"To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
2 Your tongue plots destruction,
like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
3 You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous shall see and fear,
and shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “See the man who would not make
God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and sought refuge in his own destruction!”
8 But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly."
Psalm 52
At a first reading it might be thought that this Psalm does not readily yield much of a spiritual message, apart from the lovely words in 8, 9. The first four verses utter the burning plaint of the Psalmist, and this is followed by words which some take as hotly vindictive, and the fruit of bitterness and hatred in his soul. But this would be a superficial understanding of the Psalm and, far from doing justice to it, presents a caricature. One wise commentator says, 'It is easy for those who have never lived under grinding, godless tyranny to reprobate the exultation of the oppressed at the sweeping away of their oppressors; but if the critics had seen their brethren set up as torches to light Nero's gardens, perhaps they would have known some thrill of righteous joy when they heard that he was dead'. What we need to recognise here is that there is such a thing as righteous indignation against evil and wrong and oppression, and that it is possible to say such things as the Psalmist says in 5 without being consumed with bitterness and hatred, and indeed without sin. Furthermore, we should note that the Psalmist is not himself participating in the wicked's downfall: he leaves it to God. This is in line with Paul's teaching in Romans 12:19 (see RSV). This is a significant consideration in the Psalmist's attitude and alters the whole complexion of our thinking about the Psalm.