Preferring Good News – Psalm 52

“To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of David when Doeg the Edomite went and told Saul, and said to him, ‘David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.’” Psalm 52:1

In 1 Samuel 22:8, King Saul said to his servants, “’All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.” In 1 Samuel 22:9-19, Saul’s servant Doeg informed him that a priest named Ahimelech prayed for David, provided food for him and gave him a sword. What did Saul do to Ahimelech? He massacred Ahimelech, his family, 85 priests in their families, as well as all their animals.

“Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah! You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy you forever. He shall take you away and pluck you out of your dwelling place and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah!” Psalm 52:1-5

The Hebrew word for mighty man literally means, “hero.” [1] Doeg was a hero among news reporters. He was able to convince his listeners that good people were evil. He was the worst type of liar. He enjoyed destroying people with his tongue.

Doeg’s tongue caused pain like the cut of a sharp razor. He delighted in destroying servants of God’s Word! Doeg reported what happened between Ahimelech and David as a crime, whereas, Abimelech had no idea that King Saul had turned against David. David was Saul’s son-in-law. David killed Israel’s enemy Goliath.

Praise God! God eventually uproots, plucks up and destroys false witnesses forever. Praise God! The goodness of God toward His servants endures forever!

“The righteous also shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, ‘Here is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.’ But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.” Psalm 52:6-8

Doeg was like the green bay-tree mentioned in Psalms 37:35. The green bay-tree has an abundance of large leaves but bears no useful fruit. [2] Some very wealthy and influential news networks are like green-bay trees. They have lots of foliage but produce no good fruit.

Psalm 2:1 speaks of people vainly plotting against the Lord and His anointed one. “ Psalm 2:4 says, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh.” As God laughs, so do His servants in Psalm 52:6. Not at them, but at their misguided notion that they can defy God’s commandment to love Him and people, and still prosper.

Evildoers believe they have an advantage over the righteous because they do not have to obey rules. They are totally deceived. In a moment, their self-imagined clever ingenuity will become their nightmare. They will lose everything.

The one who follows the Lord is like the green olive-tree, planted and rooted, fixed and flourishing. He is established in God’s dwelling place.

Green olive-trees live by faith in God and by embracing His grace. They trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever! Not in the world, but in God! Not in their own merit, but in God’s mercy! God’s mercy is constant and unchangeable. It is forever. We must therefore always trust in God and obey Him. Never depart from God and from His ways!

We obey God because we love Him and we love people. 1 John 5:2 says, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.” In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus taught us, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

“I will praise You forever, because You have done it and in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your Name, for it is good.” Psalm 52:9

Anything good about us is only because of God’s grace. The Gospel of Jesus Christ helped us to feel our sinfulness and to believe in His forgiveness. Thus, we surrendered our lives to Him in the presence of others who did likewise. The life we now live is by His grace. We pray in the Name of Jesus because He is the one who made us right before God by dying on the cross for our sins. He gave us His Holy Spirit to help us wait when in our flesh we want to sin as others do. We have hope because just as Jesus resurrected from the dead and ascended to God, so shall we. We also have joy because His Spirit keeps us mindful and grateful of all our blessings. Thus, we praise the Lord now, and 10,000 years from now, we shall still be praising Him. Glory to God!


[1] Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary
[2] Matthew Henry’s Commentary