The Hope Of Eventual Vindication

5   God shall likewise destroy you forever;
He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
And uproot you from the land of the living.
Selah

6   The righteous also shall see and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
7   “Here is the man who did not make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

(Verse 5) - God shall likewise destroy thee for ever - The persecutor destroy the believer, and therefore God shall destroy him, pull down his house, pluck up his roots, and make an end of him.  This is literally, “beat thee down.” The Hebrew word means to “tear, to break down, to destroy:” (Lev. 14:45; Judg. 6:30). The reference here is not to the “tongue” alluded to in the previous verses, but to Doeg himself, and by implication, to all evil men who would attack God’s people without cause. The language in the verse is intensive and emphatic. The main idea is presented in a variety of forms, all designed to denote utter and absolute destruction - a complete and entire sweeping away, so that nothing should be left. The word “here” used would suggest the idea of “pulling down” - as a house, a fence, a wall; that is, the idea of completely “demolishing” it; and the meaning is, that destruction would come upon the informer and slanderer “like” the destruction which comes upon a house, or wall, or fence, when it is entirely pulled down.

He shall take thee away - This is an expression indicating in another form that he would be certainly destroyed. The verb used here is elsewhere used only in the sense of taking up and carrying fire or coals: (Isa. 30:14; Prov. 6:27; 25:22). The idea here “may” be that he would be seized and carried away with haste, as when one takes up fire or coals, he does it as rapidly as possible, lest he should be burned. God shall extinguish his life’s coal and sweep him away like the ashes of the hearth; he would have quenched the truth, and God shall quench him.

And shall pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place - literally, “out of the tent.” The reference is to his abode. The allusion here in the verb that is used is to the act of pulling up plants; and the idea is, that he would be plucked up as a plant is torn from its roots, like a plant torn from the place where it grew, or a captive dragged from his home. Ahimelech and his brother priests were cut off from their abode, and so should those be who compassed and contrived their murder.

And root thee out of the land of the living - As a tree is torn up from the roots and thus destroyed. He would be no more among the living. (Compare Ps. 27:13). All these phrases are intended to denote that such a man would be utterly destroyed. The persecutor shall be eradicated, stubbed up by the root, cut up root and branch. He sought the death of others and death shall fall upon him. He troubled the land of the living, and he shall be banished to that land where the wicked cease from troubling. Those who will not “let live” have no right to “live.” God will turn the tables on malicious men, and mete to them a portion with their own measure. We ought to note that the exercise of this truth is God’s province alone, no man the right to enforce this lack of a right to live on any other man – only God may so do.

“SELAH.” Pause again, and behold the divine justice proving itself more than a match for human sin.

(Verse 6) - The righteous also shaIl see – (See Ps. 37:34). “The righteous” – namely the object of the tyrant’s hatred - shall outlive his enmity, and “also shall see,” before his own face, the end of the ungodly oppressor. Thus, for instance, God permits Mordecai to see Haman hanging on the gallows. Also, David had brought to him the tokens of Saul’s death on Gilboa.  Whereas death comes unawares to the wicked, and they never see it or expect it; the righteous will see their vindication and will see god undertake for them!

And fear - The effect of such a judgment will be to produce reverence in the minds of good people - a solemn sense of the justice of God; to make them tremble at such fearful judgments; and to fear lest they should violate the law, and bring judgment on themselves. Holy awe shall sober the mind of the good man; he shall reverently adore the God of providence.

And shall laugh at him – (Compare Ps. 2:4. See also Ps. 58:10; 64:9-10; Prov. 1:26). The idea here is not exultation in the “sufferings” of others, or joy that “calamity” has come upon them, or the gratification of selfish and revengeful feeling that an enemy is deservedly punished; it is that of release and fulfillment that punishment has come upon those who deserve it, and joy that wickedness is not allowed to triumph. It is not wrong for us to feel a sense of happiness, release and joy that the laws are maintained, and that justice is done, even though this does involve suffering, for we know that the guilty deserve it, and it is better that they should suffer than that the righteous should suffer through them. All this may be entirely free from any malignant, or any revengeful feeling. It may even be connected with the deepest pity, and with the purest benevolence toward the sufferers themselves.

If not with righteous joy, yet with solemn contempt. Schemes so far–reaching all baffled, plans so deep, so politic, all thwarted. Mephistopheles outwitted, the old serpent taken in his own subtlety. This is a goodly theme for that deep–seated laughter which is more akin to solemnity than merriment.  It is a gladness that God has been vindicated and proven right, and the devices of the wicked shown to be what they truly are.

(Verse 7) - Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength - That is, the righteous (Ps. 52:6) would say this. “Lo.” Look here, and read the epitaph of a mighty man, who lorded it proudly during his little hour, and set his heel upon the necks of the Lord’s chosen.  “This is the man that made not God his strength.” Behold the man! The great vainglorious man. He found a fortress, but not in God; he gloried in his might, but not in the Almighty. Where is he now? How has it fared with him in the hour of his need? Behold his ruin, and be instructed.  They would designate him as a man who had not made God his refuge, but who had trusted in his own resources. The result would be that he would he abandoned by God, and that those things on which he had relied would fail him in the day of calamity. He would be pointed out as an instance of what must occur when a man does not act with a wise reference to the will of God, but, confiding in his own strength and resources, pursues his own plans of iniquity.

But trusted in the abundance of his riches – (See Ps. 49:6). The substance he had gathered, and the mischief he had wrought, were his boast and glory. Wealth and wickedness are dreadful companions; when combined they make a monster. When the devil is master of money bags, he is a devil indeed. Beelzebub and Mammon together heat the furnace seven times hotter got the child of God, but in the end they shall work out their own destruction. Wherever we see today a man great in sin and substance, we shall do well to anticipate his end and view this verse as the divine in memoriam.

From this it would seem that Doeg was a rich man, and that, as a general thing, in his life, and in his plans of evil, he felt confident in his wealth. He had that spirit of arrogance and self-confidence which springs from the conscious possession of property where there is no fear of God; and into all that he did he carried the sense of his own importance as derived from his riches. In the particular matter referred to in the psalm the meaning is, that he would perform the iniquitous work of giving “information” with the proud and haughty feeling springing from wealth and from self-importance - the feeling that he was a man of consequence, and that whatever such a man might do would be entitled to special attention.

And strengthened himself in his wickedness – Or his “substance.” This is the same word which in Ps. 52:1 is rendered “mischief.” The idea is, that he had a malicious pleasure in doing wrong, or in injuring others, and that by every art, and against all the convictions and remonstrance of his own conscience, he endeavored to confirm himself “in” this unholy purpose and employment.

The wicked enjoy their sin, and may seem to prosper, though only for a season.  The believer must keep in mind that God has a plan, and that He is working to vindicate that plan, and establish His people in righteous prosperity.  Our hope that God will undertake for us is not hope, as the world views hope, an uncertain and precarious thing that may or may not come to pass.  It is sure thing that certainly will come to pass and will assuredly be seen and will bring us joy and satisfaction as we see it come into being.

I need to fasten my eyes on that hope and grasp it, using it to color and interpret the world and the events that go on around me.  It is only then that I can truly say that I understand them.