the word of God.—Diedrich: God’s people increase but slowly, and ever under the cross.
[Matth. Henry: There is a time fixed for the rescue of oppressed innocency, that time will come, and we may be sure it is of all others the fittest time.—In singing this Psalm and praying over it, we must bewail the general corruption of manners; thank God that things are not worse than they are, but pray and hope that they will be better in God’s due time.—Barnes: The fall of a professor of religion into sin is a greater loss to the Church than his death would be. There is usually a greater degree of recklessness among men in regard to their speech than in regard to their conduct; and many a man who would shrink from doing another wrong by an act of dishonesty in business, may be utterly reckless as to doing him wrong by an unkind remark.—Spurgeon: “Help, Lord!” A short, but sweet, suggestive, seasonable, and serviceable prayer; a kind of angel’s sword, to be turned every way, and to be used on all occasions.—As small ships can sail into harbors which larger vessels, drawing more water, cannot enter, so our brief cries and short petitions may trade with heaven when our soul is wind-bound, and business-bound, as to longer exercises of devotion, and when the stream of grace seems at too low an ebb to float a more laborious supplication.—Jesus feels with His people, and their smarts are mighty orators with Him. By-and-by, however, they begin to sigh and express their misery, and then relief comes post-haste.—C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
6[Delitzsch: “The true Church of Jehovah was then as ever a Church of confessors and martyrs, and the sighing after the future of Jehovah was then no less deep than now the ‘come Lord Jesus.’ ”—C. A. B.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 The want of it is illustrated by the prevalence…
The want of it is illustrated by the prevalence of deceit and instability.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–8 1. Help, Lord—The call is abrupt, impassioned, and universal.…
1. Help, Lord—The call is abrupt, impassioned, and universal. The verb has no object, because the evil is not local and personal, but general.
The godly man ceaseth—Better, the merciful man ceaseth; exactly parallel to Mic_7:2 : “The good man is perished out of the earth.” The earth is given up to violence and rapine. On the use of חסיד, (hhasid,) godly, merciful, see on Psa_4:3; Psa_86:2.
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The faithful—Literally, the amen people. Those who believe and speak the truth and keep their word. Men have ceased to regulate their conduct one with another by the law of kindness and truth. Compare the complaint of Elijah, 1Ki_19:10; 1Ki_19:14.
Children of men—Sons of Adam, a designation of an earthborn, degenerate race, as opposed to “sons of God.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–8 1. Help] Render save, as in Psa_3:7, Psa_6:4, Psa_7:1,…
1. Help] Render save, as in Psa_3:7, Psa_6:4, Psa_7:1, and elsewhere; and note the connexion with in safety, Psa_12:5.
for the godly man ceaseth &c.] Godly, or kindly, men are no more: the faithful fail (or as R.V. marg., faithfulness faileth) from among the sons of men. Mercy and truth, lovingkindness and trustworthiness, seem to have become extinct. Similar complaints are common in the prophets. See Hos_4:1; Mic_7:2; Isa_57:1; Isa_59:14 ff.; Jer_5:1 ff; Jer_7:28; Jer_9:2 ff. For the meaning of godly see note on Psa_4:3 and Appendix, Note I. Here it means ‘one who practises lovingkindness towards his fellow-men as a religious duty.’
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1, 2. A cry for help in the midst of prevailing faithlessness.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 (1) Ceaseth.—Intransitive, as in Psa_7:9.
(1) Ceaseth.—Intransitive, as in Psa_7:9.
The faithful.—The Vulg. and Syriac treat this word as abstract: “truth,” “faithfulness.” So Ewald; but the parallelism here, as in Psa_31:23, requires it in the concrete. (Comp. 2Sa_20:19.) The Hebrew is cognate with “amen,” and Luther has “amen’s leute,” people as good as their word.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–8 ANOTHER Davidical psalm, both according to the title and…
ANOTHER Davidical psalm, both according to the title and to the general opinion of critics; said (like Psalm 6) to be "upon Sheminith an expression of uncertain meaning. It consists of a complaint (vers. 1, 2), a menace (vers. 3, 4), and a promise (vers. 5-8). Metrically, it seems to divide itself into four stanzas the first, second, and fourth, of four lines each; the third, of six lines. There is nothing to mark definitely the time of the composition; but its position in the Psalter, and its general resemblance to the psalms which precede, point to the period of David"s residence at the court of Saul.
Help, Lord; rather, Save, Lord, as in the margin. (comp. Psa_20:9 Psa_28:9 Psa_60:5, etc.) For the godly man ceaseth. "Ceaseth," i.e. , "out of the land either slain or driven into exile. We must make allowance for poetic hyperbole. For the faithful fail from among the children of men. (compare, for the sentiment, Mic_7:2) The writer, for the moment, loses sight of the "remnant the "little flock which assuredly remained, and of which he speaks in vers. 5 and 7.
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HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE Vers. 1-8. Hard, times.
This psalm has no indication of the time in which it was written. At whatever time, however, it may have been penned, there is no doubt about the general features of the age here represented. It was one in which good men were becoming more and more rare, in which the wicked abounded, and took occasion from the numerical inferiority of the righteous to indulge in haughty and vain talk against them and against God. The psalmist looks with concern and distress upon this state of things, and sends up a piercing cry to God to arise and make his glory known. We have in the psalm three lines of thought fierce trials; fervent prayer; faithful promise.
I FIERCE TRIALS. They are not personal ones merely; they are such as would be felt mainly by those of God"s people who, possessed of a holy yearning for the prosperity of his cause and the honour of his Name, grieved more acutely over the degeneracy of their age than over any private or family sorrow. There were six features of society at the time when this psalm was written.
1. The paucity of good and faithful men (ver. 2).
2. Wicked men being in power (ver. 8).
3. The righteous being oppressed (ver. 5).
4. Falsehood, i.e. faithlessness. ()
5. Pride.
6. Vain-glorious boasting and self-assertion.
When wickedness gets the upper hand in these ways, times are hard indeed for good and faithful men. In such times Elijah, Jeremiah, and others lived, and wept, and moaned, and prayed. Many a prophet of the Lord has had to look upon such a state of things, when all day long he stretched out his hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people. Note:
1. This description of the degeneracy of the writer"s age is not a Divine record of the state of the world as a whole. The psalm is made up of words of man to God, not of words of God to man.
2. Still less is the psalm to be regarded as stating or implying that the world as a whole is always getting worse and worse. Let the student take the psalm simply for what it professes to be a believer"s moan over the corruptions of his age and he will find it far more richly helpful and suggestive than on any forced hypothesis.
3. The special ills of any age may well press on the heart of a believer; yea, they will do so, if a becoming Christian public spirit is cherished by him.
4. There are times when Christian men have to sigh and cry, owing to the abominations of the social life around them; and when Faber"s touching words are true"He hides himself so wondrously, As if there were no God; He is least seen when all the powers Of ill are most abroad.
5. And trials not less severe are felt when there is a widespread defection from the faith once delivered to the saints, and when men are calling for a "religion without God;" and are even, in some cases, forsaking Christianity for Mohammedanism or Buddhism. Through such trials believers are passing now (A.D. 1894). At such times they must resort to
II FERVENT PRAYER. The psalmist gives expression to the conviction that nothing but the immediate and powerful interposition of God will meet the crisis. (cf. Isa_64:1) In what way this Divine aid shall be vouchsafed it is not for the praying man to say. He must leave that with God, content to have laid the case before him. The answer may come in the form of terrible providential judgments, or in the sending forth of a new band of powerful witnesses to contend with the adversaries, or in a widespread work of grace and of spiritual quickening power. All these methods are hinted at in Scripture, and witnessed to by the history of the Church. Note: Such prayers as this agonizing "Help, Lord!" while they are the outcome of intense concern, are yet not cries of hopeless despair. True, our help is only in God; but it is there, and an all-sufficient help it will prove to be as to time, method, measure, and effect. In every age the saints of God have thus betaken themselves to him, and. never in vain. For ever have they proved the
III FAITHFUL PROMISE.
