THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

XIV. Responding To Infuriated, Overwhelming, Ungodly Oppressors

(Psalm 14:1-7)

I. Introduction

A. Believers can face ungodly oppression that is so intense, they may not even know about all of it, and their foes can even try publicly to shame their plans to live uprightly because their foes so oppose God's righteousness.

B. David faced this problem and described its solution in Psalm 14:1-7, so we view it for our edification:

II. Responding To Infuriated, Overwhelming, Ungodly Oppressors, Psalm 14:1-7.

A. The introductory notes in the English Bible comprise the first part of verse one in the Hebrew text (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 985), so we will stay with the verse numberings in the English Bible for clarification in this lesson.

B. Accordingly, Psalm 14:1-7 translates as follows:

1. "The senseless, closed minded (nabal, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 614-615; H. A. W., Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1980, v. II, p. 547) has said in his heart, 'There is no Elohim [Creator God].' They are morally corrupt (shahat, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 1007-1008; Hiphil = intensive stem); they act abominably (ta'ab, Ibid., p. 1073), there is no one who does what is blamelessly, wholesomely good (tob, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., H. A. W., v. I, p. 345-346)," Psalm 14:1.

2. "Jahweh from the heavens looked down upon (shaqaph, Ibid., p. 1054) the sons of men to see if there were any who acted prudently with insight (sakal, Ibid., p. 968), who sought, resorted to (darash, Ibid., p. 205) Elohim [the Creator God]," Psalm 14:2.

3. "The whole (hakol, Ibid., Kittel) [all of them] have turned aside (sur, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 693-694) [from seeking, resorting to the Creator God], they have together (yaheddaw, Ibid., p. 403) become morally corrupt ('alah, Ibid., p. 47); there is no one who does what is blamelessly, wholesomely good (tob again, cf. v. 1) -- there is yea (gam, Ibid., p. 168-169) not one [idiomatic for 'not even one']," Psalm 14:3.

4. "Will all workers of iniquity never learn, those who devour My people as men eat bread and who do not call on Jahweh [the Covenant-keeping God]?" (Psalm 14:4)

5. "There they are who dread (pahad, Ibid., p. 808) a dread (pahad, Ibid.) [idiomatic for 'greatly dread'], because Elohim [the Creator God] is in the midst of, among (the preposition be, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 88-91) the class, generation (dor, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 189-190) of the righteous," Psalm 14:5.

6. "You [evildoers] put to shame (bush, Ibid., p. 101-102) the counsels ('esah, Ibid., p. 420) of the afflicted, but Jahweh is their stronghold [in war] (mahseh, Ibid., p. 340; Ibid., H. A. W., p. 307-308)," Psalm 14:6.

7. "O that salvation for Israel would come from Zion, when Jahweh restores the fortunes of His people. Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad," Psalm 14:7.

C. We note an instructive contrast in progression in the psalm, a contrast in the godless versus the upright:

a. The godless oppressors interpret the lack of immediate divine discipline for their sin to mean that there is no Creator God (v. 1-2a). Thus, they do not heed Him, but turn aside to practice moral corruption until all humanity is thus corrupted in their thinking and actions (v. 3). In the end, in fury, the godless greatly oppress the upright who still heed the Lord (v. 4), even to the point of trying to shame their purposes to live rightly since the ungodly cannot any longer even tolerate such righteousness (v. 6).

b. The godly who are afflicted by such infuriated, overwhelming, sinful oppressors can call on God for deliverance from such foes (Psalm 14:4 implied), and God will be with them in their midst and so cause their oppressors to experience a great dread due to that fact (v. 5). Jahweh's fellowship with the godly edifies them as a stronghold in the conflict even when the ungodly try to shame their purposes to live righteously (v. 6), and God eventually produces salvation and joy for His godly ones (v. 7).

Lesson: If the godly face infuriated, godless oppressors who are not immediately judged for greatly departing from God and a sense of accountability to Him so that they try to oppose every type of godliness in the upright, even in putting to shame their plans of uprightness, the godly can trust God to terrify such foes by demonstrating His fellowship in the midst of the upright to shield them in conflict, to edify their inner man and cause them to rejoice.

Application: (1) If others depart from heeding God's Word and they are not immediately punished for it to where they lose their sense of accountability to God and thus deeply resent any godliness in others, expect them greatly to retaliate if we stay upright. (2) May we fellowship with God and (3) trust Him to counter such foes and relieve us.