Psalm - 14
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Psalm - 14
Introduction
In Genesis 6, we find ourselves 9 generations after Adam. The world is up and running and the population has dramatically increased and spread over the Ancient Near East. And as if proving the doctrine of Total Depravity, as mankind spread, so did their wickedness.
Genesis 6:5-7 - 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. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
God is ready to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. But sees one righteous man and decides to start over with him. And after introducing us to Noah, the Bible again records God’s assessment of the world.
Genesis 6:11-13 - 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
There are two images from Genesis 6 that are repeated further on in Genesis…God sees, and the world is corrupt.
Genesis 11:1-9 - Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
It comes up again in Genesis 18 regarding the famous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis 18:20-21 - 20 Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
These images of God coming down to see, and that the world is corrupt and sinful are the dominating themes of Psalm 14.
Psalm 14:1-7 - The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?
5 There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
6 You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
The field of Bible interpretation is called Hermeneutics. There are numerous guiding principles and laws that help us to rightly understand and interpret the Bible. The most common one that is most helpful when it comes to regular Bible reading is what is repeated is important. If one of the biblical authors uses repetition, then they are trying to tell you something. It is showing their agenda. For example, Philippians is known as the Epistle of Joy because Paul uses joy and rejoice so many times. Hebrews has the continued repetition of better. In Jesus we have a better priest, a better covenant, a better sacrifice, etc.
In these Genesis passages we have already seen some repetition of these themes of corruption and God’s seeing of it. But Psalm 14 is rare in that it is the only Psalm that is repeated again, not once, but twice. Psalm 14 is repeated again, almost verbatim, in Psalm 53. There are only minor differences, which we will look at when we get to Psalm 53. Psalm 14 seems to be focused on comfort for the faithful, while Psalm 53 seems to communicate a warning to the wicked. But the primary idea behind Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 is repeated again when the Apostle Paul takes up their words in Romans 3, which we will look at toward the end.
What is repeated is important. When God says something once, it is worthy of our prompt attention. When God says something twice, we stop and dwell there. But when he repeats something for a third time, we dive deeply because apparently God wants to hammer that message home to us. And the truths of Psalm 14 are what God wants to hammer home for us.
Psalm 14 is the final psalm in a subsection of Book 1 of the Psalms. This subsection goes from Psalm 3-14. There has been the regular themes of danger and sorrow from King David as he laments his enemies and cries out for God’s help. Psalm 14 seems to cap that off, though we will see those themes come out again. There is a noticeable tonal shift beginning at Psalm 15.
Psalm 14 is a wisdom psalm that helps us ponder the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous, revealing the foolishness of living apart from God and his ways. The outline for this psalm is very lopsided. The first 6 verses show us an ASSESSMENT OF HUMANITY, while the final verse shows us and APPEAL TO HEAVEN.
ASSESSMENT OF HUMANITY (V. 1-6)
INSANITY (V. 1)
v. 1 - The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
‘the fool’ - there is no definite article in the Hebrew text, so this isn’t referring to any one person, but to everyone in a category of ‘fool.’ All the verbs associated with ‘fool’ are plural…so this is widespread.
A fool, biblically, is not someone who is mentally deficient, but someone who is morally perverse. It is a synonym for ‘sinner.’ In fact, the ‘fool’ may be highly educated or intelligent. But they are morally flawed. The word can translate as ‘aggressive perversity.’ Says in his heart - notice they do not say this in their mind or with their intellect. So we aren’t talking about someone who is a theoretical atheist, a person who looks intently at the evidence and determines that God does not exist.
Their heart - not their emotions, but the seat of their will. They don’t want there to be a God. In fact, the Hebrew literally translates, “The fool says in his heart, ‘No God!’” The ‘there is’ is added to make the sentence flow. The fool has determined that for their life…no God. They are not a theoretical atheist, but a practical atheist…someone who lives ‘as if’ there is no God. They have committed to live a life that is ‘a’ theistic…void of God.
Isaiah 32:6 - 6 For the fool speaks folly,
and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
Horatius Bonar - “In all unbelief there are two things: a good opinion of one’s self and a bad opinion of God.”
Why are they considered a ‘fool?’ Because the evidence is clear that God is real and they choose to reject that.
Romans 1:18-32 - 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
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. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
God’s revelation is clear enough evidence not only to show God’s power, but his divine nature. Creatures can look at creation and determine that we owe worship and honor to our Creator. Any other conclusion is a rejection of obvious revelation. This is why they are without excuse. Why is it that they reject? Is it because the evidence so clearly points to random chance ruling the universe? No. They reject because they suppress the truth by their wickedness. And their suppression of truth leads to all sorts of depravity. They are corrupt…this is a call back to Genesis 6, where Moses uses this word 3x to describe the world before the flood. Notice this is referring to their character, their identity. They ARE corrupt.
