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Commentary on Psalms 5 verses 7–12
In these verses David gives three characters - of himself, of his enemies, and of all the people of God, and subjoins a prayer to each of them.
I. He gives an account of himself and prays for himself, Psa 5:7, Psa 5:8.
1.He is stedfastly resolved to keep closely to God and to his worship. Sinners go away from God, and so make themselves odious to his holiness and obnoxious to his justice: "But, as for me, that shall not keep me from thee." God's holiness and justice are so far from being a terror to the upright in heart, to drive them from God, that they are rather by them invited to cleave to him. David resolves, (1.) To worship God, to pay his homage to him, and give unto God the glory due unto his name. (2.) To worship him publicly: "I will come into thy house, the courts of thy house, to worship there with other faithful worshippers." David was much in secret worship, prayed often alone (Psa 5:2, Psa 5:3), and yet was very constant and devout in his attendance on the sanctuary. The duties of the closet are designed to prepare us for, not to excuse us from, public ordinances. (3.) To worship him reverently and with a due sense of the infinite distance there is between God and man: "In thy fear will I worship, with a holy awe of God upon my spirit," Heb 12:28. God is greatly to be feared by all his worshippers. (4.) To take his encouragement, in worship, from God himself only. [1.] From his infinite mercy. It is in the multitude of God's mercy (the inexhaustible treasures of mercy that are in God and the innumerable proofs and instances of it which we receive from him) that David confides, and not in any merit or righteousness of his own, in his approaches to God. The mercy of God should ever be both the foundation of our hopes and the fountain of our joy in every thing wherein we have to do with him. [2.] From the instituted medium of worship, which was then the temple, here called the temple of his holiness, as a type of Christ, the great and only Mediator, who sanctifies the service as the temple sanctified the gold, and to whom we must have an eye in all our devotions as the worshippers then had to the temple.
2.He earnestly prays that God, by his grace, would guide and preserve him always in the way of his duty (Psa 5:8): Lead me in thy righteousness, because of my enemies - Heb. "Because of those who observe me, who watch for my halting and seek occasion against me." See here, (1.) The good use which David made of the malice of his enemies against him. The more curious they were in spying faults in him, that they might have whereof to accuse him, the more cautious he was to avoid sin and all appearances of it, and the more solicitous to be always found in the good way of God and duty. Thus, by wisdom and grace, good may come out of evil. (2.) The right course which David took for the baffling of those who sought occasion against him. He committed himself to a divine guidance, begged of God both by his providence and by his grace to direct him in the right way, and keep him from turning aside out of it, at any time, in any instance whatsoever, that the most critical and captious of his enemies, like Daniel's, might find no occasion against him. The way of our duty is here called God's way, and his righteousness, because he prescribes to us by his just and holy laws, which if we sincerely set before us as our rule, we may in faith beg of God to direct us in all particular cases. How this prayer of David's was answered to him see Sa1 18:14, Sa1 18:15.
II. He gives an account of his enemies, and prays against them, Psa 5:9, Psa 5:10. 1. If his account of them is true, as no doubt it is, they have a very bad character; and, if they had not been bad men indeed, they could not have been enemies to a man after God's own heart. He had spoken (Psa 5:6) of God's hating the bloody and deceitful man. "Now, Lord," says he, "that is the character of my enemies: they are deceitful; there is no trusting them, for there is no faithfulness in their mouth." They thought it was no sin to tell a deliberate lie if it might but blemish David, and render him odious. "Lord, lead me," says he (Psa 5:8), "for such as these are the men I have to do with, against whose slanders innocency itself is no security. Do they speak fair? Do they talk of peace and friendship? They flatter with their tongues; it is designed to cover their malice, and to gain their point the more securely. Whatever they pretend of religion or friendship, two sacred things, they are true to neither: Their inward part is wickedness itself; it is very wickedness. They are likewise bloody; for their throat is an open sepulchre, cruel as the grave, gaping to devour and to swallow up, insatiable as the grave, which never says, It is enough," Pro 30:15, Pro 30:16. This is quoted (Rom 3:13) to show the general corruption of mankind; for they are all naturally prone to malice, Tit 3:3. The grave is opened for them all, and yet they are as open graves to one another. 2. If his prayer against them is heard, as no doubt it is, they are in a bad condition. As men are, and do, so they must expect to fare. He prays to God to destroy them (according to what he had said Psa 5:6, "Thou shalt destroy men of this character," so let them fall; and sinners would soon throw themselves into ruin if they were let alone), to cast them out of his protection and favour, out of the heritage of the Lord, out of the land of the living; and woe to those whom God casts out. "They have by their sins deserved destruction; there is enough to justify God in their utter rejection: Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, by which they have filled up the measure of their iniquity and have become ripe for ruin." Persecuting God's servants fills the measure as soon as any thing, Th1 2:15, Th1 2:16. Nay, they may be easily made to fall by their own counsels; that which they do to secure themselves, and do mischief to others, by the over-ruling providence of God may be made a means of their destruction, Psa 7:15; Psa 9:15. He pleads, "They have rebelled against thee. Had they been only my enemies, I could safely have forgiven them; but they are rebels against God, his crown and dignity; they oppose his government, and will not repent, to give him glory, and therefore I plainly foresee their ruin." His prayer for their destruction comes not from a spirit of revenge, but from a spirit of prophecy, by which he foretold that all who rebel against God will certainly be destroyed by their own counsels. If it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to those that trouble his people, as we are told it is (Th2 1:6), we pray that it may be done whenever we pray, Father, thy will be done.
