Unto the end; for the octave, a psalm for David.

“"Save me, O Lord, for the holy has failed;" that is, is not found: as we speak when we say, Corn fails, or, Money fails. "For the truths have been minished from among the sons of men" [Psalm 12:1]. The truth is one, whereby holy souls are enlightened: but forasmuch as there are many souls, there may be said in them to be many truths: as in mirrors there are seen many reflections from one face.”

“In the foregoing group of ten Psalms the Psalmist treated of the persecution which he himself suffered from Absalom his son, by which was figured the persecution which Christ was to suffer from Judas; but in this second group of ten, as appears from the titles of certain Psalms, he treats of the persecution which he suffered from Saul, by which was figured the persecution which Christ was to suffer from the princes of the priests. Now this group of ten is divided into two parts. In the first he asks to be freed from his enemies. In the second, now freed, he prays for his own exaltation, in the Psalm "May the Lord hear you," which indeed fits as regards the history of David — because, Saul having died, David was promoted to be king — and as regards the mystery, Christ, whose kingdom was confirmed in his death: Philippians 2, "wherefore," namely because he was made obedient to the Father even unto death, "God exalted him." In the first part he does two things. First he asks for liberation. Second, he gives thanks for the liberation: and this in Psalm 17, "I will love you." As to the first, he does three things. First he sets forth at length the malice of his persecutors. Second he calls to mind his own righteousness, at the place, "Lord, who shall dwell." Third, on account of his righteousness, he asks for the efficacy of being heard, at the place, "Hear, O Lord," and so on. As to the first, he does two things. First he reproves the deceitfulness of his adversaries. Second he charges them with their iniquity, at the place, "The fool has said." As to the first, he does two things. First he calls to mind their deceitfulness. Second he asks for the divine light, lest he be ensnared by them, at the place, "How long, O Lord." This too fits well enough as regards the history of David, against whom Saul proceeded deceitfully. Now he prefixes to this Psalm this title: "Unto the end, for the octave, a Psalm of David," which has been expounded above. As to the first, he does three things. First he describes his calling to mind of their deceitfulness; second he asks for their destruction, at the place, "May the Lord destroy"; third he sets down the ground for being heard, at the place, "Because of the misery," and so on. As to the first, he does two things. First he describes their defect; second he adds the sign of the defect, at the place, "They have spoken vain things." As to the first, it must be known that David, considering the malice of his adversary growing strong against him, as one stupefied, first has recourse to the divine help, saying, "Lord, save me." And rightly so, because besides him there is no savior, as is said in Isaiah 45. Second, he enumerates their defects. Now two things preserve a man from evil: namely the fear of God — Ecclesiasticus 2, "he who fears God will keep his commandments" — and the love of truth; because right works are called true, as it were, in agreement with the rule, and if they are not right, they pertain to infamy. For some, even if they do not avoid evils on account of the fear of God, are nevertheless drawn back from them on account of infamy. But someone fears neither infamy: hence it is said in Luke 18, of a certain man who "neither fears God nor respects man." And these two things the Psalmist excludes from his adversaries. First indeed the fear of God, when he says, "for the holy man has failed" — for holiness consists in the fear and worship of God. Hence too the things dedicated to divine worship are called holy; as if he were to say: there is not found in this world a man who fears God. Micah 7: "the holy man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men." Second, he excludes the love of truth when he says, "for they are diminished." But it must be asked, why does he say "truths" in the plural? Hosea 4: "there is no truth of God on the earth." To which it must be said that there is one primordial truth, which is in the divine intellect. John 14: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Now just as from one face of a man diverse likenesses result in diverse mirrors, and likewise in one mirror when broken, so in diverse souls, from the one divine truth, diverse truths result. And likewise in one soul, because it does not attain to the divine simplicity, but is composed of