Corrupt is a technical military term that means to ‘ruin’ or ‘spoil.’ Proverbs 11:9 says you can ruin a life by careless words. It is used to describe the corruption of Israel when they worship the golden calf in Exodus 32. Most notable is that this is the word used to describe the angel of destruction who comes to kill the firstborn in all of Egypt at the Passover. Because they ARE corrupt, they commit ‘abominable deeds.’ Abominable means their deeds are incompatible with God. They are dangerous and repulsive to him. This is why things that are labeled as abominable in Scripture are typically attached to words like ‘hate,’ ‘reject,’ and ‘abhor.’
In Genesis 43, it is abominable to the Egyptians for them to eat with the Israelites. It is used in Proverbs 13:19; 16:12, and 29:27 to refer to things that don’t belong together. It describes false worship in Isaiah 1:13, lies/deceit/discord/murder in Proverbs 6:16-19, idolatry in Ezekiel 5:9, and occult practices like prostitution in Deuteronomy 23:19. These things are abominable because they are incompatible with God. They are separate from him. This is why that nothing they do can be labeled as ‘good.’ Because their deeds are not for God’s glory and honor, no matter what they do, it is incompatible with him. There is ‘none’ who does good. And now David expands the search and moves beyond the ‘fool’ being like this to seeing all of humanity in the same category.
P.C. Craigie - “The fool is not a rare subspecies within the human race; all human beings are fools apart from the wisdom of God.”
IMMORALITY (V. 2-3)
v. 2-3 - 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
Notice the universal language being used…any, all, together, none, not even one. This calls to mind Isaiah 53 in that famous Suffering Servant passage:
Isaiah 53:6 - 6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
It may be easy to think that David is being kind of pessimistic. Is it really true that everyone is this way? David, you are just overwhelmed again at all your enemies. But no. This is now God’s conclusion, based on his divine search. The Lord has looked down from heaven. Again, this is language that is borrowed from Genesis. God sees all the corruption at the flood. He comes down to Babel. He goes down to Sodom and Gomorrah.
And notice the clear language…where is God looking from? From Heaven. He looks DOWN (lit. He bows to see). Why? Because God is above. He is exalted. He alone sits in the place of judgement. He alone has the vantage point to make such a declaration. From his exalted place of scrutiny, he sees all and knows all. This is a reference to the doctrine of God’s omniscience. He is all-knowing. Why? Because he is all-seeing. He looks down on the ‘children of man’ - definitely referring to all of humanity.
Psalm 11:4 - 4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord's throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
children of man is literally ‘children of Adam.’ The Hebrew word for man is Adam. So this is obviously a reference to being a human being, but a not-so-subtle reminder that we are children of Adam, our first parent in the Garden of Eden. The one who brought sin to the human race. We are all children of Adam. What is God looking for? Two kinds of people (as he lists two participles)
Understands - meaning he is looking for someone who is wise, the antithesis of the ‘fool.’ Where is the one who does not reject me? Where is the one who welcomes me? Seeks - the word means ‘investigate’ or ‘inquire.’ Where is the one who sees the clear evidence of my existence and sets about to dive deeply into the divine? Where is the one who welcomes me and worships me? What is the conclusion? v. 3…they have all ‘turned aside.’ A present perfect verb that means they are continually separated from him. He finds no one. Together they have become ‘corrupt.’ There is that word again, borrowing from Genesis 6. That word is used elsewhere to refer to sour milk. Not a flattering image. And now he restates the thesis of the psalm…there is none who does good. NOT EVEN ONE. Mankind is universally condemned. Apart from the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, no one understands. No one seeks. No one is good.
A.F. Kirkpatrick sees here that the “deep and universal corruption of mankind is traced to its source in their failure to seek God.”
IGNORANCE (V. 4)
v. 4 - 4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?
Because humanity has not sought after God and have suppressed truth by their wickedness, this is God’s conclusion…they have no knowledge. They are ignorant of God and his ways. They have no knowledge of God, meaning they are spiritually blind and do not know what to do. So left to themselves, they do what is evil. Specifically God lays out two things they do:
Devour God’s people - they eat up God’s people like bread. Eating bread is a common, daily occurrence. That is what is referenced here…the evil commonly, daily, try to take out God’s people. The language of ‘eating’ implies violent action.
Micah 3:1-3 - And I said:
Hear, you heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
Is it not for you to know justice?—
2 you who hate the good and love the evil,
who tear the skin from off my people
and their flesh from off their bones,
3 who eat the flesh of my people,
and flay their skin from off them,
and break their bones in pieces
and chop them up like meat in a pot,
like flesh in a cauldron.
Do not call upon the Lord - this is not referring to prayer, but to worship. That phrase is regularly used throughout the Scriptures to refer to the organized worship of God that takes places in Israel. These two things they do are the clear signs of ignorance on the part of the world. And notice it is the Lord himself here who is expressing this astonishment. With doing things like this, even God is astonished and outraged at their actions. One more thing to note before we move on…in v. 1-3 only the wicked are referred to, and it is universal. But now in v. 4, and in every single verse left in the psalm, a second group of people are referred to…God’s people.
