Psalm 51 — Why do you glory in malice?

^51:1^ Unto the end, understanding for David, ^51:2^ when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David went to the house of Abimelech.” ^51:3^ Why do you glory in malice, you who are mighty in iniquity? ^51:4^ All the day long your tongue has devised injustice: as a sharp razor, you have wrought deceit.

^51:5^ You have loved malice more than goodness, and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness. ^51:6^ You have loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.

^51:7^ Therefore will God destroy you forever: he will pluck you out, and remove you from your dwelling place, and your root out of the land of the living.

^51:8^ The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say: ^51:9^ “Behold the man who made not God his helper, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and prevailed in his vanity.”

^51:10^ But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God forever, yea, forever and ever. ^51:11^ I will praise you forever, because you have done it: and I will wait on your name, for it is good in the sight of your saints.

510. Here begins the second set of fifty psalms. And as was said in the beginning of the book, the first fifty pertain to penitents; this second fifty to the proficient.

About these, three things should be examined in order:

for the first stage of the proficient is justification;

the second, the doing of good works;

the third, the consideration of divine works.

And thus this group of fifty is divided into three parts:

the first touches on what pertains to justification;

the second is about what pertains to the doing of good works, at give to the king your judgment, O God (Ps 71:2);

the third is about what pertains to the consideration of divine works, at God stood (Ps 81:1).

In justification two things are necessary: namely, turning away from sin and conversion to God. And thus there are in sin conversely two things: turning away from God and conversion to sin.

Therefore, he puts first the psalms that pertain to the turning away from and abhorrence of sin;

second, the psalms that effect or contain subjection to God, at Psalm 61: shall not my soul be subject to God? (verse 2).

Regarding the first, he makes two points:

first, he shows the evil of sinners;

second, the evils that happen because of sinners.

Sin is worsened by two things,

namely, affection for sinning

and contempt of God.

First, therefore, he dramatizes the evil of sinners from the first;

second, from the second, at the fool said (Ps 52:1).

The title is unto the end, understanding for David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David went to the house of Abimelech.” This history is in 1 Samuel 21 and 22, when David, fleeing from Saul, came to Nob (where the priests were) and received Goliath’s sword and the bread of proposition, and Doeg was present, who was influential among the shepherds; and when Saul complained that no one was fighting on his behalf against David, this same Doeg detailed how Abimelech the priest received David and gave him Goliath’s sword and the bread of proposition; and, angered thereby, Saul ordered that all the priests be killed.

But there is a discrepancy in the title and in the history, because historically the high priest is called Ahimelech but in the title Abimelech.

And the gloss says that this happened either because of a scribal error or because of the underlying mystery that Christ is signified through David, both because he exercised the status of kingly dignity and because, in eating the bread of proposition, he exercised the priestly dignity. (Peter Lombard, Magna glossatura (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:495–96).)

Doeg means “moved,” Idumean “earthly,” Saul “petition,” and Abimelech “the kingdom of my father.” It was through Doeg, then, who was moved by earthly things, when David (that is, Christ) came to Abimelech, that is, to the Jews who are “the kingdom of my father,” he told Saul, that is, death, because those impious of hand and word accused him and killed him.

Or Doeg is the antichrist who will cause the upheaval of earthly things at the end of the world. When Christ came to his Church, he spoke to the devil, because he was persecuting the Church. And this psalm refers principally to the evil people who persecute Christ, either in himself or in his members.

The psalm itself is divided into two parts.

In the first part, it deals with the evil of the sinner, who is drawn to iniquity.

In the second, it deals with the righteousness of the holy ones, at but I, as a fruitful olive tree.

Regarding the first, it makes two points.

First, it deals with the wrongdoing of the evil ones;

second, with their punishment, at therefore will God destroy you forever.

But it should be known that in the man who is drawn to sin, three things follow in order.

First is the delight in sin;

second is the thought of sin, because we think about those things that delight us;

third is glorying in the perpetration of sin.

Everyone naturally rejoices when he does what he loves. Thus, therefore, he starts with the last:

first, the glory of evil people in the act of sinning;

second, their thinking about sin, at all the day;

third, the love of sin, at you have loved.

Regarding the first, he makes two points.

First, he sets out the power of some to do evil.

Second, he shows how some glory in evil deeds.

For some are ready and strong for evil things and weak for good. Therefore, he says, you, sinner, who are mighty in iniquity. You have done evil things, and have been able (Jer. 3:5). Woe to you who are mighty to drink wine (Isa 5:22).

You, then, who are mighty in this way, why, that is, for what reason, do you glory in malice? You ought to be ashamed and confounded and saddened by malice. They are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things (Prov 2:14).