that by which it is and that which it is, there appear, from that one truth by which the holy soul is illumined, diverse truths; and these truths indeed, when the soul withdraws from God through sins, are diminished. Or it must be said that he says "truths" on account of the threefold created truth that is in the saints: namely, the truth of life, concerning which Isaiah 38: "remember how I have walked before you in truth"; the truth of doctrine, Matthew 21: "we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in truth"; and the truth of justice, concerning which Exodus 18: "provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, in whom there is truth." It is of this truth that this Psalm seems to speak: namely, of the truth of justice; from which indeed Saul withdrew when he unjustly persecuted David himself. It must therefore be said that truths of this kind are diminished not of themselves, but "by the sons of men," through whose faults they are depraved. And indeed the truth of life is diminished when good is judged evil. The truth of doctrine, when light is called darkness. But the truth of justice, when the bitter is judged sweet, and conversely. Isaiah 5: "woe to you who call good evil, and evil good; putting light for darkness, and darkness for light; putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." Now he says that holiness fails, because since it is from God through grace, it is taken away at once by a single mortal sin. But truth is diminished, as it were, successively. Jerome has: "for the merciful man has failed"; and "for the faithful are diminished," because mercy and justice are required toward one's neighbor. Proverbs 20: "but a faithful man, who shall find?" Accordingly, when he says "vain things," he sets down the sign of the defect of holiness; and it is twofold, namely vanity and deceit. The first sign of the defect is vanity: and as to this he says, "they have spoken vain things," and so on. Vain is that which has no subsistence. True things, therefore, are those beneath which nothing of vanity lies; hence 1 Timothy 1: "the end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith: from which some, having gone astray, have turned aside to vain babbling." Jeremiah 9: "let every one take heed of his neighbor." Gregory: "vain speech is the index of a vain mind." Likewise vain is that which is not grasped by the intellect: superfluous words too are vain. Proverbs 14: "where there are many words, there is frequently want." Likewise vain is that which is not stable: and thus words about temporal things are vain, John 3: "he who is of the earth speaks of the earth"; Isaiah 29: "your speech shall mutter out of the ground." But to whom do they speak vain things? "To his neighbor," to whom they ought to speak the truth. Ephesians 4: "speak each one of you the truth with his neighbor." The second sign of the defect of holiness is deceit; and as to this he says, "with deceitful lips, in heart and heart have they spoken." The doubling signifies a double heart. For they show that with their mouth they have one thing, while in heart they have another. They show themselves to grieve, and they rejoice; to love, and they hate; to have compassion, and they are glad. James 1: "a man of double mind is inconstant in all his ways." Ecclesiasticus 2: "woe to the double heart, and to wicked lips." "May he destroy." Here he asks for their destruction. And first he asks for it; second he indicates the cause, at the place, "all the lips," etc.: as if to say, may he destroy them doubly, namely in soul and in body. Jeremiah 17: "bring upon them the day of affliction, and destroy them with a double destruction, O Lord God." Accordingly he sets down the cause of their malice: and he sets down three things — namely fraudulence, because "deceitful lips": for deceit is when someone does one thing and feigns another. Deceit is conceived in the heart, but it is covered over by words or deeds. Proverbs 12: "deceit is in the heart of them that think evil things." These God scatters, in that he uncovers them; for then deceit does not have the character of deceit, since deceit is a hidden malice. Hence he does not ask for their destruction, but for the uncovering of their malice. Or he asks for their perdition through grace. Proverbs 19: "when the pestilent man is scourged, the fool will become wiser"; hence he says, "deceitful lips." The Gloss: as it were, the ground of the petition is their deceit. Or "he will destroy them," as it were by punishing them out of their own malice, so that they themselves fall into it, by the just judgment of God, as is said of Haman, Esther 7, against Mordecai: "Haman was hanged on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai." Ezekiel 