III. He gives an account of the people of God, and prays for them, concluding with an assurance of their bliss, which he doubted not of his own interest in. Observe, 1. The description he gives of God's people. They are the righteous (Psa 5:12); for they put their trust in God, are well assured of his power and all-sufficiency, venture their all upon his promise, and are confident of his protection in the way of their duty; and they love his name, are well pleased with all that by which God has made himself known, and take delight in their acquaintance with him. This is true and pure religion, to live a life of complacency in God and dependence on him. 2. His prayer for them: "Let them rejoice; let them have cause to rejoice and hearts to rejoice; fill them with joy, with great joy and unspeakable; let them shout for joy, with constant joy and perpetual; let them ever shout for joy, with holy joy, and that which terminates in God; let them be joyful in thee, in thy favour, in thy salvation, not in any creature. Let them rejoice because thou defendest them, coverest them, or overshadowest them, dwellest among them." Perhaps here is an allusion to the pillar of cloud and fire, which was to Israel a visible token of God's special presence with them and the special protection they were under. Let us learn of David to pray, not for ourselves only, but for others, for all good people, for all that trust in God and love his name, though not in every thing of our mind nor in our interest. Let all that are entitled to God's promises have a share in our prayers; grace be with all that love Christ in sincerity. This is to concur with God. 3. His comfort concerning them, Psa 5:12. He takes them into his prayers because they are God's peculiar people; therefore he doubts not but his prayers shall be heard, and they shall always rejoice; for, (1.) They are happy in the assurance of God's blessing: "Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous, wilt command a blessing upon them. Thou hast in thy word pronounced them blessed, and therefore wilt make them truly so. Those whom thou blessest are blessed indeed." (2.) "They are safe under the protection of thy favour; with that thou wilt crown him" (so some read it); "it is his honour, will be to him a diadem of beauty, and make him truly great: with that thou wilt compass him, wilt surround him, on every side, as with a shield." A shield, in war, guards only one side, but the favour of God is to the saints a defence on every side; like the hedge about Job, round about, so that, while they keep themselves under the divine protection, they are entirely safe and ought to be entirely satisfied.
In singing these verses, and praying them over, we must by faith put ourselves under God's guidance and care, and then please ourselves with his mercy and grace and with the prospect of God's triumphs at last over all his enemies and his people's triumphs in him and in his salvation.
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. [Psalms 5:9] Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Vain is the heart of the philosophers of alien ideas, about whom it is said, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain”; from their throats they spew out death-bearing dogmas as they teach the Word of God is not alive, and they bring forth lies and words of death.
Because of grace this hymn is sung, in behalf of the individual spirit or for the church called out for the divine inheritance, not a natural one but a spiritual one.
Make sure your mouth is not a grave but a treasury. Treasuries, you know, differ markedly from graves: the latter corrupt what they receive; the former preserve it. Accordingly, keep for yourself the wealth that lasts forever, the search for wisdom, nothing fetid or rotting.
Heretics do not have Christ, the Truth, on their lips because they do not have him in their heart.… Heretics are unhappy people; they are whited sepulchers, full of dead people’s bones.… Arius, Eunomius and other heretics have tongues like arrows, jaws like empty tombs.… “Open” is well said, for whenever anyone has been deceived enough to enter that tomb, the heretic is ready and draws him right in. The mouths of heretics are forever gaping.… They mean one thing in their heart; they promise another with their lips. They speak with piety and conceal impiety. They speak Christ and hide the Antichrist, for they know that they will never succeed with their seduction if they disclose the Antichrist. They present light only to conceal darkness; through light they lead to darkness.