With all the day long, he shows the second thing that he anticipated earlier, namely, that they not only glory in evil things but think about how they may do evil.

And first, with all the day long, your tongue has devised injustice, he lays out the constancy of thought without intermission.

It is incorrect to say that the tongue devises, because devising belongs to the heart, and thus your tongue can also be understood to mean “your heart,” which is manifested in the tongue: the heart of fools is in their mouth (Sir 21:29), because it is one with their tongue—that is, it has the heart ready for speech.

Or, all the day long, your tongue has devised injustice means that it is has spoken all day long what has been devised. And this is especially so because one teaches someone to sin using one’s tongue.

Second, it effectively executes what it devises: as a sharp razor, you have wrought deceit.

And here there is a threefold comparison.

First, a sharp razor cuts effectively and quickly; no hair withstands it. Similarly, Doeg, without reverence for the priests or fear of David, or anything else, killed all the priests. In the morning light they execute it, that is, immediately (Mic 2:1).

Or, as a sharp razor, because as a razor shaves hair, so evil men sharpen suffering against just ones, that is, they send in persecutors. But they do so like razors, shaving only extra hair, because sinners can take only superfluous, that is, temporal, things from the holy ones; they cannot take spiritual things.

But as a sharp razor, because the third comparison is that a razor is supposed only to shave, but just as inept barbers cut into the flesh, so the wicked are intent on cutting into the flesh of the just, that is, into their reputation, with an evil tongue: they speak peace with their neighbor, but evils are in their heart (Ps 27:3).

Jerome has, why do you glory in malice? The mercy of God is mighty all the day long. And he means that it is as if to say, “You who are mighty in evil, why do you glory in malice? There is mercy to which you can be converted.”

511. You have loved malice. Here he treats of the desire of the evil one or of the sinner to harm his neighbor.

And this desire consists in two things, namely, exterior and interior things.

First, therefore, regarding exterior things, he illustrates the loss of righteousness. Thus he says, you have loved malice more than goodness. Goodness is “good fieriness”: it liquefies the human soul to communicate goodness; malice, on the other hand, moves man’s interior impulse toward harm. And these evil men and sinners loved malice more than goodness, because they are more eager for evil than for good, inasmuch as they are cold and sluggish. For when evil is sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue (Job 20:12).

Regarding the loss of righteousness, he says, you loved to speak iniquity rather than to speak righteousness. He who loves iniquity hates his own soul (Ps 10:6).

Regarding interior things, he says, you have loved all the words of ruin, by drawing others toward death, like Doeg, and also toward the evil of wrongdoing: evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Cor 15:33).

Or, by rushing headlong yourself, and this is why he says, O deceitful tongue. And you who are talkative and deceitful, or who do this by means of a deceitful tongue: their tongue is a piercing arrow; it has spoken deceit (Jer 9:8).

512. Therefore will God destroy you forever. Above, the psalmist treated of the malice of sinners, but here he treats of their punishment.

Concerning this he makes two points.

First, he lays out the punishment of the evils themselves.

Second, he demonstrates the usefulness of punishment, at they shall see.

Regarding the first, he makes two points.

First, he sets out the punishment of the evil.

Second, he sets out the way of arriving at it, at he will pluck you out.

Therefore, namely, because you have loved malice, and you have loved words of bringing others down, God will destroy you forever, that is, in perpetuity: you shall destroy them, and shall not build them up (Ps 27:5). And Psalm 54:10 justly says, cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues.

Then is the way of arriving at punishment: he will pluck you out.

It should be noted that, first, this destruction is laid out in relation to its manner;

second, in relation to the loss of future things.

Regarding the first, two things should be considered.

For sometimes it happens that men have some fundamental things in which they prosper, like friends, riches, and things of this kind, and these things are compared to roots, because such people are rooted in them. And this is why he says, he will pluck you out, from all these things in which and through which you were rooted in your prosperity. He has taken away my hope, as from a tree that is plucked up (Job 19:10). To root up and pull down (Jer 1:10).

Second, he removes with the first loss, that is, it is completely transplanted: he will remove you, that is, he will make you go out, from your dwelling, that is, from your home and status and dignity. And I will drive you out from your station (Isa 22:19). The eyes that had seen him shall see him no more (Job 20:9).

Another reading has, from his dwelling, that is, from the Church: behold, the tabernacle of God with men (Rev 21:3). Now the good are mixed in with the evil, but, at the end of the world, the evil will be excluded from the Church, where now they are numerous but should not be.