3: "I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth: and you shall be dumb," as if no longer daring to practice frauds. Proverbs 21: "the pestilent man being punished, the simple will be wiser." The same, 22: "foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of correction will drive it away." Second, he sets down their boastfulness, and "the tongue that speaks great things" about themselves before those who consider them great. Psalm 72: "they have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue has passed through the earth." Now that which is greater in another we are accustomed to revere, and that which is lesser we do not reckon of account. In order, therefore, that they may appear great, and equal to God, they hold God in contempt — that is, divine honors. So it is said of the Antichrist, that he speaks against the God of gods. 2 Thessalonians 2: "he opposes and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God." And of Antiochus, 2 Maccabees 9: "it is just to be subject to God, and that a mortal should not think himself equal to God"; and Acts 12, of Herod, that the people cried out to him "the voice of a god, and not of a man." And lest they should be able to excuse themselves that they did not do it on purpose, he adds: "who have said" — namely on purpose — "we will magnify our tongue." Third, he sets down their blasphemy or pride: "our lips are our own." For this is the first species of pride, when someone reckons that he has something from himself. 1 Kings 2: "do not multiply to speak lofty things, boasting." 2 Corinthians 3: "we are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God." The second species of pride is when someone wishes to glory in something above the rest; hence he says, "who is our lord?" Job 21: "who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?" Hosea 7: "they have returned that they might be without a yoke, and they have become like a deceitful bow." Job 11: "a vain man is lifted up into pride, and thinks himself born free like a wild ass's colt." "Because of." Here, thirdly, he sets down the being-heard of his prayer. And first he prefixes it; second he sets down its certainty, at the place, "the words of the Lord"; third he sets down his own belief, at the place, "you, O Lord." He says, therefore, "because of the misery" — that is, the manifold defect — "of the needy" — that is, those lacking resources — "and the groaning" — that is, the sobbing — "of the poor" — that is, those having little. Psalm 9: "to you is the poor man left." Exodus 2: "he heard their groaning, and remembered the covenant." "Now will I arise, says the Lord." "Now," in the opportune time. Psalm 9: "a helper in due time, in tribulation." Isaiah 9: "in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you." "I will put him in safety" — that is, I will add — "I will deal confidently in him" — that is, I will be in him. Jeremiah 1: "do not fear before their face, for I am with you." Isaiah 14: "the Lord of hosts has decreed: and who shall be able to disannul it? His hand is stretched out: and who shall turn it away?" Jeremiah 1: "they will fight against you, and will not prevail, because I am with you to deliver you." And 39: "your life shall be to you for a salvation, because you have put your trust in me, says the Lord." Accordingly he sets down the certainty of the promise: "the words of the Lord are chaste words" — not adulterated by the admixture of anything foreign; or chastened from superfluity; or incorrupt, because someone is called chaste before experience, but continent after. Not vain, but firm. Matthew 24: "heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Second, they are full of truth; hence, "silver tried by fire." Silver is white without stain, sonorous without pretense, fragrant without taint. "Tried of the earth" — that is, from the earth: for the Greeks lack the ablative. Now this is a translation from the Greek — "purged seven times" — that is, perfectly. And the prophet responds: "You therefore, O Lord, will preserve us from evil. And you will keep us in good, from this generation forever." "Therefore the wicked walk round about," in such a way that they will never arrive at the end of the journey which they intend, namely to afflict others as they wish. Isaiah 59: "their paths are crooked." And why? Because, "according to your height you have multiplied the sons of men" — because in my house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthenware; and some indeed sanctified unto honor, prepared for every good work. 2 Timothy 2. Or "the wicked walk round about," in a circle of vices, not attaining to the mean of virtue. 1 Kings 25: "the soul of your enemies shall be whirled about," and so on.”

