Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

PSALM 52: WHY BOAST ABOUT THIS CRIME? The Wicked Dragged Away

This song memorializes one of the great crimes of the Old Testament; King Saul’s insane jealousy of David causes him to order the death of 85 priests of the Lord and their families. Doeg, the Edomite carries out the execution and goes down in history as one of the most ruthless of men. This psalm fore- shadows Saint Paul, the ‘Saul’ of the New Testament whose hatred and execution of Christians was overcome by God’s unfailing love and resulted in his conversion. The Psalm has three sections:

I THE LIES OF THE WICKED – 1-4 II THE ’LAUGHTER’ OF THE RIGHTEOUS- 5-7 III THE LOVE OF GOD- 8,9

INTRODUCTION:

“For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Doeg the Edomite told Saul that Ahim- elech had given refuge to David.”

David began his life as fugitive from King Saul by fleeing to the city of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Unfortunately the Bible says: “Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day for ceremonial purification.” (1 Sam. 21:7) The priest gave David and his men some bread and the sword of Goliath and sent them on their way. One day as Saul was having an irrational moment of self-pity with his soldiers and leaders; “Is that why you have conspired against me?…Your not even sorry for me.” (1 Sam. 22:8); Doeg related the in- cident of David visiting Ahimelech the priest. Saul sent for Ahimelech and his family and accused him; “Why did you encourage him to revolt against me and to come here and attack me?” (1 Sam. 22:13) Ahimelech answered: “Please don’t accuse me and my family in this matter, for I knew nothing of any plot against you.” (1 Sam. 22:15) Saul exploded with rage and ordered his body-guards to kill the priests but they refused to do it. Doeg willingly slaughtered all 85 priests: “Then he went to Nob,…and killed the priests’ families–men and women, children and babies, and all the cattle, donkeys, and sheep. Only Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David.”(1 Sam. 22:19) Abiathar tells David of the tragedy that inspires this angry yet hope-filled psalm. “You call yourself a hero, do you? Why boast about this crime of yours, you who have disgraced God’s people? All day long you plot destruction. Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor; you’re an expert at telling lies. You love evil more than good and lies more than truth. Interlude {Selah}” (1-3) Doeg had boasted in his crime in both of the opening sentences. Perhaps the newspapers of their day carried the headline: “85 Priest Killed in Plot to Overthrow the King.” Now David with his powerful music ministry steps forward and writes a psalm of truth that overturns the lies of Saul and Doeg. A song can bring down kingdoms! Doeg had twisted the facts of the story in an expert way to justify the killing of the priests. He in- serted a small distortion of the truth that led to their death. “I saw David talking to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech consulted the Lord to find out what David should do. Then he gave David food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”(1 Sam. 22:9,10) Both the first sentence and the last sentence were true but the middle one was a sharp razor cut of a lie that inflamed Saul’s rage. Small lies can have enormous consequences. I THE LIES OF THE WICKED - 1-4

“You love to say things that harm others, you liar!” (4)

After David has calmed down with a musical ‘Interlude’ he comes back with an even more direct and impolite statement to the murderous Doeg: “YOU LIAR”! Doeg is arrogantly evil, knowing the truth but choosing and loving the power of lies. He is a perfect human representation of the Devil: “For you

127