As for the loss of future things, he says, and your root out of the land of the living—he will remove it. Root here means charity, which is the root of all good: rooted and founded in charity (Eph 3:17). God takes this root out from the land of the living, because he takes out from you the gift of charity which he gave.

Or, avarice, which can be signified by “root,” is taken from the good: the desire of money is the root of all evils (1 Tim 6:10). God takes this away from spiritual men, because those who are intent on arriving at temporal things cannot arrive at the land of the living, because those who become rich fall into temptation (1 Tim 6:9). Those who are evil, namely, the antichrist and the devil, are rooted in such avarice: I have seen a fool, that is, a sinner, with a strong root, and I cursed his beauty immediately (Job 5:3).

513. The just shall see. Here is laid out the fruit of punishment, for God punishes this man and he foretells the punishments for the benefit of the righteous.

First, because of fear of punishment, the just shall see and fear. And this can be applied to the state of the present life, in which the just fear, because they have reverence for God, and drop away from the status in which they are: be not high minded, but fear (Rom 11:20).

But those who are in the fatherland do not fear to fall from any status, because they are confirmed in the perfection of grace, because they will not be separated from God, but they rather fear out of filial reverence: the fear of the Lord is holy (Ps 18:10). (Cf. ST II-II, q. 19, a. 11.) And they reverence God’s justice. But fear belongs most properly to this present life.

Second, he foretells the punishments so that people will despise sin and present prosperity.

And first, he lays out the scorn itself;

second, the cause for the scorn, at behold.

Regarding the first, they will laugh—that is, they will condemn his self-confidence and prosperity—at him, that is, against him, the sinner. And this will happen most properly in the future: the just one shall rejoice when he sees the revenge (Ps 57:11). The just shall see, and shall rejoice (Job 22:19).

And they will scorn, first of all, the pride of sinners;

second, their empty self-confidence and fragile glory.

Their pride, because they did not hope in God but trusted in themselves; and they, the just, will say, “Behold the man who made not God his helper”—that is, did not entrust what he needed to the help of God. Our lips are our own (Ps 11:5). He forsook God who made him (Deut 32:15).

They will scorn sinners’ self-confidence: but trusted in the abundance of his riches. He who trusts in his riches shall fall (Prov 11:28). Charge the rich of this world not to be haughty-minded, nor to trust in the uncertainty of riches (1 Tim 6:17).

Doing evil things from vainglory has even prevailed, God permitting; so he says, he prevailed in his vanity. And regarding this, they are scorned: the Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain (Ps 93:11).

Or, prevailed refers to the covetous man, who prevails over all other sinners in something, namely: nothing is more wicked than the covetous man (Sir 10:9). And from whatever sin he was led into this one, he falls easily into other sins.

Or this could be applied to the Antichrist, because he prevails over all others.

514. But I, as a fruitful olive tree. Here he treats of the holiness of good people.

And first, he lays out what they do in the present;

second, what they promise, at I will praise you.

The holy ones do a double good in the present Church.

First is that they have benevolence for their neighbor, becoming fruitful in their regard; therefore, the just man is compared to an olive tree, as if to say, “The sinner is uprooted without fruit, but I am like a fruitful olive in the house of God.”

And he is compared to an olive because of its richness, for an olive always has rich produce. I cannot leave my richness (Judg 9:9). The Lord called your name, a plentiful olive tree, fair, fruitful, and beautiful (Jer 11:16).

In this case, however, he is compared to the olive especially because of its produce, because from olives is made oil, which is used to signify mercy, with which the just care for others and bear fruit in the Church: I have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit (John 15:16).

And I bore this fruit in the house of God, not in the world: I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners (Ps 83:11).

But even in this world the just do some good in relation to God by hoping in him; hence he says, I have hoped in the mercy of God—not in my merits but in his mercy. Not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us (Tit 3:5).

And this mercy is forever. And this can be explained in two ways.

In the first way, as designating eternity, and thus eternity can be referred back to the essence of the divine mercy, which is eternal: I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you, taking pity on you (Jer 31:3).

In the second way, it can be referred to the effect of mercy. Sometimes from God’s mercy eternal goods are bestowed, and this is what is meant by yea, forever and ever, that is, through all ages.

I will praise you. Here he promises what is to come, and he promises two things.

The first refers to what has gone before; it is an act of thanksgiving for blessings received. This is why he says, I will praise you forever, that is, I will return you praise.

And this because you have done it, that is, because you have made me a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord, and have made me hope in the mercy of God.

The second thing he promises refers to what is to come: I will wait on your name, for it is good. He waits on Jesus’s name being his salvation.

And this properly applies to those who are in heaven; hence he says, for it is good in the sight of your saints, who see the essence itself of goodness, which is why they cannot but love God.