1. The contents of the promise are given in ver. 5.
2. The value of the promise, as proved and tried, is specified in ver. 6. There is not an atom of dross in any of the promises of God all are pure gold.
3. Having these promises, the believer can calmly declare the issue in the full assurance of faith.
4. The false men and proud boasters shall be cut off (ver. 3).
5. The Divine preserving guard will keep the righteous from being sucked into the vortex of corruption (ver. 7).
Note: The Christian teacher will feel bound to remember that in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the gift of the Spirit, and in all the resulting activities of the Christian Church, the Lord has put forces in operation for the rectification of social wrongs, more effective than any of which the psalmist dreamt, and that these forces have only to be given time to work, and "all things will become new." The disclosures to this effect in the Book of the Apocalypse are an abiding source of comfort to God"s people in the worst of times. C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-8. Christian growth.
I TROUBLE MOVES MEN TO PRAYER. (Ver. 1) As the child instinctively cries to its father, so we cry to God. Society may wax worse and worse. The righteous may fail out of the land. It is hard to serve alone. Falsehood and lust prevail. There are fears on every side. In God alone is our help found.
II PRAYER STRENGTHENS FAITH. (Vers. 3, 4) There is some relief in telling our griefs. Further, we are cheered by the assurance of God"s love. He must ever be on the side of truth and right. More particularly we are encouraged by the record of God"s mighty works, and his promises to stand by his people. In communing with God, and casting our cares upon him who careth for us, our faith gains force and grows in ardour and activity.
III FAITH INSPIRES HOPE. (Vers. 5, 6) We remember God"s word, on which he hath caused us to place our hope. God"s promises are good, for he is love; they are certain, for he is faithful; they are sure of accomplishment, for he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think. Thus our hearts are revived. There may be delay, but not denial. There may be silence long, but never refusal. God has his own time and his own way.
IV HOPE CULMINATES IN ASSURANCE. (Vers. 7, 8) Light arises. The sky becomes brighter and brighter. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" All things are working to a perfect end. The prosperity of the wicked is vanity, and his triumph endures but for a little while. The end of the righteous is peace. "Thou shalt preserve them for ever. W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-8. Lamentation over the growing corruption of the nation.
"The psalmist is appalled by the rottenness of society around him; unscrupulous ambition appears to rule supreme; truth is scorned as folly, and the god of lies is enthroned in the national heart. But God had not left himself without a witness." Prophets and seers had already declared the Divine word of promise, that the righteous cause should be upheld and vindicated.
I A DARK PICTURE OF DEPRAVED SOCIETY.
1. There were few conspicuous for righteousness. (Ver. 1) Not that they had entirely ceased, but that they were fewer than they used to be. "Say not that the former times were better than these." Guard against this natural tendency natural especially to men who are growing old.
2. The prevalence of unscrupulous falsehood. (Ver. 2) Lies and flattery and deceit. A disregard for truth was widely spread, one of the sins most destructive of social life. This spirit of falsehood infested their most intimate relations one with his neighbour and would corrupt at last even the family relations.
3. They worshipped that which won for them their evil success. (Vers. 3, 4) Lying and deceit the evil power of the tongue prevailing for the time, made them feel that they were their own lords, that there was no higher power above them.
II THE PSALMIST CONSOLES HIMSELF WITH THE DIVINE PROMISE OF PROTECTION. (Ver. 5)
1. That promise inspires him to pray for its fulfilment. (Vers. 1-3) All true prayer bases itself on the Divine promise. "If we ask according to his will, we know that God heareth us
2. The Divine promise is pure from the alloy that corrupts the words of men. (Ver. 6) It has no admixture of flattery and deceit as the words of men have. "God cannot lie.
3. That promise guarantees them protection, even when wickedness walks in high places. (Vers. 7, 8) Wickedness is most alluring when in high places; but if God helps us to see that it is wickedness, and keeps our consciences clear and active, we are effectually protected from it. The defence against wickedness must be a Divine work within us as well as without us. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv1–8 This Psalm is headed "To the Chief Musician upon…
This Psalm is headed "To the Chief Musician upon Sheminith, a Psalm of David, "which title is identical with that of the sixth Psalm, except that Neginoth is here omitted. We have nothing new to add, and therefore refer the reader to our remarks on the dedication of Ps 6:1-10. As Sheminith signifies the eighth, the Arabic version says it is concerning the end of the world, which shall be the eighth day, and refers it to the coming of the Messiah: without accepting so fanciful an interpretation, we may read this song of complaining faith in the light of His coming who shall break in pieces the oppressor. The subject will be the better before the mind's eye if we entitle this Psalm: "GOOD THOUGHTS IN BAD TIMES." It is supposed to have been written while Saul was persecuting David, and those who favoured his cause.
In Ps 12:1-2 David spreads his complaint before the Lord concerning the treachery of his age; Ps 12:3-4 denounce judgments upon proud traitors; in Ps 12:5, Jehovah himself thunders out his wrath against oppressors; hearing this, the Chief Musician sings sweetly of the faithfulness of God and his care of his people, in Ps 12:6-7; but closes on the old key of lament in verse 8, as he observes the abounding wickedness of his times. Those holy souls who dwell in Mesech, and sojourn in the tents of Kedar, may read and sing these sacred stanzas with hearts in full accord with their mingled melody of lowly mourning and lofty confidence.
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Ver. 1. Help, Lord. A short but sweet, suggestive, seasonable, and serviceable prayer; a kind of angel's sword, to be turned every way, and to be used on all occasions. Ainsworth says the word rendered "help, "is largely used for all manner of saving, helping, delivering, preserving, etc. Thus it seems that the prayer is very full and instructive. The Psalmist sees the extreme danger of his position, for a man had better be among lions than among liars; he feels his own inability to deal with such sons of Belial, for "he who shall touch them must be fenced with iron; "he therefore turns himself to his all sufficient Helper, the Lord, whose help is never denied to his servants, and whose aid is enough for all their needs. "Help, Lord, "is a very useful ejaculation which we may dart up to heaven on occasions of emergency, whether in labour, learning, suffering, fighting, living, or dying. As small ships can sail into harbours which larger vessels, drawing more water, cannot enter, so our brief cries and short petitions may trade with heaven when our soul is wind bound, and business bound, as to longer exercises of devotion, and when the stream of grace seems at too low an ebb to float a more laborious supplication.
For the godly man ceaseth; the death, departure, or decline of godly men should be a trumpet call for more prayer. They say that fish smell first at the head, and when godly men decay, the whole commonwealth will soon go rotten. We must not, however, be rash in our judgment on this point, for Elijah erred in counting himself the only servant of God alive, when there were thousands whom the Lord held in reserve. The present times always appear to be peculiarly dangerous, because they are nearest to our anxious gaze, and whatever evils are rife are sure to be observed, while the faults of past ages are further off, and are more easily overlooked. Yet we expect that in the latter days, "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, " and then we must the more thoroughly turn from man, and address ourselves to the Churches' Lord, by whose help the gates of hell shall be kept from prevailing against us.
The faithful fail from among the children of men; when godliness goes, faithfulness inevitably follows; without fear of God, men have no love of truth. Common honesty is no longer common, when common irreligion leads to universal godlessness. David had his eye on Doeg, and the men of Ziph and Keilah, and perhaps remembered the murdered priests of Nob, and the many banished ones who consorted with him in the cave of Adullam, and wondered where the state would drift without the anchors of its godly and faithful men. David, amid the general misrule, did not betake himself to seditious plottings, but to solemn petitionings; nor did he join with the multitude to do evil, but took up the arms of prayer to withstand their attacks upon virtue.
Ver. 1. Help, Lord. It was high time to call to heaven for help, when Saul cried, "Go, kill me up the priests of Jehovah" (the occasion as it is thought of making this Psalm), and therein committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, as some grave divines are of opinion. 1Sa 22:17. David, after many sad thoughts about that slaughter, and the occasion of it, Doeg's malicious information, together with the paucity of his fast friends, and the multitude of his sworn enemies at court, breaks forth abruptly into these words, "Help, Lord, "help at a dead lift. The Arabic version hath it, Deliver me by main force, as with weapons of war, for "the Lord is a man of war." Ex 15:3. John Trapp.
