Eusebius of Caesarea

The dogs that surrounded him and the council of the wicked were the rulers of the Jews, the scribes and high priests and the Pharisees, who spurred on the whole multitude to demand his blood against themselves and against their own children. Isaiah clearly calls them dogs when he says, “You are all foolish dogs, unable to bark.” For when it was their duty, even if they could not acquire the character of shepherds, to protect like good sheepdogs their master’s spiritual flock and the sheep of the house of Israel, and to warn by barking, and to fawn on their master and recognize him, and to guard the flock entrusted to them with all vigilance and to bark if necessary at enemies outside the fold, they preferred like senseless dogs, yes, like mad dogs, to drive the sheep wild by barking, so that the words aptly describe them that say, “Many dogs have surrounded me; the council of the wicked has hemmed me in.” And all who even now conduct themselves like them in reviling and barking at the Christ of God in the same way may be reckoned their kin; yes, they who like those impious soldiers crucify the Son of God and put him to shame have a character very like theirs. Yes, all who today insult the body of Christ, that is, the church, and attempt to destroy the hands and feet and very bones are of their number.

The 33rd Psalm was spoken by David when he "changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he sent him away, and he left." The current Psalm would be the one following that Psalm in historical sequence. For the Scripture says in Kingdoms, "And one of the servants of Saul was there that day." And this indicates the time at which David came into the house of Abimelech and ate the "loaves of offering," receiving them from the high priest. For at the very same point in time, Doeg the Syrian, the tender of Saul's mules, came to Saul and said, "I have seen the son of Jesse having come to Nob, to Abimelech the son of Ahitub, the priest, and all the sons of his father; and he inquired on his behalf through God, and he gave him provisions. And the king sent someone to call Abimelech the priest, and all the sons of his father, the priests of the Lord in Nob, and they all came before the king," at which point, on Saul's order, this same Doeg put to death the priests of the Lord—" men who bore the ephod, and he smote the city of Nob with the edge of the sword, including men and women, infants and babies, and calves and donkeys and sheep."

So when David learned that this had been done in this way, he uttered the words before us, which contain neither an ode, nor a hymn, nor anything else of that sort. For how, in the face of the disaster that happened to so many priests, could he have sung odes of theirs and psalms? Hence, nothing of the kind is written as epigraph, but it was only said "to the end" and "of understanding": ["To the end,"] since the final elements of his words recount the good things, when he says, "But I am like a fruitful olive tree," etc.; and ["of understanding," since discerning] the meaning of the words put forth here requires the understanding that comes from God. Now then, when he was with Abimelech and tasted the priestly nourishment, he changed his "taste"—or his "ways," according to the interpretation of the others—and raised blessings and thanksgivings to God, saying: "I will bless the Lord at all times; the praise of him is always in my mouth," etc. But now, when he had learned of the actions of Doeg the slanderer—how he had destroyed so many priests, doing a diabolical deed—he marshalled the words of the present passage as though against him

The material we have before us was spoken much earlier in time than the history pertaining to the 50th Psalm. For [the history of Doeg] took place, and [the words] were spoken, while Saul was still alive, and before David's kingship. Many long years later, after the death of Saul, and at the end of his own kingship, David made the confession contained in the 50th Psalm, which he placed before [the 51st] because of its connection to the 49th Psalm, as I have already shown. Those Psalms, 20 in number, from 51 to 70, with epigraphs "of David," took their subject-matter from a different point of origin: indeed, they appear to have been spoken while Saul was still alive, before David reigned. For the one before us now was spoken while Saul was still alive, "when Doeg the Idumaean came and reported to Saul…'David came to the house of Abimelech.'" But the 53rd Psalm too was spoken "when the Ziphites came and told Saul, 'Look--is not David hidden with us?'" Also, the 55th Psalm has this epigraph: "When the Philistines seized him in Gath"—and this period too precedes David's kingship, while Saul still survived alive. And the 56th Psalm gives the epigraph: "Of David, when he was running away from Saul into the cave." In the same way also, the 58th Psalm says [in the epigraph], "When Saul sent, and guarded his house, in order to kill him." The 59th Psalm, however, even though it was spoken after the death of Saul, when David was now king, still preceded the actions relating to Uriah. This is indicated by the heading, which shows the time period involved by saying, "When he set on fire Mesopotamia of Syria, and Syria Soba, and Joab returned and smote the Ravine of Salt—twelve thousand." And this chronologically precedes the confession expressed in the 50th Psalm. Furthermore, the 62nd Psalm was spoken by David "when he was in the desert of Idumaea," while Saul was still living. Consider how more or less the majority of the second part of the book of the Psalms of David (apart from the 50th) include those which were spoken by him before the period of his actions pertaining to Uriah.

The first part of the same book, however, from the first Psalm to the 40th, [seemed to] contradict that order; for that part included those dating after the confession of the 50th Psalm. The third Psalm, then, was spoken by David "when he was running away from Absalom his son." And he was fleeing from his son after the events connected to Uriah. But also in the sixth Psalm, he was mourning for the same actions, saying, "I grew tired in my groaning; I shall wash my bed every night—with my tears I shall moisten my mattress." And the seventh Psalm, spoken "for the words of Cush the son of Iamin," would belong to the same time period. Moreover, also the 17th Psalm has been proved to have been spoken at the end of David's life. But also the 37th Psalm, with the epigraph "for remembrance," having the same train of thought as the sixth, begins with the same words, saying, "Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, and do not correct me in your wrath." And going forward, he makes the same confession as that in the 50th Psalm, besides other passages, also when he says, "For my transgressions have gone over my head…My wounds stank and decayed before my foolishness."

And if you bring together [these indications] for yourself, you will discover that the majority of the Psalms in the first part were spoken after the time period of the history relating to Uriah, whereas those following the 50th Psalm precede [David's] actions regarding Uriah chronologically. Why in the world, then, were the first ones in chronological sequence not put in first place—and instead, those which were spoken first, while Saul was still living, are in the second part of the Psalms—and those which are chronologically last are in the first part? I think they have this arrangement so that the discourse would not move from the better to the worse; for the phrase, "to the end, lest you be destroyed," appears to have been observed also in the case of the Psalms' arrangement. For this reason, the gloomier material was placed first, so that the nicer / more useful material would be kept for second, the worse things being hidden and made to disappear by the appearance of the better ones in second place. And it is likely that David wished to draw a veil over his fault afterwards by means of his prior good deeds. And someone might say that he arranged his confessions first in accordance with tremendous piety, because "the righteous one is his own accuser in the opening prosecution" But since so many things about the arrangement apparent [in the book of Psalms] have been laid bare for you, it is now time to pass on also to the words of Psalm 51 that are before us.

Well then, he writes the words in question after learning what Doeg the Syrian had brought about by means of his slanders against David. Therefore he speaks as though addressing him: "Why do you boast in wickedness, you powerful one?"—or as though addressing the devil, who was at work in him. For he was not unaware of the one who was opposing him at all times and always fighting against him, at one time through Saul, in the current instance through Doeg, and at other times in different ways through different people. So then, the one who is powerless and weak and slight in wickedness, when the better character prevails in him, since he is feebler in wickedness, will hide himself as he sins and is pricked by his conscience, and will repent, and devise for himself a remedy for his own wickedness using confession and true repentance. The one who is powerful in wickedness, however, goes crazy and boasts over it, as though he were making himself more majestic by a great good deed.

And the passage before us appears to me to be describing the character that is the opposite of the one that made the prior confession in the 50th Psalm. For in that Psalm, after slipping once into wickedness, he repented in the end and wore himself out with confession, and lamentation over his own evil deeds.