Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, July 19th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Bible Commentaries
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Ellicott's Commentary
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliographical Information
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Psalms 52". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/ebc/psalms-52.html. 1905.
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Psalms 52". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://www.studylight.org/
Whole Bible (44)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (5)
Introduction
LII.
In this psalm the voice of the community of pious Israel plainly speaks. (See Note, Psalms 52:8.) The traditional title has not the slightest support in the contents or tone of the poem. (See Note, title.) The tyrant, or mighty man, who is addressed, is most probably one of those base time-servers who, against the national party, and against the religious sentiment, sold themselves to the foreign power that happened to be in the ascendant; and who, by lending themselves as the instruments of tyranny, became the means of rousing the patriotic spirit which at length, under the hand of Maccabæus, succeeded in shaking off the foreign yoke. The rhythm is varied and well sustained.
Title.âSee title Psalms 4, 32. This is one of a series of three Elohistic psalms.
The historical reference in this inscription serves to cast discredit on the inscriptions generally, as showing on what insufficient grounds they could be received. There is not a syllable in the poem which conveniently applies to Doeg, or to the occurrence narrated in 1 Samuel 22:17; on the contrary, the accusation of lying (Psalms 52:1-3), the imputation of trust in riches (Psalms 52:7), as well as the general tone in which the psalm is couched, are quite against such an application.
Verse 1
(1) Mighty man.âBetter, hero, used sarcastically. LXX. and Vulg., âa mighty one at mischief.â (Comp.Isaiah 5:22; Isaiah 5:22 : âa hero at drinking.â) The order of the Hebrew is, however, against this, and in favour of the English, why dost thou exult in wickedness, O hero, i.e., perhaps, not only his own, but in the wickedness the people are led into by his means. This seems necessitated by the next clause. In spite of manâs folly and sin, Godâs covenant favour endures all the day long.
Verse 2
(2) Working deceitfully.âBetter, working guile. (For the metaphor, see Psalms 55:21; Psalms 57:4, &c)
Verse 4
(4) Devouring words.âLiterally, words of swallowing, such as swallow down (comp. Psalms 5:9, where the throat is called âan open sepulchreâ) a neighbourâs life, honour, and goods.
Verse 5
(5) Destroy.âBetter, tear down, as if of a building.
Take thee away.âBetter, lay hold of thee. The Hebrew word is always used of taking a live coal from the hearth. Notice, however, that the exactly opposite is intended of our âpluck a brand from the burning.â Here the idea is of pulling the house-fire to pieces, and so extinguishing domestic life.
Verse 6
(6) Fear . . . laugh.âThe mingled feelings of awe at the tyrantâs terrible fall, and exultation at his overthrow, are finely caught and described.
Dwelling-place.âBetter, tent.
Root thee out.âThis word, suggestive of rooting up a corrupt tree, becomes more forcible from the contrast in the figure of Psalms 52:8.
Verse 8
(8) But I am like.âThe flourishing olive alternates with the vine, in Hebrew poetry, as an emblem of prosperous Israel. (See Jeremiah 11:16; Hosea 14:6.) The epithet âgreenâ hardly refers to the colour so much as the âvigourâ of the tree, for the foliage of âwan grey olive woodâ cannot be called verdant. But though the olive is scarcely, to our Western eyes, a beautiful tree, âto the Oriental the coolness of the pale-blue foliage, its evergreen freshness, spread like a silver sea along the slopes of the hills, speaks of peace and plenty, food and gladnessâ (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 374).
In the house of God.âHere and in the more elaborate simile (Psalms 92:13) the situation, âin the house of God,â is added to show that the prophecy has come of religious trust. It is quite possible that trees were actually planted in the precincts of the Temple, as they are in the Haram area now, so that the rendering, ânear the house of God,â would express a literal fact. Or the whole may be figurative, as in the verse, âlike the olive branches round about Thy table.â
Verse 9
(9) Because thou hast done it.âBetter, because thou workest, i.e., for thy works, but spoken in anticipation of future manifestations.
I will wait on thy name. . . .âBetter, I will wait for thy glory; âname,â here, after the mention of Godâs works in the last clause, being evidently, as so often, synonymous with âfameâ and âreputation.â
For it is good before thy saints.âThis may mean that such a trustful expectation in the presence of the saints is good, or that it is pleasant in the eyes of the saints thus to wait, or we may take ânameâ as the subject.
The mention of the âsaintsâ (chasîdîm) is by some supposed to indicate the Asmonean period as that of the composition of the Psalm.