Ver. 1. The faithful. "A faithful man", as a parent, a reprover, an adviser, one "without guile", "who can find?" Pr 20:6. Look close. View thyself in the glass of the word. Does thy neighbour or thy friend, find thee faithful to him? What does our daily intercourse witness? Is not the attempt to speak what is agreeable oft made at the expense of truth? Are not professions of regard sometimes utterly inconsistent with our real feelings? In common life, where gross violations are restrained, a thousand petty offences are allowed, that break down the wall between sin and duty, and, judged by the divine standard, are indeed guilty steps upon forbidden ground. Charles Bridges, 1850.
Ver. 1. A faithful man must be, first of all, faithful to himself; then, he must be faithful to God; and then, he must be faithful to others, particularly the church of God. And this, as it regards ministers, is of peculiar importance. Joseph Irons, 1840.
Ver. 1. Even as a careful mother, seeing her child in the way when a company of unruly horses run through the streets in full career, presently whips up her child in her arms and taketh him home; or as the hen, seeing the ravenous kite over her head, clucks and gathers her chickens under her wings; even so when God hath a purpose to bring a heavy calamity upon a land, it hath been usual with him to call and cull out to himself such as are his dearly beloved. He takes his choice servants from the evil to come. Thus was Augustine removed a little before Hippo (wherein he dwelt) was taken; Paroeus died before Heidelburg was sacked; and Luther was taken off before Germany was overrun with war and bloodshed. Ed. Dunsterville in a Sermon at the Funeral of Sir Sim. Harcourt, 1642.
Ver. 1. Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth, etc:
Back, then, complainer, loathe thy life no more,
Nor deem thyself upon a desert shore,
Because the rocks the nearer prospect close.
Yet in fallen Israel are there hearts and eyes,
That day by day in prayer like thine arise;
Thou knowest them not, but their Creator known.
Go, to the world return, nor fear to cast
Thy bread upon the waters, sure at last
In joy to find it after many days. John Keble, 1792-1866.
Ver. 1-2,4. Consider our markets, our fairs, our private contracts and bargains, our shops, our cellars, our weights, our measures, our promises, our protestations, our politic tricks and villainous Machiavelism, our enhancing of the prices of all commodities, and tell, whether the twelfth Psalm may not as fitly be applied to our times as to the days of the man of God; in which the feigning, and lying, and facing, and guile, and subtlety of men provoked the psalmist to cry out, Help, Lord; for there is not a godly man left: for the faithful are failed from among the children of men: they speak deceitfully every one with his neighbour, flattering with their lips, and speak with a double heart, which have said, With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own: who is Lord over us? R. Wolcombe, 1612.
Ver. 1. Help, Lord.
1. The Prayer itself, short, suggestive, seasonable, rightly directed, vehement.
2. Occasions for its use.
3. Modes of its answer.
4. Reasons for expecting gracious reply.
Ver. 1. First two clauses. Text for funeral of an eminent believer.
Ver. 1. Whole verse.
1. The fact bewailed describe godly and faithful, and show how they fail.
2. The feeling excited. Mourning the loss, fears for church, personal need of such companions, appeal to God.
3. The forebodings aroused. Failure of the cause, judgments impending, etc.
4. The faith remaining: "Help, Lord."
Ver. 1. Intimate connection between yielding honour to God and honesty to man, since they decline together.
In "A Godly Meditation upon 20 select Psalms...By Sir ANTHONY COPE, Knight, 1547, "a thin black letter 4to., is an Exposition, or rather Meditation, on this Psalm. Reprinted 1848.
Psalms 12:2*
Ver. 1-2, 4. See Psalms on "Ps 11:1" for further information.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 6 Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth.
Psa_12:1-8
Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth.
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--This, according to the title, is one of Davids Psalms; but there is nothing in the circumstances, so far as we know them, of his history, which can lead us to associate the Psalm with any particular period. Tholuck thinks it is aimed at persons by whom David was surrounded in the court of Saul. Others suppose that it was occasioned by the treachery of the Ziphites (1Sa_23:19), or the treachery of Ahithophel, in Absaloms rebellion. But it is not one or two prominent individuals whose conduct forms the burden of the Psalmists complaint. He is evidently smarting from the falseness and hypocrisy of the time. The defection which he deplores is a national defection. Like Elijah in the desert, he feels himself alone. A taint has spread through society. Falsehood is everywhere, truth nowhere. The heart of man is double; their lips are flattering lips (verse 8). And whilst they utter slander, hypocrisy, and lies, they boast of their power; and not only give their tongues licence, but justify the licence: Our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? Now this utter hollowness and insincerity are very hard to bear. The few who, in the midst of general corruption, still retain their integrity are persecuted, and sigh for deliverance. This deliverance is promised them in the form of the Divine interposition. The singer, filled with the spirit of prophecy, consoles himself, and those afflicted like himself, not in his own words but in the words of God (verse 6). And then, remembering how pure those words are, how unalterably true,--not like the words of men, which seem so fair, but are false,--he feels that there he can rest, calm in the conviction that, though the wicked walk on every side, Jehovah will save them that love Him from all their machinations (verse 8). The Psalm consists of two principal divisions.
I. A complaint (Psa_17:1-4).
1. The cry for help, because good men are nowhere to be found; and lies, and flattery, and insincerity prevail.
2. The prayer that flatterers and liars may be destroyed (Psa_17:3-4).
II. The answer to that complaint (Psa_17:5-7). Including Gods promise of help in answer to the cry for help, and the Psalmists Amen, and the assurance and hope built upon the promise (Psa_17:7-8). (J. J. Stewart Perowne, B. D.)
A prayer of David
to God, to save and help him, and keep him from the deceits and contagion of the wicked, of which the world is too full.
1. A prayer, and the reasons of it (Psa_12:1-2). The petition is brief and jaculatory, for he breaks upon God with one word--Help, or Save. Of which he gives two reasons--
(1) The penury and scarcity of good men.
(2) The great abundance of the wicked, and the licentious times.
2. A prophecy of the fall of the wicked, whose arrogance he describes (Psa_12:4). The prophecy shows what shall be the end of their dissembling.
3. Gods answer to Davids petition. Is it so that the wicked are thus numerous, thus tyrannous, so proud, so arrogant, then I will arise; I will not delay; I will set him in safety. That which moveth Me is his pitiful condition, his sighs and groans. Of this let no man doubt. In Gods words there is no fallacy.
4. A petitiory conclusion. Keep them, O Lord. Without God keep them, they will be infected. Keep them from this generation. For there be a generation of vipers. And ever make them persevere; for without Thy aid they will fall. (William Nicholson, D. D.)
Dark ages
I. The golden age of a country may be a dark age in the estimate of the saint. The true glory of a country is moral, and where the moral element is wanting all other glories are dim. Philosophers, poets, commanders, artists, orators, statesmen, millionaires, do not make a Golden Age, but the presence of many virtuous and godly men.
II. The faults with which a splendid civilisation may be chargeable.
1. Lack of faithfulness.
2. Untruthfulness.
3. Pride. Talking big.
4. Boasting.
5. Goodness is treated with contempt.
III. The duty of the Christian patriot.
1. To cry mightily to God against the prevailing wickedness.
2. To protest by word and act against this iniquity.
3. To rest, in days of triumphant wickedness, in the word and power of God.
4. To claim Gods promise, and keep himself unspotted from the world. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The moral degeneracy of society
The poem is a picture of a morally rotten age. The devout author felt himself living in corrupt times. Hence he notes this degeneracy--
I. As a fact for devout lamentation. He mourns because of three things--
1. The absence of the true. The godly man ceaseth.
2. The presence of the false, vain man,--they speak vanity. Obsequious men flattering lips. Insincere--a double heart. They spoke one thing and meant another. Proud--they spoke proud things. Cruel--the oppression of the poor. What a spectacle for a devout eye.
