Seder 97: Psalm 52---Trust in God's Faithfulness and Justice

 Most of the psalms do not come to us with information about the original occasion of their composition.  But some do.  In particular, some psalms linked to events in the life of David are clumped together in Book 2 of the Psalter in Psalms 51-52, 54, 56-57, 59-60, 63.

The arrangement of these psalms does not seem to be random.  In his book The Message of the Psalter, David C. Mitchell mentions the observation of medieval commentator David Kimchi (a.k.a. Radak) that  Psalms 52 and 54 deal with trials faced by David when he was fleeing from Saul, while Psalm 53 in between affirms that God made his kingdom stand firm in the face of these trials.  

Psalm 52 expresses confidence that God will judge the wicked and uphold those who place their trust in him.  The song's superscription gives a face to the wicked person described in verses 1-4, associating this wicked man with Doeg the Edomite, whose words and actions were responsible for the deaths of 85 priests and much of the rest of the population of Nob (1 Sa 21-22) during the reign of King Saul.

"Why do you boast of evil. O  mighty man?", David begins his prayer.  I sense that there are implied air quotes around the phrase "mighty man."  Doeg may think that he is mighty in having so many killed, but he should be aware that "the steadfast love of God endures all the day."  

This is not the only place in the Bible that refers ironically to "mighty men."  Isaiah 5:22 says, "Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink."

David continues, "Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit" (verse 2).  He adds in verse 4, "You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue."  Certainly Doeg caused great harm with his words.  

The midrash on Psalm 52 includes reflection on the harm that can be brought about through malicious speech.  The passages quoted include

• Proverbs 18:21---"Death and life are in the power of the tongue..."
• Psalm 34:13---"Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit."
• Proverbs 21:23---"Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble."

The sages observe that those who engage in slander are denying God's authority, based on Psalm 12:4.  They also say that slander is more damaging than murder, since slander destroys three people---the speaker, the listener, and the subject of the slander.  Doeg's speech is given as an example.  It led to the deaths of Ahimelech (1 Sa 22:16), Saul (1 Ch 10:13), and eventually Doeg himself (Ps 52:5).

David closes the psalm with faith and confidence.  "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God...I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly" (verses 8-9).  Note that it is "in the house of God" and "in the presence of the godly" that David says he will flourish.  In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on January 3, 2026, Kyle Kettering emphasized the importance of a church community for the growth and flourishing of disciples of Jesus.  

Seder 95: 1 Peter 2:3-4---Affirming the Deity of Jesus

 One way in which the writers of the New Testament epistles affirm the deity of Jesus is by applying passages from the Tanakh about the God of Israel to Jesus.  We see one example in 1 Peter 2:3-4, where Peter brings together two passages of scripture.

First Peter 2:3 references Psalm 34:8 ("Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!), a verse about the God of Israel.  

Then in verse 4, Peter says that the Lord is "a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious." Here Peter is thinking of Psalm 118:22, which he later quotes in verse 7, as a reference to Jesus.  Jesus had been rejected by Jewish leaders in Jerusalem (Mt 21:42; Ac 4:10-11) but was resurrected to eternal life.  

So Peter makes an identification between the God of Israel and Jesus the Messiah, as the New Testament writers often do. 

Seder 133: Psalm 56---Trusting in God in a Time of Trial

 The superscription associates Psalm 56 with David at a time "when the Philistines seized him in Gath."  (Psalm 34 has a similar setting.) 1 Sam 21 records that David, in flight from King Saul, at one point escaped briefly to Gath.  However, David was soon recognized as the Israelite leader who had killed Goliath, so after feigning madness, he fled Gath as well (1 Sam 21:10-22:1).  

Whatever the original setting, the psalmist is feeling constant pressure.  He uses the phrase "all day long" three times (vv 1,2,5).  

He realizes, though, that his oppressors are only human beings, and he can place his trust in the King of the Universe (vv 3-4).  He praises God's Word (v 4), which declares God's love and faithfulness to his people.  

Verses 10-11 echo verses 3 and 4.  There is parallelism in verse 10:  "In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise."  The midrash on Psalm 56 suggests that in the first clause, which uses "Elohim" for God, the psalmist is praising God's justice; while in the second clause, which uses YHWH for God, he is praising God's mercy as expressed in Ex 34:6-7.  

Certainly in this psalm he is asking for God to mercifully deliver him from his trial.  He is also asking that God's justice be applied to his oppressors (v 7).  He is confident that God is keeping track of everything that is happening and will make things right.  Verse 8 contains the striking image of a bottle in which all his tears are collected, an image related to God's book in which everything is recorded (Ps 139:16).  

He is confident that God will deliver him and looks forward to giving a public sacrifice of thanksgiving when that has occurred (vv 12-13).

Seder 32: Psalm 34---Try God's Way: It Works!

 Psalm 34 is an acrostic wisdom psalm traditionally associated with a specific incident in David's life:  At one point when he was fleeing for his life from Saul, David briefly took refuge in Goliath's home town of Gath (1 Sam 21:10-15).  His visit was short because he was quickly recognized.  With his cover blown, David feigned madness in order to escape.  (Commentators often point out an irony here:  David could control his madness, while Saul was controlled by his madness.) 

An imaginative story links Psalm 34 to this incident.  According to this story, David had at one point thanked God for all the wonderful things he had created, especially wisdom.  "But," David asked God, "Why did you create madness?  That seems like such an insane thing to do.  Madness serves no constructive purpose."  God replied, "A day will come when you will have use for madness."  David later remembered what God had said when he was in a tight spot in Gath.  He did indeed have use for madness.  Afterwards he prayed, as in Ps 34:1, "I will bless the Lord at all times"---both in times of sanity and in times of madness. 

In any case, David speaks as one who has put his trust in God and experienced divine deliverance.  "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" he declares in v. 8.  "Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"  He notes that "the young lions"---representing the wealthy (LXX) or those who do not follow God---are never satisfied, while "those who seek the Lord lack no good thing" (v 10).  

David acknowledges that the righteous endure their share of suffering:  "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" (v 19).  But he goes on to affirm that God is watching over his people:  "But the Lord delivers him out of them all," verse 19 concludes.  God protects us "in detail": "He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken (v 20).  

Psalm 34 is referenced in two New Testament books.  Verse 20 is referred to in John 19:33-36 in connection with the fact that the Roman soldiers did not break Jesus' bones on the cross.  "The Lord redeems the life of his servants," Ps 34:22 states, and God indeed raised Jesus from the dead.  

The apostle Peter seems to have had Psalm 34 in mind, along with Isa 53 and other scriptures, when he wrote 1 Peter.  In that epistle, Peter encourages Christians who are suffering.  Some suffering is to be expected, he says, because we are called to follow in Jesus' footsteps (1 Peter 2:18-25).  But it is also the case that, for those who have taken David up on his offer to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (1 Peter 2:3), God watches over those who follow him.  Peter quotes Ps 34:12-16 in 1 Peter 3:10-12 as he urges Christians to turn away from evil and do what is good, heeding David's wise instruction.