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 97: Lev 24---Olive Oil, Bread of the Presence, and a Case of Blasphemy

 The crops from Israel's harvests, celebrated in the festivals of Lev 23, would contribute to the worship of God.  Olive oil would be used to keep the menorah in the tabernacle buring continually (Lev 24:1-3), and grain would be used in making the bread of the presence, twelve loaves each week representing the twelve tribes (vv 4-9).  

On this chapter commentator Jay Sklar notes that when the lights are on and there is bread on the table, someone is home.  The lampstand and table announced God's presence with his people. 

Not all of the Israelites at Sinai wanted to be in God's presence.  In one of only a couple of narratives in the book of Leviticus, a man made it known that he did not want to follow the God of Israel.  After a blasphemous tirade that was an assault on God, he was stoned to death.  Hands were laid upon his head, symbolizing the placement of the pollution produced by his words back upon him, and he was executed outside of the camp.  

Fittingly, the man's name is not mentioned.  We are told that he had an Egyptian father and a Danite mother.  An imaginative midrash speculates that he was the son of the man that Moses had killed 40 years before (Ex 2:11). 

Leviticus 24 is the second of three places in the Pentateuch in which the lex talionis is mentioned.  This is simply the principle that a punishment for a crime should fit the crime.  

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on March 26, 2022, Kyle Kettering laid out the "olive tree theology" based on Paul's analogy in Romans 11 and expounded, for example, by Marvin Wilson in Our Father Abraham.  In this analogy, believers from the nations are grafted into the olive tree of Israel, which is rooted in the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He encouraged members of the congregation to show grace to each other as we work out the meaning of our position in that olive tree.