“This psalm furnishes us with good thoughts for bad times, in which, though the prudent will keep silent (Amo 5:13) because a man may then be made an offender for a word, yet we may comfort ourselves with such suitable meditations and prayers as are here got ready to our hand. I. Let us see here what it is that makes the times bad, and when they may be said to be so. Ask the children of this world what it is in their account that makes the times bad, and they will tell you, Scarcity of money, decay of trade, and the desolations of war, make the times bad. But the scripture lays the badness of the times upon causes of another nature. Ti2 3:1, Perilous times shall come, for iniquity shall abound; and that is the thing David here complains of. 1. When there is a general decay of piety and honesty among men the times are then truly bad (Psa 12:1): When the godly man ceases and the faithful fail. Observe how these two characters are here put together, the godly and the faithful. As there is no true policy, so there is no true piety, without honesty. Godly men are faithful men, fast men, so they have sometimes been called; their word is as confirming as their oath, as binding as their bond; they make conscience of being true both to God and man. They are here said to cease and fail, either by death or by desertion, or by both. Those that were godly and faithful were taken away, and those that were left had sadly degenerated and were not what they had been; so that there were few or no good people that were Israelites indeed to be met with. Perhaps he meant that there were no godly faithful men among Saul's courtiers; if he meant there were few or none in Israel, we hope he was under the same mistake that Elijah was, who thought he only was left alone, when God had 7000 who kept their integrity (Rom 11:3); or he meant that there were few in comparison; there was a general decay of religion and virtue (and the times are bad, very bad, when it is so), not a man to be found that executes judgment, Jer 5:1. 2. When dissimulation and flattery have corrupted and debauched all conversation, then the times are very bad (Psa 12:2), when men are generally so profligate that they make no conscience of a lie, are so spiteful as to design against their neighbours the worst of mischiefs, and yet so base as to cover the design with the most specious and plausible pretences and professions of friendship. Thus they speak vanity (that is, falsehood and a lie) every one to his neighbour, with flattering lips and a double heart. They will kiss and kill (as Joab did Abner and Amasa in David's own time), will smile in your face and cut your throat. This is the devil's image complete, a complication of malice and falsehood. The times are bad indeed when there is no such thing as sincerity to be met with, when an honest man knows not whom to believe nor whom to trust, nor dares put confidence in a friend, in a guide, Mic 7:5, Mic 7:6; Jer 9:4, Jer 9:5. Woe to those who help to make the times thus perilous. 3. When the enemies of God, and religion, and religious people, are impudent and daring, and threaten to run down all that is just and sacred, then the times are very bad, when proud sinners have arrived at such a pitch of impiety as to say, "With our tongue will we prevail against the cause of virtue; our lips are our own and we may say what we will; who is lord over us, either to restrain us or to call us to an account?" Psa 12:4. This bespeaks, (1.) A proud conceit of themselves and confidence in themselves, as if the point were indeed gained by eating forbidden fruit, and they were as gods, independent and self-sufficient, infallible in their knowledge of good and evil and therefore fit to be oracles, irresistible in their power and therefore fit to be lawgivers, that could prevail with their tongues, and, like God himself, speak and it is done. (2.) An insolent contempt of God's dominion as if he had no propriety in them - Our lips are our own (an unjust pretension, for who made man's mouth, in whose hand is his breath, and whose is the air he breathes in?) and as if he had no authority either to command them or to judge them: Who is Lord over us? Like Pharaoh, Exo 5:1. This is as absurd and unreasonable as the former; for he in whom we live, and move, and have our being, must needs be, by an indisputable title, Lord over us. 4. When the poor and needy are oppressed, and abused, and puffed at, then the times are very bad. This is implied (Psa 12:5) where God himself takes notice of the oppression of the poor and the sighing of the needy; they are oppressed because they are poor, have all manner of wrong done them merely because they are not in a capacity to right themselves. Being thus oppressed, they dare not speak for themselves, lest their defence should be made their offence; but they sigh, secretly bemoaning their calamities, and pouring out their souls in sighs before God. If their oppressors be spoken to on their behalf, they puff at them, make light of their own sin and the misery of the poor, and lay neither to heart; see Psa 10:5. 