Reflections on Psalms 52

 Psalms 52(Contemporary English Version)

1. (A special psalm by David for the music leader. He wrote this when Doeg from Edom went to Saul and said, "David has gone to Ahimelech's house.") You people may be strong and brag about your sins, but God can be trusted day after day.
   
2. You plan brutal crimes, and your lying words cut like a sharp razor.
   
3. You would rather do evil than good, and tell lies than speak the truth.
   
4. You love to say cruel things, and your words are a trap.
   
5. God will destroy you forever! He will grab you and drag you from your homes. You will be uprooted and left to die.
   
6. When good people see this fearsome sight, they will laugh and say,
   
7. "Just look at them now! Instead of trusting God, they trusted their wealth and their cruelty."
   
8. But I am like an olive tree growing in God's house, and I can count on his love forever and ever.
   
9. I will always thank God for what he has done; I will praise his good name when his people meet.

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This psalm, written by David, refers to an account that can be found in chapters 21 and 22 of 1 Samuel. David was constantly eluding Saul's pursuits of him in his effort to kill David and had gone to Ahimelech the priest seeking food for his men. But one of Saul's servants, a man by the name of Doeg, was present that day and saw David and reported it to Saul. Not only did Doeg's actions put David and his men at risk, he was assigned by Saul to execute Ahimelech and all of the priests at Nob, the city of the priests. But Doeg, evidently enjoying his power, went even further and killed not only the preists but also the women and children along with the oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

David, in this psalm, envisioned himself addressing Doeg directly and asking him, "Why brag about evil?" And saying to him, "You love evil instead of good, lying instead of speaking truthfully." (52:3) Though Saul may have rewarded Doeg with greater power for reporting David's whereabouts, "God will bring you down forever. He will take you, ripping you out of your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living." (52:5)

Though Doeg was guilty of treachery, his motivation was misplaced trust: "Here is the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, taking refuge in his destructive behavior." Rather than making God his refuge he took refuge in his destructive behavior. David contrasted Doeg's choices with his own choices. While Doeg sought to flourish depending on his own treachery to accomplish it, David trusted in God's faithful love and was like "a flourishing olive tree in the house of God." And we have already seen that instead of flourishing God would uproot Doeg "from the land of the living."

Because of God's faithful love, David determined that he would "praise You forever for what You have done. In the presence of Your faithful people, I will put my hope in Your name, for it is good." (52:9)