seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 14:1 The fool[a] says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on the Lord.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.
they never call on the Lord.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
When the Lord restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
a. Psalm 14:1 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.
Back to the easy English this morning. Once again... it's not so wordy and it's definitely not so preachy.
David met a man. His name was Nabal. Nabal was a bad man. Nabal would not give help to David. Soon, Nabal died. Nabal is the Hebrew word for 'fool'. There are 2 groups of fools. One does funny things and makes us laugh. The other does bad things, but he does not feel that he did wrong. We say that he feels no shame. This Psalm is about the second group of fools. The full story is in 1 Samuel 25.
Verse 1: David says that the world is full of Nabals. "Everyone is bad". We often feel like this. There are many bad people in the world. But there are some people that love God. The Bible calls them righteous. See below, after 'Something to do' for what "righteous" means.
Verses 2 – 4: The LORD is looking on the "sons of man". In Hebrew this means the leaders of the enemies of God. It does not include righteous people. "Eat my people as they eat bread" means that bad men kill righteous people. They do it as easily as they eat a meal. They feel no shame. Note that in Matthew 18: 11 Jesus called himself "the Son of man" but it does not mean the same thing!
Verses 5 – 6: But God is with his people. When this happens, bad men feel afraid. They feel that God is there. They cannot explain it. They feel as the Egyptians that drowned in the Red Sea. The story is in Exodus 14. The Jews thought that "there" in Psalm 14:5 meant the Red Sea. "Hid in the LORD" means that they believed God. They hoped that he would give them help.
Verse 7: David prays for somebody that will make Israel safe. "Safe" in Hebrew is the word that we get our word Jesus from. God answered David many times. At last God came to earth. He came as Jesus Christ. That is why Christians sing and dance! Believers are the true Israel of God, not the country of Israel.
The story of Nabal is memorable because of Nabal's wife. David and some men were on the run from Saul. They asked for food and Nabal told them to take off. David went to murder Nabal for not sharing but Nabal's wife heard what happened and by the time David arrived... she had enough ready to feed all of David's men. Then she apologized for her "foolish" husband. David put away his sword.... but Nabal had a stroke or went into a coma..... and died a few days later..... and Nabal's wife became David's wife.
Now... this commentary points out the Jesus called Himself "son of man" and it vehemently states that this time there is a different meaning. In context... Jesus was talking with Zacchaeus the Tax collector. Zacchaeus gave it all up to join Jesus. That's when Jesus calls Himself "Son of Man". IMHO... it's as if Jesus is saying to Zacchaeus "I know what you mean". See... I think Jesus knew what it's like to be tempted because His mother was human. Spock may not have understood human temptations but Jesus does.