5. When wickedness abounds, and goes barefaced, under the protection and countenance of those in authority, then the times are very bad, Psa 12:8. When the vilest men are exalted to places of trust and power (who, instead of putting the laws in execution against vice and injustice and punishing the wicked according to their merits, patronise and protect them, give them countenance, and support their reputation by their own example), then the wicked walk on every side; they swarm in all places, and go up and down seeking to deceive, debauch, and destroy others; they are neither afraid nor ashamed to discover themselves; they declare their sin as Sodom and there is none to check or control them. Bad men are base men, the vilest of men, and they are so though they are ever so highly exalted in this world. Antiochus the illustrious the scripture calls a vile person, Dan 11:21. But it is bad with a kingdom when such are preferred; no marvel if wickedness then grows impudent and insolent. When the wicked bear rule the people mourn. II. Let us now see what good thoughts we are here furnished with for such bad times; and what times we may yet be reserved for we cannot tell. When times are thus bad it is comfortable to think, 1. That we have a God to go to, from whom we may ask and expect the redress of all our grievances. This he begins with (Psa 12:1): "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth. All other helps and helpers fail; even the godly and faithful, who should lend a helping hand to support the dying cause of religion, are gone, and therefore whither shall we seek but to thee?" Note, When godly faithful people cease and fail it is time to cry, Help, Lord! The abounding of iniquity threatens a deluge. "Help, Lord, help the virtuous; few seek to hold fast their integrity, and to stand in the gap; help to save thy own interest in the world from sinking. It is time for thee, Lord, to work." 2. That God will certainly reckon with false and proud men, and will punish and restrain their insolence. They are above the control of men and set them at defiance. Men cannot discover the falsehood of flatterers, nor humble the haughtiness of those that speak proud things; but the righteous God will cut off all flattering lips, that give the traitor's kiss and speak words softer then oil when war is in the heart; he will pluck out the tongue that speaks proud things against God and religion, Psa 12:3. Some translate it as a prayer, "May God cut off those false and spiteful lips." Let lying lips be put to silence. 3. That God will, in due time, work deliverance for his oppressed people, and shelter them from the malicious designs of their persecutors (Psa 12:5): Now, will I arise, saith the Lord. This promise of God, which David here delivered by the spirit of prophecy, is an answer to that petition which he put up to God by the spirit of prayer. "Help, Lord," says he; "I will," says God; "here I am, with seasonable and effectual help." (1.) It is seasonable, in the fittest time. [1.] When the oppressors are in the height of their pride and insolence - when they say, Who is lord over us? - then is God's time to let them know, to their cost, that he is above them. [2.] When the oppressed are in the depth of their distress and despondency, when they are sighing like Israel in Egypt by reason of the cruel bondage, then is God's time to appear for them, as for Israel when they were most dejected and Pharaoh was most elevated. Now will I arise. Note, There is a time fixed for the rescue of oppressed innocency; that time will come, and we may be sure it is the fittest time, Psa 102:13. (2.) It is effectual: I will set him in safety, or in salvation, not only protect him, but restore him to his former prosperity, will bring him out into a wealthy place (Psa 66:12), so that, upon the whole, he shall lose nothing by his sufferings. 