3. The exaltation of the vile. The vilest men are exalted.
II. As a reason for Divine interposition.
1. Help, Lord. So he prayed.
2. Divinely promised. Now will I arise, saith the Lord. This comes as an answer to the prayer. Before they call I will answer.
3. Heartily expected. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
III. As suggesting by contrast the excellency of Gods Word. The words of the Lord are pure words. They are so for--
1. They are unmixed with falsehood; and
2. They have been thoroughly tested. As silver tried in a furnace of earth, etc. How thoroughly it has been tried these six thousand years, by persecution, by hostile criticism, by the profoundest experience of the good in all ages. (D. Thomas D. D.)
The degeneracy of a soul
Help, Lord! This is the wailing supplication of a soul oppressed with the degeneracy of society. It is a cry for security amid an evil epidemic. This Psalm marks off the steps of social degradation. We can see the progressive descents from the worship of God to the exaltation of vileness. Regard these stages of decline in their relationship to the individual. Society only reflects the individual man. Regard the passage as a vivid description of the degeneracy of a soul.
1. The decay of the sense of reverence. The beginning of degeneracy is to lose touch with God. We lose our touch with God when we cease to feel after Him. It is the effort to feel that preserves the sensitive touch.
2. The decay of the sense of honour. Faithfulness faileth, the dependableness of character is impaired. When reverence is benumbed, trustfulness is broken.
3. The decay of the sense of responsibility. Our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? The perversion of honour destroys the sense of responsibility. Men become self-centred, and therefore blinded.
4. The decay of the sense of humanity. The spoiling of the poor, the sighing of the needy. Where irresponsibility reigns, cruelty abounds. The birth of cruelty synchronises with the death of reverence.
5. The decay of the sense of right. Vileness is exalted. This is the last stage of the appalling degradation. Evil at length becomes mans good. He has lost his moral discernment. How can we be saved from this perilous decline? The wish to be saved is the beginning of salvation. Exercise thyself in feeling, and thou shalt become expert in touching. Everywhere and at all times be reaching out for God. Pray for Him everywhere. The good Lord is dependable; He is better than His word. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
The departure of spiritual worth lamented
This text is the language of feeling. But thought and feeling should not be placed in opposition to each other. They are mutually dependent. Thought without feeling would be powerless; feeling without thought would be wild, turbulent, and reckless.
I. Spiritual worth. The two words godly and faithful express this. They correspond with other Bible words, such as devout and just. They cover the two branches of human holiness, piety and morality. In what does spiritual worth consist? Every man sustains two fundamental relations: the one connecting him with God, the other with society. The individual man lives in the social. In the spiritual constitution of man there are two controlling tendencies corresponding to these relationships. These tendencies are designated the religious and social affections. The religious element is the soul of mans soul; its perversion has been his degradation, and its right development is essential to his true elevation. The very constitution of the soul is theistic, the being of a God is implied in its structure, laws, and operations. The right state of these controlling tendencies constitutes spiritual worth. The right state of both is a state of love. Social morality springs out of piety. This worth enriches a man. It is valuable for its own sake. It is absolute worth. How is man to come into possession of it? This is the problem of life. All spiritual power we trace to the gospel. We would not depreciate other influences of spiritual culture.
II. Spiritual worth departed. Various ways in which spiritual worth departs from a community. Change of locality. Change of character. Change of worlds. What principles will regulate the circumstances of death in the case of individuals?
1. That death would be always peaceful in proportion to a mans goodness.
2. That death would be postponed in proportion to a mans usefulness. Actual experience controverts both these anticipations. The departure of spiritual worth lamented
III. It is the language of lamentation, Help, Lord.
1. Their departure is a great loss. Has death terminated their existence?
2. It is a loss to society.
3. The loss requires the interposition of God. The separation is material, not spiritual accidental, not essential. The mental bond is closer through the dissolution of the bodily. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The death of the godly an incentive to prayer
I. Because there are so few of them in the world. Such men are the salt of the earth. God teaches us their worth by removing them from this world.
II. Their presence and service here seem essential to the cause of God.
1. On account of their example.
2. Their influence and usefulness.
III. Because it is so difficult to fill up their places.
IV. The grace and providence of God suggest the only remedy--prayer. Help, Lord, etc. (Anon.)
The loss of godly men
The Psalm appears to have been composed in a time of great degeneracy and corruption of manners.
I. The important, useful, and amiable characters here specified. Godly and faithful. The word godly is sometimes translated merciful.
1. Consider godliness as a principle that comes from God, not in a natural but supernatural way. Holiness is the work of the Spirit of God. No man is godly but he in whom God has wrought a saving change, whose heart is turned from sin to God, from self to Christ, from earth to heaven. Wherein does godliness consist? Godliness is Gods likeness. Wherever that is, there is a supreme love to God. Every godly man loves God, not only because God is kind and bountiful to him, but because God is holy in Himself: He is a godly man who is a sincere and a constant worshipper of God. The love of a child to a parent is exemplified by his obedience. A child of God obeys his heavenly Father from love. Every godly man worships God in secret. Everyone who is godly professes a regard for the public worship of God, and makes conscience of attending it. A godly man is not free from frailties and infirmities. But his heart is habitually right in the sight of God, and his way of life prevailingly corresponds with his religious profession. Consider--
2. The other branch of the word godly, namely, merciful. (Isa_57:1) Merciful men are men of kindness such as show kindness. As they fear God, so they regard man. Happy for society when these two things are conjoined, a ready heart and a bountiful hand.
3. The faithful. The truly godly are faithful to God; and also faithful to men. Where godliness is, there will be honesty.
II. The great cause we have to deplore the loss of such persons. When David wrote, it was a time of abounding iniquity among all degrees of people, and there were very few to be found who preserved these characters. The ceasing and the failing of them is to be considered also descriptive of their dissolution. When the judgments of God are abroad in the earth, and a dark cloud hangs over a sinful kingdom, is there not cause to bewail the departure of such as were men of prayer and of a public spirit?
III. The duty of crying to God for help when such characters fail. Vain is the help of man. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
1. Let us pray that the Lord would help us to attend to such a speaking providence, and improve it to our spiritual advantage.
2. That the Lord would so help in the present exigence and trial as to raise up others to supply the place of such useful men. (Richard Winter.)
Times of spiritual dearth and solitude
In the days of Savonarola, Italy was abandoned to its passions, its corruptions, and its vices. The rich tyrannised over the poor, and the poor were miserable, helpless, and abandoned. The zealous monk found himself at war with the world and the Church, and was shocked by the profanations that existed around him. There is no one, he said, not even one remaining, who desires that which is good; we must learn from children and women of low estate, for in them only yet remains any shadow of innocence. The good are oppressed, and the people of Italy are become like the Egyptians who held Gods people in bondage.
Good men taken from the evil to come
Even as a careful mother, seeing her child in the way when a company of unruly horses run through the streets in full career, presently whips up her child in her arms and taketh him home; or as the hen, seeing the ravenous kite over her head, clucks and gathers her chickens under her wings; even so when God hath a purpose to bring a heavy calamity upon a land, it hath been usual with Him to call and cull out to Himself such as are His dearly beloved. He takes His choice servants from the evil to come. Thus was Augustine removed a little before Hippo (wherein he dwelt) was taken; Paroeus died before Heidelberg was sacked; and Luther was taken off before Germany was overrun with war and bloodshed. (E. Dunsterville.)
The faithful fail from among the children of men.
