A Lesson from a Fool

Psalm 53:1-6 English Standard Version

Psalm 53 is similar to Psalm 14 with a few exceptions which will be pointed out as we study the psalm.

One of the most notable differences is the alternative use in Psalm 53 of the generic word for God (Elohim) than the specific use of the word LORD (YHWH) in Psalm 14.

Psalm 53 uses the generic term “God” (Elohim) in four places in which Psalm 14 uses the specific tern LORD (YHWH) (Psalm 53:2, 4, 5, 6 c.f. Psalm 14:2, 4, 6, 7)

In fact, Psalm 42-83 is known as the Elohistic Psalter due to its preferential use of the word God over the word LORD.

This may be due to this collection of psalms being:

1. These psalms being in popular use among northern Israel which strayed first and foremost from their covenant with the LORD.

2. These psalms being in popular use after the Babylonian Captivity after which time Jewish people refrained from using the proper name LORD to avoid using it in vain.

3. These psalms speak to a broader audience:

a. Psalm 49:1 Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

b. Psalm 50:1 The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Psalm 53:title

1. To the choirmaster: (Psalm 14:title)

2. according to Mahalath. (MAY huh lath)

a. Mahalath. Musical cue, meaning “sadness,” listed in the title of Psalm 53, designating the way in which and/or the melody to which the psalm should be sung.[1]

b. Mahalath is used only one other time in the manner.

i. Psalm 88:title A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

3. A Maskil

a. The meanings usually suggested are (1) a skilled composition, or an “efficacious song” (one which is effective); (2) a psalm of understanding (wisdom); (3) a didactic psalm; (4) a meditation.[2]

b. Psalm 5[3] continues the second collection of Davidic psalms (Pss. 51–65, 68–70/71) and [is part of] a subgroup of this collection as the [second] of four consecutive psalms (Pss. 52–55) classified as maśkil.[3]

c. It is of interest to note that in the first psalm in this Davidic collection, Psalm 51, the psalmist states:

i. Psalm 51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

1. This group of maskilim psalms is teaching transgressors God’s ways in order to turn them to God.

4. of David. (Psalm 14:title)

Psalm 53:1

1. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

a. Fool - implying a willful moral insolence and impudence and disobedience to the law of God[4]

b. Not ignorant – atheist or agnostic, but willful rejection of God.

i. Psalm 10:4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

ii. Psalm 10:11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

iii. Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

iv. Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

v. Romans 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

vi. Romans 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

c. The superscriptions of the surrounding psalms connect the psalms with historical events in the life of David.

i. Psalm 51:title To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1. 2 Samuel 11-12

ii. Psalm 52:title To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

1. 1 Samuel 21-22

iii. Psalm 54:title To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”

1. 1 Samuel 23 and 26

d. Although Psalm 53 lacks a historical marker in its superscription, the word “fool” connects it to a historical event in the life of David.

i. 1 Samuel 25:25 Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

2. They are corrupt,

a. to act corruptly v. — to behave in a way that is immoral or lacks integrity.

i. Genesis 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.

ii. Genesis 6:12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

3. doing abominable iniquity;

a. Iniquity - evil

b. Psalm 14:1 they do abominable deeds;

4. there is none who does good.

a. Repeated in verse 3.

Psalm 53:2

1. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand,

a. Psalm 14:2 The Lord looks down from heaven

b. Understand – Hebrew: maskil c.f. Psalm 53: title.

i. Maskil - have insight, get wisdom, gain understanding, be prudent, be skilled, i.e., have a capacity for understanding, implying this state is a result of proper teaching[5]

2. who seek after God.

a. Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Psalm 53:3

1. They have all fallen away;

a. Psalm 14:3 They have all turned aside;

b. “Turned away” (sar, 14:3) and “[fallen] away” (sag, 53:3) have two different roots; sag (“turn away” in disloyalty) is a clarification of sar(“turn away”), thus making the motive clear.[6]

2. together they have become corrupt;

3. there is none who does good, not even one.

a. Psalm 53:1 there is none who does good.

b. Paul quotes from Psalm 53:1-3 in Romans 3:10-12:

i. Romans 3:10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

ii. Romans 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

iii. Romans 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Psalm 53:4

1. Have those who work evil no knowledge,

a. Psalm 14:4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers

2. who eat up my people as they eat bread,

3. and do not call upon God?

a. Psalm 14:4 and do not call upon the Lord?

Psalm 53:5

1. There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror!

a. Psalm 14:5 There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.

b. Psalm 14:6 You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lordis his refuge.

2. For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you;

3. you put them to shame,

4. for God has rejected them.

a. 1 Samuel 14:15 And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled, the earth quaked, and it became a very great panic.

b. 2 Chronicles 20:22 And when they began to sing and praise, the Lordset an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.

c. 2 Chronicles 20:23 For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

d. 2 Chronicles 20:24 When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped.

e. Isaiah 37:36 And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

f. In Psalm 14, the emphasis is placed on the protective power of God in behalf of the poor, while in Psalm 53, God’s power is unleashed in judgment on the wicked.[7]

g. The reprise of Ps 14 in Ps 53 suggests that at different points in his life David faced similar godless opposition. Those who opposed him after his Ps 2 anointing in Ps 14 were fools, convincing themselves in their hearts that there would be no God who would keep his promises to David. Thus, according to their reasoning, they could oppose David and hope to triumph over him. Psalm 53 presents the same kinds of fools thinking the same kinds of thoughts as they opposed David after his Ps 51 sin with Bathsheba.

h. The repetition of Ps 14 in Ps 53 suggests that David’s enemies can be identified with one another, that they think the same way and pursue the same course: setting themselves against Yahweh and his messiah (Ps 2:1–3).[8]

i. You (2x)

j. The last line of 53:5 (MT 53:6) speaks of the “you,” whom I am inclined to understand as the future king from David’s line, putting the enemies to shame. This would indicate that God works for Israel through the triumphant Davidic king.[9]

Psalm 53:6

1. Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

2. When God restores the fortunes of his people,

a. Fortune - captivity

b. The ultimate wish, that God would bring about the salvation of Israel and the restoration of his people’s fortune (Ps 53:7), indicates a postexilic date, but it also explodes the circumscribed chronology of the fifth-fourth centuries b.c.e. The expression “return of the remnant” literally means return from captivity (from Babylonia), or the Diaspora in the larger sense (v. 7).[10]

3. let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

a. Understanding 53:5 (MT 53:6) as being addressed to the future king from David’s line would also affect the question in 53:6 (MT 53:7), literally, “Who will give from Zion salvation for Israel?” This question reflects an expectant longing for the scion of David to come. When he does, God will restore the captivity of his people, and Jacob and Israel will rejoice and be glad.[11]

[1]Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Mahalath,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1378. [2]Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51–100, vol. 20, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 33. [3]Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 785. [4]James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament)(Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997). [5]James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament)(Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997). [6]C. Hassell Bullock, Psalms 1–72, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, vol. 1, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), 403. [7]Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 793. [8]James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, ed. T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 522. MT Masoretic Text [9]James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, ed. T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 521. [10]Samuel Terrien, The Psalms: Strophic Structure and Theological Commentary, The Eerdmans Critical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2003), 416–417. MT Masoretic Text MT Masoretic Text [11]James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, ed. T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 521–522.