4. That, though men are false, God is faithful; though they are not to be trusted, God is. They speak vanity and flattery, but the words of the Lord are pure words (Psa 12:6), not only all true, but all pure, like silver tried in a furnace of earth or a crucible. It denotes, (1.) The sincerity of God's word, every thing is really as it is there represented and not otherwise; it does not jest with us, not impose upon us, nor has it any other design towards us than our own good. (2.) The preciousness of God's word; it is of great and intrinsic value, like silver refined to the highest degree; it has nothing in it to depreciate it. (3.) The many proofs that have been given of its power and truth; it has been often tried, all the saints in all ages have trusted it and so tried it, and it never deceived them nor frustrated their expectation, but they have all set to their seal that God's word is true, with an Experto crede - Trust one that has made trial; they have found it so. Probably this refers especially to these promises of succouring and relieving the poor and oppressed. Their friends put them in hopes that they will do something for them, and yet prove a broken reed; but the words of God are what we may rely upon; and the less confidence is to be put in men's words let us with the more assurance trust in God's word. 5. That God will secure his chosen remnant to himself, how bad soever the times are (Psa 12:7): Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. This intimates that, as long as the world stands, there will be a generation of proud and wicked men in it, more or less, who will threaten by their wretched arts to ruin religion, by wearing out the saints of the Most High, Dan 7:25. But let God alone to maintain his own interest and to preserve his own people. He will keep them from this generation, (1.) From being debauched by them and drawn away from God, from mingling with them and learning their works. In times of general apostasy the Lord knows those that are his, and they shall be enabled to keep their integrity. (2.) From being destroyed and rooted out by them. The church is built upon a rock, and so well fortified that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In the worst of times God has his remnant, and in every age will reserve to himself a holy seed and preserve that to his heavenly kingdom. In singing this psalm, and praying it over, we must bewail the general corruption of manners, thank God that things are not worse than they are, but pray and hope that they will be better in God's due time.”

“(Heb.: 12:2-3) The sigh of supplication, הושׁיעה, has its object within itself: work deliverance, give help; and the motive is expressed by the complaint which follows. The verb גּמר to complete, means here, as in Psa 7:10, to have an end; and the ἁπ. λεγ. פּסס is equivalent to אפס in Psa 77:9, to come to the extremity, to cease. It is at once clear from the predicate being placed first in the plur., that אמוּנים in this passage is not an abstractum, as e.g., in Pro 13:17; moreover the parallelism is against it, just as in Pro 31:24. חסיד is the pious man, as one who practises חסד towards God and man. אמוּן, primary form אמוּן (plur. אמונים; whereas from אמוּן we should expect אמוּנים), - used as an adjective (cf. on the contrary Deu 32:20) here just as in Pro 31:24, Sa2 20:19, - is the reliable, faithful, conscientious man, literally one who is firm, i.e., whose word and meaning is firm, so that one can rely upon it and be certain in relation to it. (Note: The Aryan root man to remain, abide (Neo-Persic mânden), also takes a similar course, signifying usually "to continue in any course, wait, hope." So the old Persic man, Zend upaman, cf. μένειν with its derivatives which are applied in several ways in the New Testament to characterise πίστις.) We find similar complaints of the universal prevalence of wickedness in Mic 7:2; Isa 57:1; Jer 7:28, and elsewhere. They contain their own limitation. For although those who complain thus without pharisaic self-righteousness would convict themselves of being affected by the prevailing corruption, they are still, in their penitence, in their sufferings for righteousness' sake, and in their cry for help, a standing proof that humanity has not yet, without exception, become a massa perdita. That which the writer especially laments, is the prevailing untruthfulness. Men speak שׁוא (= שׁוא from שׁוא), desolation and emptiness under a disguise that conceals its true nature, falsehood (Psa 41:7), and hypocrisy (Job 35:13), ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ (lxx, cf. Eph 4:25, where the greatness of the sin finds its confirmation according to the teaching of the New Testament: ὅτι ἐσμὲν ἀλλήλων μέλη). They speak lips of smoothnesses (חלקות, plural from חלקה, laevitates, or from חלק, laevia), i.e., the smoothest, most deceitful language (accusative of the object as in Isa 19:18) with a double heart, inasmuch, namely, as the meaning they deceitfully express to others, and even to themselves, differs from the purpose they actually cherish, or even (cf. Ch1 12:33 בלא לב ולב, and Jam 1:8 δίψυχος, wavering) inasmuch as the purpose they now so flatteringly put forth quickly changes to the very opposite.”