Our imperfect estimates
We must not accept the words of this Psalm as true because they happen to be written here or anywhere. It is perfectly possible for us to take an unwise and incorrect view of social conditions. David did not keep a register of all the godly and all the faithful. Another prophet said that he alone was left; the Lord corrected his estimate, and said, No, not alone; I have seven thousand who have never kissed the lips of Baal. It is unwise to take the opinion of dejectedness and forsakenness upon any topic. When we are in extreme positions, either of joy or of sadness, we are not qualified to pronounce broadly and correctly upon the whole scope of Divine Providence. In high joy, the glee that all but dances in the sanctuary, for very ecstasy of heart, we may think all men good, all causes excellent, all the features of the times beautiful. In dejection, despondency, orphanhood of heart, we may think we alone are left, and that the gift of prayer will perish with our breath. All things wear a sombre aspect; the whole year is one long November; the very music of childhood is but an aggravation of our suffering. That opinion must not be taken. Within the limits of the mans own personality it is quite true, but no great generalisation must be built upon it. David did not know how many godly men there were in the world, nor how many faithful; but his experience is valuable up to this point, namely, that he felt everything of the nature of trust, confidence, progress depended upon the presence of godly and faithful elements in the world. That the population of the globe had increased was nothing to David, if the godliness and faithfulness of the community had gone down. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
No trusting in men
To one reflecting that Gods kingdom of truth and righteousness in the earth is to be maintained through human agencies, it is a saddening sight to see one after another of its champions and defenders disappearing from the conflict. The sight often smites the heart of the survivor, as it would have smitten the heart of the Israelite to have seen David fall in his combat with Goliath. Few, indeed, are the communities, whether civil or ecclesiastical, whose histories do not exhibit epochs and closes in which their whole future well-being seemed to depend upon the life of a single man, or at most, upon the lives of a very small band. And when such men fall in the conflict, or depart hence in the course of nature, good men feel that society has suffered a loss that cannot be easily repaired. But how much more severely is the blow felt when the champions of a cause are lost to it, not by death, but by turning traitors; when a Judas betrays the Church, and an Arnold the State. Now it is in this latter sense that we are to understand Davids words, the godly man ceaseth, etc. It was not by the sword of an enemy, nor by natural death, that they had been lost to the cause of law and order, truth and right, but by betraying it, and fighting against it. Davids own son, and subjects, and generals, and ministers had conspired to overthrow the cause they had sworn to defend; and thus situated, he appeals to the only power that can now avail him, saying, Help, Lord, man has failed me; Thou alone canst now deliver. (David Caldwell, A. M.)
Trustworthiness
He is a faithful man who keeps faith. Faith is the equivalent of fidelity, and fidelity is what we mean by trustworthiness. We are growing. Modern civilisation is not a failure. But it may be a question, whether we are keeping pace by moral growth with our intellectual and physical development. All signs of material advancement are of little account, if the ethical power of the Gospel is left out. Without fidelity to all the duties of a true man in society there can be no religion which is of any value. It is quite possible for men to make religious sensibilities and religious experiences a substitute for ethical integrity. It is a growing impression that men are becoming more and more untrustworthy. One of the features of our times is a growing looseness in fidelity. Consider this in regard to truth, which is the central trunk of trustworthiness. Men in ordinary conversation are not as careful of truth as they should be. I refer to carelessness of truth, to heedless and rash statements. There is a low sense or tone of conscience in regard to accuracy and fidelity on the subject of truth speaking. Truth is the backbone of honour, and indeed of manhood itself. In the rivalry and pressure of affairs there is a growing tendency to misrepresent the truth. Men really trap each other by half-truths. Half-truths are the devils whole lies. Promises are not now kept as they should be. Unless men put their word into legal form, it is not generally considered that their promises are worth much. Trustworthiness, also, under assumed obligations, seems to me to be relaxing. It seems to me that the sentiment of service is becoming very much enfeebled, Now human society cannot cohere where a man cannot trust his fellow man. You cannot discharge your duties to humanity without being in subordination one to another. Society organises itself by relative superiorities and inferiorities. It is a constant complaint that it is the hardest thing in the world to find competent young men who can be trusted . . . I like to hear of eminent Christian experiences. Change of heart is good, but change of life is better. It would at least be more agreeable to ones neighbours. How is it in this matter? Is there anything in religious doctrine that is an equivalent for ethical Christianity? Is there anything that is a substitute for fidelity between man and man? (H. Ward Beecher.)
Godly and faithful
A prayer of Davids to God for help on this ground--that there was little or no religion, or honesty left among men; and that therefore he had no reason to trust them, or to expect a blessing on such instruments.
I. The importance of the two characters--godly and faithful, Godly imports a benign, gentle, and good-natured man, but this has such a relation to religion, and is such a disposition to it, that among the Jews the word was in common use extended to a man that was exact to all the duties of religion, and strict in the performance of them. A godly man is not one that places his religion in many assumed practices, that do not tend to make him better. Nor he that understands his religion well Nor he that is very regular in all outward rules and matters of form. The truly godly man has an inward sense of a supreme power that is over him, and endeavours to resemble this being, and to govern all his actions in conformity to the will and laws of God. He believes that God, by His providence, watches over all things, and consequently resigns himself up to His will, and submits to everything that conies to him from that hand. A godly man is a faithful man. He that has a true sense of religion knows that God is true, and so he always speaks the truth. He is severe in matters of truth. He is raised to such a pitch of candour and sincerity that every man who has any concerns with him will soon see what he is to trust to, or to depend upon. A faithful man is he that hates both lies and liars. He is true in his actions as well as in his words.
II. Davids complaint. The godly ceased. On what grounds did he make this complaint?
III. The dangerous and desperate state of a nation, in which godly and faithful men do fail. Dangerous by reason of the natural effects that follow, and by reason of the judgments of God.
IV. The only remedy for all this. Which is an earnest prayer to God for help. (Gilbert Burnet, D. D.)
Zion bereaved of the faithful
I. The fact. But who are faithful?
1. They who are faithful to themselves will not deceive themselves as to their state before God.
2. To God. Maintaining His truth.
3. To the Church, the election of grace. Declaring to them positive truth, resting on the covenant, tracing all blessing to the Holy Spirit.
II. The exclamation. The faithful fail. It is--
1. The voice of mourning.
2. Of appeal to God to raise up others.
3. Of the soul that cares for Zion.
4. Craving further nourishment.
III. The warning--that when the Lord has taken home a few more of His faithful, then a storm of persecution will burst forth upon His Church. The night is approaching. Make sure work of your own salvation. (Joseph Irons.)
A touching plea
We feel that we cannot well spare the good from this earth in its present demoralised condition; because--
I. We need their example. Example is both
(a) Demonstrative, and
(b) Educational.
II. We need their influence. It is the good of this world who preserve it from total moral corruption.
III. We need their counsels. But Gods dispensations are all right. He makes no mistakes. (W. H. Luckenbach, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 12
Psalms 12
ONE penalty of living near God is keen pain from low lives. The ears that hear Gods word cannot but be stunned and hurt by the babble of empty speech. This psalm is profoundly melancholy, but without trace of personal affliction. The psalmist is not sad for himself, but sick of the clatter of godless tongues, in which he discerns the outcome of godless lives. His plaint wakes echoes in hearts touched by the love of God and the visions of mans true life. It passes through four clearly marked stages, each consisting of two verses: despondent contemplation of the flood of corrupt talk which seems to submerge all (Psa_12:1-2); a passionate prayer for Divine intervention, wrung from the psalmist by the miserable spectacle (Psa_12:3-4); the answer to that cry from the voice of God, with the rapturous response of the psalmist to it (Psa_12:5-6); and the confidence built on the Divine word, which rectifies the too despondent complaint at the beginning, but is still shaded by the facts which stare him in the face (Psa_12:7-8).
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The cry for help (Save, LXX) abruptly beginning the psalm tells of the sharp pain from which it comes. The psalmist has been brooding over the black outlook till his overcharged heart relieves itself in this single-worded prayer. As he looks round he sees no exceptions to the prevailing evil. Like Elijah, he thinks that he is left alone, and love to God and men and reliableness and truth are vanished with their representatives. No doubt in all such despondent thoughts about the rarity of Christian charity and of transparent truthfulness there is an element of exaggeration, which in the present case is, as we shall see, corrected by the process of God-taught meditation. But the clearer the insight into what society should be, the sadder the estimate of what it is. Roseate pictures of it augur ill for the ideal which their painters have. It is better to be too sensitive to evils than to be contented with them. Unless the passionate conviction of the psalmist has burned itself into us, we shall but languidly work to set things right. Heroes and reformers have all begun with "exaggerated estimates" of corruption. The judgment formed of the moral state of this or of any generation depends on the clearness with which we grasp as a standard the ideal realised in Jesus Christ and on the closeness of our communion with God.