Who is she who is to obtain the inheritance? I believe it is the church, for it is the church who receives the inheritance.… David sings at the beginning that the church wins the inheritance at the end.… There are, however, several other interpretations. Many say that the psalm accords with the history of the people of Israel who long to return to Judea from Babylon, but they have failed to interpret “unto the end” and “for her that obtains the inheritance.” We, then, by “combining spiritual with spiritual” shall endeavor with the help of your prayers to consider this psalm as applying to the church.
There are many who insist that the titles do not belong to the psalms but who really do not know why they hold such a view. If the titles were not found in all the manuscripts—Hebrew, Greek and Latin—their position would be tenable. Since, however, there are titles in the Hebrew books, and this one in particular marks the fifth psalm, I am amazed at the implication that there can be anything in Scripture without reason. If it be true that “not one jot or one title shall be lost from the Law,” how much more shall not a word or a syllable be lost?
"For truth is not in their mouth" [Psalm 5:9]. To whose judgment of course then there is no trusting, and therefore must we fly within to conscience, and the sight of God. "Their heart is vain." How then can truth be in their mouth, whose heart is deceived by sin, and the punishment of sin? Whence men are called back by that voice, "Wherefore do ye love vanity, and seek a lie?"
When graves are filled in they keep the stench within, but when opened they release the awful smell. These people are like that, … spewing out words redolent of utter impiety and evil smells. Now, … these words … suggest blasphemy against God and lewd and licentious speech.
Truly, those jaws are like those of a dead person, for they never or only with difficulty deign to speak God’s praises.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 5:9, a profound declaration from King David, vividly exposes the pervasive moral depravity and destructive communication of his adversaries. It meticulously details their inherent deceit, internal corruption, and the lethal nature of their speech, serving as a foundational justification for the psalmist's earnest plea for divine intervention and righteous judgment against those who oppose God and His people.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Psalm 5 functions as a morning prayer (as indicated in Psalm 5:3), a heartfelt lament in which David cries out to God for deliverance from his relentless enemies. The psalm is meticulously structured around a stark and illuminating contrast between God's perfect righteousness and the pervasive wickedness of the ungodly. Verses 1-7 articulate David's earnest petition and express his unwavering trust in God's holy character and His profound abhorrence of evil. Psalms 5:9, strategically positioned within verses 8-10, marks a pivotal shift from David's personal supplication to a detailed and damning description of his adversaries' character. This vivid portrayal of their deceitful words and corrupt hearts serves a crucial theological and narrative function: it provides the moral basis and irrefutable justification for David's subsequent plea for divine judgment, underscoring the absolute necessity of God's intervention against such pervasive evil. The verse thus acts as a critical bridge, linking the enemies' inherent depravity to God's just and inevitable response.
Historical & Cultural Context: King David's reign and personal life were frequently marked by intense opposition, whether from the jealous King Saul, his rebellious son Absalom, or various foreign adversaries. This psalm likely reflects a period of significant personal or national distress where David faced cunning, malicious, and politically motivated foes. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, the spoken word was imbued with immense power and profound significance; it was often perceived as a direct extension of one's character and could carry profound consequences, including blessings or curses. Therefore, a "mouth without faithfulness" or a "flattering tongue" was not merely a social failing but a deep moral and spiritual corruption that fundamentally undermined trust, social order, and covenant relationships. The imagery of an "open sepulchre" would have evoked not only death and decay but also ritual impurity and defilement, powerfully conveying the abhorrent, contaminating, and spiritually lethal nature of their words.
