Psalm 52 - Overcomer - When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David came to the house of Ahimelech.
The black background of Doeg the Edomite shows God's mercy to make a sinner to be like a green olive tree in the body of Christ.
heading - See Psalm 32 regarding Maschil Psalms.This psalm gives us to understand God's mercy (vv1,8).
Doeg - ref 1Sam 21:1-10; 22:7-23
v1 - There are many acts of God's mercy to us each day, including to evil people to turn them to Him. We should recognize God's mercy and that should cause us to show mercy to others. Rom 2:4; etc
I used v1b as the refrain, to which I added "is outstretched" from Isaiah 9:12,17,21; 10:4.
Doeg had small matter for boasting in having procured the slaughter of a band of defenseless priests. A mighty man indeed to kill men who never touched a sword! He ought to have been ashamed of his cowardice. He had no room for exultation! Honorable titles are but irony where the wearer is mean and cruel. If David alluded to Saul, he meant by these words pityingly to say, "How can one by nature fitted for nobler deeds, descend to so low a level as to find a theme for boasting in a slaughter so heartless and mischievous? - Charles Spurgeon
v2 - lit. like a sharpened razor working deceit
v3 - lit. than to speak righteously
v4 - "sharp" comes from v2, which I omitted there.
v5 - lit. out of the land of the living
For God to pluck the deceitful tongue from a tent may mean to remove it from the physical body. ref. 2Cor 5:1,4; etc
v6 - The righteous do 3 things: They see, they fear and they laugh at him. Do not laugh at him until I first fear, knowing that the same could happen to me. (Psalm 2:10)
v7 - This should be our sober reaction when we see the powerful fall.
His greediness fueled his ambition and thus strengthened himself.
v8 - lit. "forever and ever", which unambiguously means eternally.
The way to be a green olive tree in the house of God is to confide in God's mercy. ref. Ps 36:7
But I, hunted and persecuted though I am, am like a green olive tree. - Spurgeon
I will praise Thee for ever. Like Thy mercy shall my thankfulness be.- Spurgeon
When Charles I was a prisoner in the Scottish Camp at Newark, his victors insulted him by ordering Ps. 52 to be sung:
Why boasteth thou thyself, thou tyrant,
That thou canst do mischief;
Whereas the goodness of God endureth yet daily?
It was by an appeal to the Psalms that Charles robbed the insult of its sting. His only reply was to ask for Psalm 56:
Be merciful unto me, O God;
For man goeth about to devour me;
He is daily fighting and troubling me.
Mine enemies are daily in hand to swallow me up;
For they be many that fight against me,
O Thou Most High.
- W. Graham Scroggie