As in Psalms 5, sins of speech are singled out, and of these "vanity" and "smooth lips with a heart and a heart" are taken as typical. As in Eph_4:25, the guilt of falsehood is deduced from the bond of neighbourliness, which it rends. The sin, to which a "high civilisation" is especially prone, of saying pleasant things without meaning them, seems to this moralist as grave as to most men it seems slight. Is the psalmist right or wrong in taking speech for an even more clear index of corruption than deeds? What would he have said if he had been among us, when the press has augmented the power of the tongue, and floods of "vanity," not only in the form of actual lies, but of inane trivialities and nothings of personal gossip, are poured over the whole nation? Surely, if his canon is right, there is something rotten in the state of this land; and the Babel around may well make good men sad and wise men despondent.
Shall we venture to follow the psalmist in the second turn of his thoughts (Psa_12:3-4), where the verb at the beginning is best taken as an optative and rendered, "May Jehovah cut off"? The deepest meaning of his desire every true man will take for his own, namely the cessation of the sin; but the more we live in the spirit of Jesus the more we shall cherish the hope that that may be accomplished by winning the sinner. Better to have the tongue touched with a live coal from the altar than cut out. In the one case there is only a mute in the other an instrument for Gods praise. But the impatience of evil and the certainty that God can subdue it, which make the very nerve of the prayer, should belong to Christians yet more than to the psalmist. A new phase of sinful speech appears as provoking judgment even more than the former did. The combination of flattery and boastfulness is not rare, discordant as they seem; but the special description of the "proud things" spoken is that they are denials of responsibility to God or man for the use of lips and tongue. Insolence has gone far when it has formulated itself into definite statements. Twenty men will act on the principle for one who will put it into words. The conscious adoption and cynical avowal of it are a mark of defiance of God. "To our tongues we give strength"-an obscure expression which may be taken in various shades of meaning, e.g. as = We have power over, or = Through, or as to, our tongues we are strong, or = We will give effect to our words. Possibly it stands as the foundation of the daring defiance in the last clause of the verse, and asserts that the speaker is the author of his power of speech and therefore responsible to none for its use. "Our lips are with us" may be a further development of the same godless thought. "With us" is usually taken to mean "our allies," or confederates, but signifies rather "in our possession, to do as we will with them." "Who is lord over us?" There speaks godless insolence shaking off dependence, and asserting shamelessly licence of speech and life, unhindered by obligations to God and His law.
With dramatic swiftness the scene changes in the next pair of verses (Psa_12:5-6). That deep voice, which silences all the loud bluster, as the lions roar hushes the midnight cries of lesser creatures, speaks in the waiting soul of the psalmist. Like Hezekiah with Sennacheribs letter, he spreads before the Lord the "words with which they reproach Thee," and, like Hezekiah. he has immediate answer. The inward assurance that God will arise is won by prayer at once, and changes the whole aspect of the facts which as yet remain unchanged. The situation does not seem so desperate when we know that God is moving. Whatever delay may intervene before the actual Divine act, there is none before the assurance of it calms the soul. Many wintry days may have to be faced, but a breath of spring has been in the air, and hope revives. The twofold reason which rouses the Divine activity is very strikingly put first in Psa_12:5. Not merely the "oppression or spoiling of the meek," but that conjoined with the "sighing of the needy," bring God into the field. Not affliction alone, but affliction which impels to prayer, moves Him to "stir up His strength." "Now will I arise." That solemn "now" marks the crisis, or turning point, when long forbearance ends and the crash of retribution begins. It is like the whirr of the clock that precedes the striking. The swiftly following blow will ring out the old evil. The purpose of Gods intervention is the safety of the afflicted who have sighed to Him; but while that is clear, the condensed language of Psa_12:5 is extremely obscure. The AV rendering, "I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him," requires a too liberal use of supplemental words to eke out the sense; and the rendering of the R.V (margin), "the safety he panteth for," is most congruous with the run of the sentence and of the thought. What has just been described as a sigh is now, with equal naturalness, figured as a pant of eager desire. The former is the expression of the weight of the affliction, the latter of yearning to escape from it. The latter is vain waste of breath unless accompanied with the former, which is also a prayer; but if so accompanied, the desire of the humble soul is the prophecy of its own fulfilment: and the measure of the Divine deliverance is regulated by His servants longing. He will always, sooner or later, get "the safety for which he pants." Faith determines the extent of Gods gift.
The listening psalmist rapturously responds in Psa_12:6 to Gods great word. That word stands, with strong force of contrast, side by side with the arrogant chatter of irresponsible frivolity, and sounds majestic by the side of the shrill feebleness of the defiance. Now the psalmist lifts his voice in trustful acceptance of the oracle.
The general sense of Psa_12:6 is clear, and the metaphor which compares Gods words to refined silver is familiar, but the precise meaning of the words rendered "in a furnace on the earth" (R.V) is doubtful. The word for "furnace" occurs only here, and has consequently been explained in very different ways, is omitted altogether by the LXX, and supposed by, Cheyne to be a remnant of an ancient gloss. But the meaning of furnace or crucible is fairly made out and appropriate. But what does "tried in a furnace to the earth" mean? The "on the earth" of the R.V is scarcely in accordance with the use of the preposition "to," and the best course is to adopt a supplement and read "tried in a furnace [and running down] to the earth." The sparkling stream of molten silver as, free from dross, it runs from the melting pot to the mould on the ground, is a beautiful figure of the word of God, clear of all the impurities of mens words, which the psalm has been bewailing and raining down on the world. Gods words are a silver shower, precious and bright.
The last turn of the psalm builds hope on the pure words just heard from heaven. When God speaks a promise, faith repeats it as a certitude and prophesies in the line of the revelation. "Thou shalt" is mans answer to Gods "I will." In the strength of the Divine word, the despondency of the opening strain is brightened. The godly and faithful shall not "cease from among the children of men," since God will keep them; and His keeping shall preserve them. "This generation" describes a class rather than an epoch. It means the vain talkers who have been sketched in such dark colours in the earlier part of the psalm. These are "the children of men" among whom the meek and needy are to live, not failing before them because God holds them up. This hope is for the militant Church, whose lot is to stand for God amidst wide-flowing evil, which may swell and rage against the band of faithful ones, but cannot sweep them away. Not of victory which annihilates opposition, but of charmed lives invulnerable in conflict, is the psalmists confidence. There is no more lamenting of the extinction of good men and their goodness, neither is there triumphant anticipation of present extinction of bad men and their badness, but both are to grow together till the harvest.
But even the pure words which promise safety and wake the response of faith do not wholly scatter the clouds. The psalm recurs very pathetically at its close to the tone of its beginning. Notice the repetition of "the children of men" which links Psa_12:8 with Psa_12:1. If the fear that the. faithful should fail is soothed by Gods promise heard by the psalmist sounding in his soul, the hard fact of dominant evil is not altered thereby. That "vileness is set on high among the sons of men" is the description of a world fumed upside down. Beggars are on horseback and princes walking. The despicable is honoured, and corruption is a recommendation to high position. There have been such epochs of moral dissolution; and there is always a drift in that direction, which is only checked by the influence of the "faithful." "If vileness is set on high among the sons of men," it is because the sons of men prefer it to the stern purity of goodness. A corrupt people will crown corrupt men and put them aloft. The average goodness of the community is generally fairly represented by its heroes, rulers, and persons to whom influence is given; and when such topsy-turvydom as the rule of the worst is in fashion, "the wicked walk on every side." Impunity breeds arrogance; and they swagger and swell, knowing that they are protected. Impunity multiplies the number; and on every side they swarm like vermin in a dirty house. But even when such an outlook saddens, the soul that has been in the secret place of the Most High and has heard the words of His mouth will not fall into pessimistic despondency, nor think that the faithful fail, because the wicked strut. When tempted to wail, "I, even I only, am left," such a soul will listen to the still small voice that tells of seven thousands of Gods hidden ones, and will be of good cheer, as knowing that Gods men can never cease so long as God continues.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 “This, according to the title, is one of David’s…
INTRODUCTION
“This, according to the title, is one of David’s psalms, but there is nothing in the circumstances, so far as we know them, of his history which can lead us to associate the psalm with any particular period. Tholuck thinks it is aimed at persons by whom David was surrounded in the court of Saul. But it is not one or two prominent individuals whose conduct forms the burden of the Psalmist’s complaint. He is evidently smarting from the falseness and the hypocrisy of the time. The defection which he deplores is a national defection. Like Elijah in the desert, he feels himself alone. A taint has spread through society. Falsehood is everywhere, truth nowhere.”—Perowne.