‘My people’ in v. 4; ‘generation of the righteous’ in v. 5; ‘poor’ in v. 6; ‘his people’ in v. 7. v. 1-3 are some of the strongest passages regarding the depravity of mankind. yet…the righteous exist. Where did they come from? Are they some separate group that has existed outside of this condemnation in v. 1-3? No. They come from out of the group. The condemnation is universal in v. 1-3…not even one. Yet, God in his mercy, chooses people from that condemned group, enlightens them, gives them knowledge and wisdom, and makes them his own. And then promises to protect them from the very wicked ones they used to be.
INTIMIDATION (V. 5-6)
v. 5-6 - 5 There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
6 You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.
These verses look ahead to the judgment that awaits us all. He begins with the judgment of the wicked…there they are in great terror. That will be the fate of the wicked. They have bullied. They have seemingly gotten away with all they’ve done. But a day is coming when there they will stand in great terror.
Why? God is with the generation of the righteous. God is not ‘with’ the wicked. He stands opposed to them. God is ‘with’ he is ‘for’ the righteous. Those who have been bullied, those who have been the victims of a wicked world, will be vindicated by God on that great day (Psalm 2, Psalm 110). Literally, they will be “terrified with great terror.” They will have the sudden realization that they were the fool and now it is too late. God stands on the side of those the wicked have devoured. Remember, ‘generation’ refers to the similar mindset, not similar age group. We saw this in Psalm 12:7.
God is with the generation of the ‘righteous.’ Those who are right with God and that ‘rightness’ is reflected in their lives. v. 6 repeats the same idea in parallel poetic form, as David shifts to 2nd person and addresses the wicked directly. The wicked would ‘shame’ God’s people (referred to as the ‘poor’). ‘Shame’ is a word used to refer to what happens at a military victory. The vanquished are ‘shamed’ in their defeat.
The wicked shame the plans…what plans? The plans for hope and judgment to come. The wicked will try to defeat those plans, ensuring that judgment never comes, hope is to be squashed out. But God is their refuge. God protects them. God secures them. And there is no defeating God.
APPEAL TO HEAVEN (V. 7)
v. 7 - 7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Now David pours out his heart and soul here, expressing his desire for salvation, for the rescue of God’s righteous people from the clutches of the wicked.
What that looks like is God restoring their fortunes. That idea is used specifically to refer to God doing such things after times of misery. It is used of Job in Job 42:10 who endures all the suffering, but the blessings on his life are restored.
Amos 9:13-15 - 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land,
and they shall never again be uprooted
out of the land that I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.
And when God does this, when he does his saving work, it is cause for rejoicing and gladness. Celebration comes at vindication…the celebration of the fact that we were right. We were right to side with God. We were right to reject the wickedness of our generation and instead be among the generation of the righteous. Not only will this day come fully and ultimately in the return of the Lord Jesus, it has already come at his first arrival. ‘Oh that salvation for Israel would come out of of Zion!’ A cry for deliverance to arise for God’s people in Jerusalem. David prays because he wants God to use him and his kingdom for this purpose. And, in the end, God did exactly that. Through the line of David, one of his descendants would provide this very salvation…in Jerusalem.
The Hebrew word for ‘salvation’ is yeshua. David’s prayer is answered in Jesus because salvation-incarnate came to Jerusalem and there saved his people.
Application
When reading the Bible, ask 4 questions of any text:
What does it say about God? What does it say about me? What is one thing I need to know? What is one thing I need to do?
This text emphasizes the first two questions…what does it say about God? That he is exalted over all things in heaven, all-seeing, all-knowing, judge over the Earth. What does it say about me? Are you part of the generation of the wicked or generation of the righteous?
If you were held hostage and the SWAT team arrived, it would be great for you. Their presence would fill you with hope. But not for the criminal. SWAT presence equals dread for them. That is what the judgement will create. For the generation of the wicked, it will create dread and horror. There they are in great terror. But for the generation of the righteous, it creates hope, salvation, deliverance. In light of God’s existence, and the kind of God he has revealed himself to be, it is utter folly to live as if we don’t answer to him. Hebrews 12:2 says that for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross. We are to follow his lead. Our fortunes will be restored, after a time of suffering. So for the joy set before us when the Lord returns, we endure anything that comes our way.
Romans 3:10-18 - 10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Paul picks up Psalm 14 to prove the universal condemnation of all mankind due to sin. While that may seem like a dark message, I assure you it is not. You have the have the bad news before you get the good news. The Good News is Good precisely because it is in opposition to the bad news. Psalm 14, Psalm 53, Romans 3, all contain the bad news.
Romans 3:19-24 - 19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Paul does the same thing in Ephesians 2. You were dead in your trespasses and sins, serving Satan, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God…who is rich in mercy made you alive with Christ.
It is only the black velvet backdrop that makes the diamond sparkle so brilliantly.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 - 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
It is only by the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit that any of us from the generation of the wicked can be transferred to the generation of the righteous.
In 1908 The Times asked a number of authors to write on the topic, “What is wrong with the world?” G.K. Chesterton’s answer was the shortest one submitted. He simply wrote:
Dear Sirs,
I am.
Sincerely yours,
G.K. Chesterton
Once we recognize our sin and its devastating effects, we are ready to turn to God. Once we see the black backdrop of our sin, we are read for the Gospel.