Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_500_e.lzh/3_577.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-27 | 6KB | 124 lines

\\INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 14\\

\*\\<<To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David>>\\.
The argument of this psalm, according to Theodoret,
is Sennacherib's invasion of Judea, when he sent Rabshakeh
to Hezekiah, with menaces and curses; upon
which Hezekiah implored divine help, and obtained it,
and the Assyrian army was destroyed by an angel; of
all which he thinks this psalm was prophetic.

\*Ver. 1. \\The fool hath said in his heart\\, &c.] This
is to be understood not of a single individual person,
as Nabal, which is the word here used; nor of some
Gentile king, as Sennacherib, or Rabshakeh his general,
as Theodoret; nor of Nebuchadnezzar, nor of Titus,
as some Jewish writers {y} interpret it, making one to be
here intended, and the other in the fifty-third psalm: the same with
this; but of a body, a set of men, who justly bear this
character; and design not such who are idiots, persons
void of common sense and understanding; but such
who are fools in their morals, without understanding
in spiritual things; wicked profligate wretches, apostates
from God, alienated from the life of God; and
whose hearts are full of blindness and ignorance, and
whose conversations are vile and impure, and they
enemies of righteousness, though full of all wicked
subtlety and mischief: these say in their hearts, which
are desperately wicked, and out of which evil thoughts
proceed, pregnant with atheism and impiety; these
endeavour to work themselves into such a belief, and
inwardly to conclude, at least to wish,
\*\\[there is] no God\\;
though they do hot express it with their mouths, yet
they would fain persuade their hearts to deny the being
of God; that so having no superior to whom they are
accountable, they may go on in sin with impunity;
however, to consider him as altogether such an one as
themselves, and to remove such perfections from him,
as may render him unworthy to be regarded by them;
such as omniscience, omnipresence, &c. and to conceive
of him as entirely negligent of and unconcerned about
affairs of this lower world, having nothing to do with
the government of it: and thus to deny his perfections
and providence, is all one as to deny his existence, or
that there is a God: accordingly the Targum paraphrases it,
\*"there is no \^anjlwv\^, %government% of God in
"the earth;"\*
\*so Kimchi interprets it,
"there is no governor, nor judge in the world, to render to man
"according to his works."\*
\*\\They are corrupt\\; that is,
every one of these fools; and it is owing to the corruption
of their hearts they say such things: they are
corrupt in themselves; they have corrupt natures,
they are born in sin, and of the flesh, and must be carnal
and corrupt: or %they do corrupt%, or %have corrupted% {z}:
they corrupt themselves by their atheistical thoughts
and wicked practices, \\#Jude 1:10\\; or their works, as the
Chaldee paraphrase adds; or their ways, their manner
and course of life, \\#Ge 6:12\\; and they corrupt others
with their evil communications, their bad principles
and practices, their ill examples and wicked lives;
\*\\they have done abominable works\\: every sinful action
is abominable in the sight of God; but there are some
sins more abominable than others; there are abominable
idolatries, and abominable lusts, such as were committed
in Sodom; and it may be these are pointed at
here, and which are usually committed by such who
like not to retain God in their knowledge; see \\#Ro 1:24,28\\;
\*\\there is none that doeth good\\; any one good
work in a spiritual manner; not in faith, from love, in
the name and strength of Christ, and with a view to
the glory of God: nor can any man do a good work
without the grace of God, and strength from Christ,
and the assistance of the Spirit of God: hence, whatsoever
a wicked man does, whether in a civil or in a
religious way, is sin; see \\#Pr 21:4, 27\\; Arama
takes these to be the words of the fool, or atheist,
saying, there is no God that does good, like those in
\\#Zep 1:12\\.

\*Ver. 2. \\The Lord looked down from heaven upon the
children of men\\, &c.] As he did when all flesh had
corrupted its way, and before he brought a flood upon
the world of the ungodly, \\#Ge 6:12\\. This is said in
direct opposition to the atheistical thoughts and reasonings
of wicked men, in \\#Ps 14:1\\. There
is a God, and he takes notice of the children of men,
and of what is done by them; though his throne is in
the heavens, and his dwelling there, yet he looks down
from thence, and takes cognizance of all human affairs.
This must be Understood consistent with the
omniscience and omnipresence of God; it is an anthropopathy,
or a speaking after the manner of men;
and denotes the exact notice which God takes, and distinct
observation he makes, and the perfect and accurate
knowledge he has of men and their actions; see \\#Ge 11:5 18:20,21
Ps 33:13-15\\;
\*\\to see if there were any that did understand\\: not things
natural, civil, and moral, but things spiritual as the
Apostle Paul interprets the words, \\#Ro 3:11\\. For
though man has not lost the natural faculty of his understanding,
and may have an understanding of the
things of nature, yet not of the things of God, until a
supernatural light is put into him; not any spiritual
experimental knowledge of God in Christ, nor of the
way of salvation by Christ, nor of the work of the
Spirit of God upon the heart, nor of the doctrines of
the Gospel, nor any true sight and sense of his own
state and condition;
\*\\[and] seek God\\; that is, %after
God%; as the apostle in the sane place explains it;
after the knowledge of him and his ways, and communion
with him; after the things of God, his interest
and his glory: they do not seek after him in prayer,
or by an attendance on his worship and ordinances; at
least with their whole hearts, earnestly, diligently, constantly,
and in the first place; nor do they seek after
him in Christ, where he is only to be found; nor under
the influence, and with the assistance of the blessed Spirit.

{y} Vid. Jarchi, Kimchi & Ben Melech in loc.
{z} \^wtyxvh\^ %corruperunt%, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus;
%corrumpunt%, Junius & Tremellius; %corrumpunt se%, Piscator.