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DARK AGES
(Psa_12:1-8.)
We observe:
I. The golden age of a country may be a “dark age” in the estimate of the saint.
“The time of David, incomparably the best age in the history of Israel, and yet, viewed in the light of the spirit of holiness, an age so radically corrupt.”—Delitzsch. The age of David was in many respects the “golden age” of Israel, then it was great in literature, commerce, statesmanship, music, architecture, and arms. And yet David bemoans it, and sighs amid all its splendour. The true glory of a country is moral, and where the moral element is wanting, all other glories are dim. David felt that whilst palaces, people, chariots, gems, and gold, were on the increase, pious, honest, true-hearted men were on the decrease; nay, they seemed in danger of disappearing altogether, and he felt the gravity of the situation. David lamented over Jerusalem in the supreme hour of its material and political greatness; Paul overlooked the museums, pictures, statues, palaces of Athens, and “his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry;” and when we survey the magnificence of our country, we must weep to think of the atheism, the sin, the folly of the people. Philosophers, poets, commanders, artists, orators, statesmen, millionaires, do not make “a golden age,” but the presence of many virtuous and godly men, and where these are wanting, colours, marbles, jewels, domes, and plumes, are but dust and ashes. The age that we call “golden,” Heaven may call “dark;” the age that is written down in human histories as supremely august may be an age which angels record in Heaven’s “Book of Lamentations.”
We observe:
II. The faults with which a splendid civilisation may be chargeable.
Dr. John Brown says, “In observing the advances of commerce, we shall find that in its first stages it supplies mutual necessities, prevents mutual wants, extends mutual knowledge, eradicates mutual prejudice, and spreads mutual humanity. In its middle and more advanced period, it provides conveniences, increases numbers, gives birth to arts and science, creates equal laws, diffuses general plenty and general happiness. If we view it in its third and highest stage, we shall see it change its nature and effects. It brings in superfluity and vast wealth, begets avarice, gross luxury, or effeminate refinement among the higher ranks, together with general loss of principle.” The Jewish nation seemed to have entered on this latest stage. David charges his age—
1. With the lack of faithfulness. “The faithful fail” (Psa_12:1). Honest and true-hearted men were not to be found. Is there not a counterpart to this in our day? The immorality of trade is constantly deplored, and the strange lack of conscientiousness in all classes of the community.
2. With untruthfulness (Psa_12:2). Insincerity and falsehood. “That which the writer especially laments is the prevailing untruthfulness.”—Delitzsch. Is not this a feature of our times?
3. Pride. “The tongue that speaketh proud things” (Psa_12:3). “Talking big.”—Horsley. When did the tongue speak prouder things than now?
4. Boasting (Psa_12:4). “They declare themselves to be absolutely free, and exalted above all authority.”—Delitzsch. Is not this pride, arrogance, defiance, a characteristic of our day? “The idea of the whole verse is, by our own lips and our tongues we can accomplish what we will.”—Alexander. And is not this the idea of this generation? “Our puissance is our own: our own right hand shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try who is our equal.”—Paradise Lost.
5. And the fifth verse seems to suggest that goodness is treated with contempt. Psa_12:5-8 “signify that at that time wickedness was the way to preferment, and that good men were the objects of persecution.”—Clarke. “It is the fault of all high civilisations to think lightly of sin.”—Arnold. And out of this scepticism, pride, and sensuality, come crimes of darkest complexion and largest proportion, peculiar to advanced civilisations. According to the height of the mountain is the depth of the valley; according to the intensity of the light is the depth of the shade; and according to the wealth, freedom, learning, splendour of a nation, are its crimes exaggerated and its vices crimson.
III. Duty of the Christian patriot.
1. To cry mightily to God against the prevailing wickedness. “Help, Lord!” (Psa_12:1). The effectual fervent prayer, &c.
2. To protest by word and act against this iniquity, as David did (Psa_12:3).
3. To rest in days of triumphant wickedness in the word and power of God (Psa_12:5-6).
4. To claim God’s promise, and keep himself unspotted from the world (Psa_12:7).
THE CHARACTERISTIC OF A DIVINE REVELATION
(Psa_12:6.)
We are taught here:
I. The grand characteristic of a Divine revelation.
“The words of the Lord are pure words” (Psa_12:6). The words of men, as the Psalmist has just been showing, are mixed and impure, but God’s words are free from all base elements. Ignorance, prejudice, falsehood, passion, insincerity, impurity, debase the words of men, but not God’s words. “Every word of God is pure.” “His words are true and righteous altogether.” The words of men are the smoky fires of earth; “the words of God” are the starry lights of heaven, pure and cloudless, and “which never lead astray.”
We remark:
II. That the Scriptures which profess to be the words of the Lord have been tested, and their divinity established.
Where is this pure light? This Book claims to contain the words of God; its pretensions have been tried, and it comes forth as pure silver from the crucible.
1. It has been tried by criticism, its contents discussed and analysed, the genuineness, authenticity, canonicity, inspiration, of the various books discussed again and again. What is the result? Scores of critics—men most sincere, acute, learned, honest—have tried these pages, and approved them as the handwriting of God. And if you go to the different schools of sceptical criticism, each school will give you back some portion of the Book as authentic and Divine, and amongst them all you get back pretty nearly the whole Book.
2. It has been tried by science. Says one of our great scientists: “Science has established no results hostile to the evidences of Revelation.” Neither the stars nor the stones fight against it. Buckland, Sedgwick, Hugh Miller, the greatest of modern geologists; Brewster, the most famous of modern astronomers; Faraday, the most illustrious of modern chemists; these splendid names were Christian; these master-spirits of the scientific world loved this book, found no fault with it, died resting upon it their immortal hopes. There is not much the matter with Revelation where it touches Nature, or these masters would have found it out.
3. It has been tried by experience. Do the Scriptures accomplish what they promise in respect to man’s condition and necessities? Christ said to the Jews, “If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not.” So we may say of the Scriptures.
(1.) They have been tried in relation to man’s social necessities. According to the sceptic, the Bible is false in fact, false in philosophy, false in morals, and it ought to make society selfish, anarchical, barbaric. But it does not. It does the very opposite. Our civilisation has its roots in the Bible; and if you take the Bible to a pagan land, it changes everything into purer and milder forms. It creates everywhere the highest intelligence, the largest liberty, the purest morality, the truest progress.
(2.) They have been tried in relation to man’s moral and spiritual necessities. It is just what we need. It gives us that light, pardon, liberty, purity, joy, for which we sigh. The Scriptures appeal to the multitudes whom it has saved from sin and misery, and exclaims, as Christ did, “The works that I do, they bear witness of Me.” The Scriptures have been tried by suffering men, guilty men, dying men, unsophisticated men, men of loftiest gifts, and they have found it just what they needed, all that they needed. “By its fruits we know it.” Know it to be no poison tree to destroy; no barren tree to mock hungering men with leaves and blossoms; but a tree of life, whose fruits satisfy the longing soul, and whose very leaves are for the healing of the nations.
We observe finally:
III. The consequent preciousness of the Sacred Scriptures.
Precious as purified silver. Precious in life, in death. We value what is tried. In sickness, a tried medicine; in trouble, a tried friend; in had weather, a tried ship, a tried captain, a tried anchor. Thank God! we have a tried religion. The Bible never failed our glorious religious ancestry, and it will never fail us.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Man’s lying words contrasted with Jehovah’s pure ones.
Man’s lying words contrasted with Jehovah’s pure ones.
