NOTES for Psa 14

¹LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

²He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

³He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.

⁴In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

⁵He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

The words that there is no God are spoken by a fool. But if there is no one on earth whose deeds are good, whom then should we call such a fool? If all people on earth have corrupted their ways, then every one of them has sunk into wickedness and turned away from God. Some are simply consistent and deny God both in practice and in theory. Others do not directly deny God’s existence, but live as if He did not exist.

Yet He does not leave the world without hope. Its bearers are those whom the wicked are accustomed to mock, those whom people comfortably established in a world full of evil have no intention of taking seriously. Those who reject the unworthy acquisition of wealth are ready to remain poor, but their treasure is in heaven. Even today, they possess hope in the Lord and His mercy.

And the opportunity to acquire this hope, preserved by the persecuted, exists even for many of those who now laugh at its bearers.

Other notes

For Psa 14:1-5

¹LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

²He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

³He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.

⁴In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

⁵He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

After portraying the wicked person, whose type predominates in the world, the psalmist turns to the likeness of the one who is worthy to dwell... Read more

After portraying the wicked person, whose type predominates in the world, the psalmist turns to the likeness of the one who is worthy to dwell near God. The very first mark of such a righteous person that the psalmist names is adherence to truth.

Truth is not merely the reliability of information, and it is even more than a moral quality. Truth is one of God's attributes; therefore adherence to truth in every human expression—in deeds and words, and even more deeply in the movements of the heart—attunes a person to openness before God and to standing in His presence.

Someone might say that there are more serious transgressions than slander and reproach of one's neighbor. How easily we become absorbed in these occupations, excusing ourselves by saying that they are “an everyday matter”! Yet these “trifles” are connected with the deepest layers of the person, and this means that other sins follow them. Even an oath made to an evil person must be kept, precisely because a false oath is a sin in every case, no matter to whom it was given.

Notes

NOTES for Psa 14

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Readings for 12 January 2021

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