Key Themes: Psalms 5:9 contributes significantly to several major theological and narrative themes within the Psalter and broader Scripture. Firstly, it powerfully illustrates the theme of Inward Corruption, asserting that the problem of wickedness is not superficial but originates from the very core of one's being ("their inward part is very wickedness"). This resonates deeply with other biblical passages that speak to the deceitfulness of the human heart and its inherent fallenness. Secondly, the verse highlights Deceitful Speech, emphasizing that the words of the wicked are utterly unreliable and designed to manipulate ("no faithfulness in their mouth" and "they flatter with their tongue"). This stands in sharp contrast to the integrity and truthfulness expected of God's people, as seen in passages like Proverbs 12:22. Finally, the potent metaphor of "their throat is an open sepulchre" underscores the theme of Destructive Communication, revealing that their speech is not merely empty or false but actively lethal, spreading spiritual death, moral decay, and ruin. This chilling imagery is notably echoed by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:13 to depict the universal sinfulness of humanity, highlighting the pervasive and destructive nature of corrupt speech.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 5:9 is rich in literary devices that amplify its powerful message and underscore the profound depravity of the psalmist's enemies. The most prominent is the vivid Metaphor found in "their throat [is] an open sepulchre." This striking image directly compares the source of their speech to a decaying tomb, powerfully conveying the defiling, destructive, and death-dealing nature of their words. Their utterances are not merely empty but actively spread spiritual decay and moral corruption. The verse also employs Hyperbole with phrases like "no faithfulness" and "very wickedness," emphasizing the absolute and pervasive nature of their corruption rather than suggesting a mere absence or slight degree of evil. This exaggeration underscores the severity of their moral state. Furthermore, the verse exhibits a form of Climactic Parallelism, where each clause builds upon and intensifies the description of the enemies' depravity. The progression from the untrustworthiness of their "mouth" to the deep-seated "inward part" of "very wickedness," then to the death-dealing "throat" as an "open sepulchre," and finally to the insidious "flatter[y] with their tongue" demonstrates a comprehensive and escalating corruption, moving from external speech to internal character and then to the specific, insidious nature of their communication, creating a powerful cumulative effect.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 5:9 offers profound theological insights into the nature of sin, the power of words, and God's righteous character. It underscores the biblical truth that human depravity is not merely an outward manifestation but originates from a deeply corrupted heart, from which destructive words flow. This verse serves as a stark reminder that speech is not neutral; it can either build up or tear down, convey truth or spread deceit, reflect God's character or manifest human wickedness. David's lament and description of his enemies' deceitful words and wicked hearts ultimately appeal to God's justice, affirming that the Lord, who is perfectly righteous, sees and judges such pervasive evil. It highlights the divine standard of truth and integrity against which all human communication is measured, emphasizing that God's holiness demands a response to such profound moral and verbal corruption.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 5:9 serves as a timeless warning and a crucial call to spiritual discernment in a world often saturated with deceptive narratives and manipulative rhetoric. It challenges believers to cultivate a keen awareness of the words they hear and to critically evaluate the motives behind them, recognizing that outward charm or smooth speech can often mask profound inward corruption. This verse compels us to examine our own hearts and tongues, prompting introspection: Are our words faithful, true, and edifying, or do they harbor hidden agendas, deceit, or destructive intent? It reminds us of the profound biblical connection between the heart and the words that proceed from it, urging us to guard our hearts diligently, for from it flow the springs of life. Ultimately, despite the prevalence of wickedness and deceit in the world, this psalm encourages us to place our trust firmly in God's perfect justice. He sees and knows the true nature of every heart and will ultimately bring all hidden things to light, providing comfort and assurance that righteousness will prevail and that His ultimate judgment will rectify all wrongs.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why does David describe his enemies in such harsh terms?
Answer: David's description of his enemies in Psalms 5:9 is not merely an expression of personal animosity but a profound theological indictment. As God's anointed king, David viewed opposition to himself and his righteous rule as direct opposition to God's established order and holy character. By exposing their utter depravity—from their deceitful words ("no faithfulness in their mouth") to their wicked hearts ("their inward part is very wickedness") and destructive speech ("their throat is an open sepulchre")—he justifies his earnest plea for divine judgment. This stark portrayal highlights the absolute contrast between the wicked and God's perfect justice and holiness, affirming that God is righteous in dealing with such pervasive evil. It sets the stage for God's necessary and righteous intervention against those who actively work against His purposes and people, demonstrating that the Lord is a God who hates wickedness, as articulated in Psalm 5:5.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 5:9, with its stark depiction of human depravity and the destructive power of deceitful speech, finds its ultimate fulfillment and resolution in Jesus Christ. The "no faithfulness in their mouth" and "very wickedness" of the inward part described here perfectly encapsulate the universal human condition of sin, a truth profoundly echoed by Paul in Romans 3:13 when he quotes this very verse to demonstrate humanity's fallen state. In stark contrast to this pervasive corruption, Jesus is the Word made flesh, the embodiment of perfect truth and faithfulness, whose mouth spoke only words of life, grace, and eternal truth. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, directly addressing the "very wickedness" of the inward part that no human effort or self-improvement can rectify. His sacrifice on the cross cleanses the defilement of sin, which is vividly represented by the "open sepulchre" of corrupt speech, transforming hearts and enabling believers to speak words that are pure and edifying. While the wicked flatter to destroy, Jesus spoke words of grace and truth, ultimately offering genuine life and salvation. Through His triumph over sin and death, those who trust in Him are no longer defined by their inherent wickedness but are made new creations, empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak words of life and edification rather than decay, reflecting His character and truth, and becoming instruments of God's redemptive purposes in the world.