To the chief musician, upon Sheminith. A psalm of David.
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The second puts in sharp contrast the lying words of men with Jehovah’s pure ones, which bring moreover with them the assurance of salvation to the soul. The outlook otherwise is dark enough, and the psalm is in the same low notes (al sheminith) as the fourth of the former series (Psa 6:1-10). It is characteristic of antichristian times that deception should be so marked a feature, and that they should say, "With our tongues will we prevail." Not that such words have reference necessarily to the poison of false doctrine; but that, as during an epidemic, other diseases take on more or less the prevailing form so under the shadow Of one great deception every form of deception may be hid. And yet, remembering what for the inspired writer the tongue is, we need not be at much loss for the application of the psalm before us to the world round about us today, and indeed take home to ourselves also its warnings.
1. It divides into two equal parts, in the first of which man is the subject, in the second God is before us. With man, his misery and his evil are, that, fallen away from God, believing in His love and care no more, he is become himself the object of his own self-love and care. Self rules him, subjects him, degrades, corrupts him, turns him from the minister of blessing that he should be into the oppressor and scourge of all creation under him.
Here the mass are one, there is no godly man left, the faithful are gone from among the children of men. Their mouth is filled with falsehood, they have the smoothest of lips, and a double heart. Against all such Jehovah will manifest Himself, and against the tongue that speaks great things.
What is it that they say? According to Delitzsch and others we should read, "To our tongues we will give strength," that is, we will talk as loudly as we please; but such a meaning might, one would think, be more simply conveyed. Holding by the common translation, which the Revised Version retains, there results a possible meaning, which for its folly might be discarded as impossible, and which yet may be the meaning here. Nothing can, after all, be too foolish for the lying lips which are the outcome of a deceitful heart, capable of deceiving the very man who is its possessor. Do not men know that they must die? Yet is it not the business of the mass to ignore it, forget it, make the truth untrue? And so the forty-ninth psalm speaks: "Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call the lands after their own names. . . . This their way is their folly; yet their posterity" -or "the men that come after them" -"approve their sayings."
Is not this in effect to say -is it not the real meaning of -"by our words we will prevail," -"we will have the thing so by mere effrontery"? The untrue shall be true if we pronounce it true?
Doubtless a man would never say this openly; would not proclaim so openly a battle with the fact; would not even frame such a thought in speech. But that is just the desperate deceit of the heart, that it can so prevail over the reason; and the numerical structure may just point to the weakness underlying the boasting of the tongue, -this mere puff of breath, as it is, -vox et praeterea nihil. And he may be fitly made to say what in fact he would not care to say, who yet in his life makes just this folly his.
Lips and heart here have broken loose from the curb of divine authority: "who is lord over us?" is the cry. What more than a mere puff of breath is this, save for its wickedness?
2. Jehovah’s word comes here into swift opposition to all this; yet it is love and pity that move Him to action, -the oppression of the poor, the sighing of the needy. His promise pledges His interference; whereupon faith celebrates, before this comes, the "pure" words of the Lord, unmixed with any alloy of insincerity or untruth, -words that are like silver, the current medium of exchange, completely purified.
In fact, this is realized. Jehovah keeps His people, yea, preserves them forever from the generation of the false-hearted. Yet the wicked walk around; and so it must be when "vileness" -what should be shaken out and cast away -is held in a place of honor among men. This is the condition of things now among the people once the special people of Jehovah.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The same subject may be traced here as in…
The same subject may be traced here as in Psalms 9-11, viz. a time of persecution and oppression coupled with a conviction that God lives and will yet deliver.
Title as in Psalms 6.
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2. Vanity] empty and false words. A double heart] a figure for treachery and deceit.
4. Our lips are our own] We have a right to say what we please, to gain our end.
5. Now will I arise] God's time for interposition always arrives sooner or later. The Psalmist pictures the proper moment as having come. From him that puffeth, etc.] RV 'at whom they puff.'
6. The words of the lord] His promises of help to the righteous. They are reliable, in contrast to the deceitful words of the wicked in Psa_12:2. A furnace of earth] RV 'a furnace on the earth.' The meaning is perhaps, 'silver tried in a furnace (and flowing out) on the earth.'
7. This v. is the conclusion of the thought of the Ps., though Psa_12:8 repeats the opening complaint.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v1 (See Scofield "Psa 6:1")
Sheminith
(See Scofield "Psa 6:1")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Psalm 12
Psalm 12
1. The arrogance of the wicked in the last days (Psa 12:1-4)
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2. Then Jehovah will act and deliver His people (Psa 12:5-8)
Psa 12:1-4. It is the time of departure from the Lord; the godly and faithful have ceased. It is a mass of corruption, lying lips, flattering lips, proud lips. They reject the Lord. “Who is lord over us?”
Psa 12:5-8. Then faith sees the coming intervention. The Lord will speak. “Now will I arise, saith Jehovah, I will set him in safety whom they would puff.” Jehovah will keep His people in these coming dark days, “when the wicked walk on all sides and the vilest men are exalted.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Prayer for God’s Protection of His Church.
Prayer for God’s Protection of His Church.
This psalm again shows a prophetical strain; it is applicable throughout to the little flock, the poor, small crew of the Christian Church, in its many vicissitudes. Cf Act 2:30. To the chief musician upon Sheminith, upon the octave, to be sung or played with bass voices, or, on an eight-stringed instrument, a psalm of David.
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v. 1. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, it was a time when true piety was decreasing both in amount and in influence; for the faithful fail from among the children of men, true loyalty and faithfulness having become exceedingly rare in the world, vanished, to all intents and purposes.
v. 2. They, namely, men in general, the rank and file of people on earth, speak vanity everyone with his neighbor, falsehood, lies, being the order of the day; with flattering lips, without a shred of sincerity, and with a double heart, both hypocritical and inconsistent, do they speak. Cf Hos 4:1-6.
v. 3. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things, great and swelling words of boastfulness, utterly uprooting the whole kingdom of lies;
v. 4. who have said, With our tongues will we prevail, showing strength with them, believing themselves to be absolute masters of their words; our lips are our own, to formulate all the flattering speeches which they might choose to make; who is lord over us? Who would dare to interfere with their haughtiness; who would prevent their doing as they pleased? This being the situation, the psalmist now sets forth the views of the Lord.
v. 5. For the oppression of the poor, those in misery and distress, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord, as the almighty Avenger of wrong; I will set him, the poor and downtrodden, in safety from him that puffeth at him, with a gesture of proud disdain, or, "I will place him in safety who panteth after it," being filled with eager longing to escape the continual oppression of the mighty. This being the attitude of the Lord, the psalmist praises Him.
v. 6. The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, a workshop with its crucible surrounded with earth being in the poet’s mind, purified seven times, to insure the highest possible degree of purity.
v. 7. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, namely, the believers, the faithful; Thou shalt preserve them from this generation, from those pervaded with the wicked spirit of the age, forever.
v. 8. The wicked walk on every side, their entire bearing showing the pride of their hearts, when the vilest men are exalted, in accordance with the increase of vileness among the sons of men, that is, the more the Christians neglect to act as the salt of the earth, as the leaven in the perverse generation of these latter days, and the more their own behavior is subject to just criticism as not in accordance with the Word of God, the more will the enemies of the Lord take occasion to lift up their heads in proud blasphemy and increase their hatred of the Lord’s work.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 5, 6 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship"
set to the Sheminith
This may refer to a style of music. See how you translated this in Psalms 6:1.
A psalm of David
Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.
Help, Yahweh
"Yahweh, come to my aid"
faithful have vanished
"faithful people have all vanished"
translationWords
psalm
David
Yahweh
godly
faithful
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 6, 7 Ps 12 This community lament seeks the Lord’s help…
Ps 12 This community lament seeks the Lord’s help against the prevalence of evil. Because of the Lord’s answer, the godly can face the future knowing that God protects them.
12:1-4 Evil becomes so pervasive that the godly pray for rescue (Isa 57:1; Mic 7:2; cp. Pss 1:6; 37:20; 58:7; 104:35).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.