Psalm 14
To the Chief Musician. Of David
1. A fool says in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are perverse.
They do abominable works.
There is none who does good.
2. Yahweh from heaven looks down upon the sons of man
to see if there is any who is prudent, who seeks God.
3. They all have turned aside.
Together they are corrupted.
There is none who does good,
There is not one.
4. Do all the workers of iniquity not have knowledge,
who eat my people as they eat bread?
They do not call on Yahweh.
5. There they dread greatly,
because God is in the generation of the righteous.
6. You shame the counsel of the afflicted one,
but Yahweh is his refuge.
7. Oh that he would give from Zion the salvation of Israel!
When Yahweh causes the captivity of his people to return,
Jacob will exult and Israel will be glad.
Psalms 14 and 53 are very similar, but there some differences. They are as follows.
- The heading of Psalm 14 has “of David,” but Psalm 53 has “a maskil of David.” “Maskil” means wisdom or prudence and is actually found in verse 2 of both psalms. It seems likely that it designates the psalm as intended for instruction.
- Psalm 14 uses the name “Yahweh” in verses 2, 4, 6 and 7; Psalm 53 always uses “God.”
- In verse 1 Psalm 53 has “iniquity” instead of “works.”
- In verse 3 Psalm 14 reads “they all have turned aside,” Psalm 53, “Every one of them has turned back.”
- In verse 4 Psalm 14 has “all the workers of iniquity.” Psalm 53 drops “all.”
- Psalm 14:5-6 is very different from Psalm 53:5.
- There they dread greatly, for God is in the generation of the righteous. You shame the counsel of the afflicted, but Yahweh is his refuge (Ps. 14:5-6).
- There they dread greatly, where there is no dread, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you. You have shamed them, because God despises them (Ps. 53:5).
- In verse 7 Psalm 14 has the singular form of the word “salvation.” Psalm 15 has the plural: “salvations.”
The last verse of each psalm raises a difficult question. The word for captivity, with one exception in the book of Job, is always a term for the captivity of Israel in Babylon. But these are psalms of David. How can David be writing about the captivity in Babylon? One answer is that we have an exception to the rule in these two psalms; here “captivity” does not refer to the Babylonian captivity. But then to what captivity does it refer? Another possibility is that David was writing prophetically. The latter seems more likely, especially since the word also appears in Deuteronomy 30:3: When the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity… Moses spoken of the captivity before David did. David could have known about it from him. David intended both psalms for that period of Israel’s history.
What about the Christology of these psalms?
First, it is not difficult to understand that Christ would ask the question of verse 4: Do the workers of iniquity not have knowledge, who eat my people as they eat bread? Persecution of his people always angers him.
Secondly, if these psalms are about the captivity in Babylon, then that was the period in Israel’s history when the Lord began to tell his people about the new covenant. I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jer. 31:33-34). That new covenant is the covenant initiated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he said, This cup is the new covenant in My blood (1 Cor. 11:25). The promise of Israel’s return from captivity embraces also the bringing in of the Gentiles (Isa. 51:1-5). Psalm 126 is as relevant for the Gentile church today as it was for Israel in the Old Testament: When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Our Lord Jesus Christ has brought us back from the bondage of sin and we are glad.