Bird's-eye view
This short passage provides the divinely-approved response of the righteous to the judgment of God upon the wicked. Following the pronouncement of doom upon the treacherous man (a figure like Doeg the Edomite), David describes a scene of holy reflection. The people of God observe the wicked man's downfall, and their reaction is twofold: a profound and reverential fear of the God who judges so thoroughly, and a vindicated, theological laughter at the sheer folly of the one who opposed Him. The passage concludes with the righteous articulating the epitaph of the wicked man, diagnosing his fatal spiritual disease. His ruin was caused by a foundational choice: he refused to make God his strength, trusting instead in the flimsy security of abundant riches and finding his strength in the very wickedness that destroyed him.
In essence, these verses teach us how to process the justice of God. It is not for us to gloat with personal vindictiveness, but rather to see in the fall of the proud a confirmation of God's holy character and the truth of His promises. This sight produces a healthy fear and a joyful confidence in God's ultimate triumph over all His enemies. The wicked man becomes a permanent object lesson, a monument to the foolishness of betting against the Almighty.
Outline
- 1. The Saints' Reaction to Judgment (Ps 52:6)
- a. A Holy Fear (Ps 52:6a)
- b. A Holy Laughter (Ps 52:6b)
- 2. The Fool's Epitaph (Ps 52:7)
- a. The Negative Confession: Rejecting God's Strength (Ps 52:7a)
- b. The Positive Confession: Trusting in Riches (Ps 52:7b)
- c. The Ironic Outcome: Strength in Self-Destruction (Ps 52:7c)
Context In Psalms
The superscription to Psalm 52 places it directly in the historical context of 1 Samuel 22, when Doeg the Edomite betrayed David to Saul and then proceeded to slaughter eighty-five priests at Nob. This was an act of supreme treachery, malice, and contempt for God. The first part of the psalm (vv. 1-5) is a direct address to this "mighty man," prophesying his complete and utter ruin. God will tear him down, uproot him from the land of the living. Our passage, verses 6-7, describes the aftermath of this divine judgment. It is the coda, the moral of the story. The psalm contrasts the fleeting, destructive power of the wicked, rooted in lies, with the eternal, flourishing life of the righteous, who are like a green olive tree in the house of God (v. 8). This passage serves as the bridge, showing how the righteous are to understand and respond to the fulfillment of God's wrath upon men like Doeg.
Key Issues
- The Nature of Righteous Laughter
- The Fear of the Lord in Response to Judgment
- The Idol of Mammon
- The Self-Destructive Nature of Sin
- Corporate Responsibility to Observe God's Judgments
The Last Laugh
We live in a sentimental age, one that often finds the concept of God's wrath distasteful and the idea of laughing at calamity to be barbaric. But the Bible is not a sentimental book. It is a book of profound realism. It teaches that there are two ways to live: God's way and every other way. And it teaches that God's way ends in life and every other way ends in ruin. When that ruin comes upon those who have defiantly set themselves against God, oppressing His people and loving violence, the proper response is not a mournful sigh but a robust affirmation of God's goodness and justice. Psalm 2 says that God Himself sits in the heavens and laughs at the pathetic plotting of earthly kings. Here, His people, seeing a local instantiation of that same divine comedy, are invited to join in the laughter. This is not the cruel cackle of personal revenge; it is the joyful, relieved laughter of the redeemed who see that their God does indeed keep His promises and that the universe is, after all, a moral one.
Verse by Verse Commentary
6 So that the righteous will see and fear, And will laugh at him, saying,
The judgment of God described in the previous verses is not a private affair. It is a public spectacle, and it is intended to have an audience. The first members of that audience are the righteous. When they see the mighty man uprooted, their first reaction is to fear. This is not the terror of the guilty, but the reverential awe of the faithful. It is the fear that comes from a fresh apprehension of God's power and holiness. They see what happens to those who trifle with God, and it deepens their respect and reverence for Him. This holy fear then gives way to a holy laughter. They will laugh at him, the fallen tyrant. Why? Because his fall exposes his ultimate impotence. He who postured as a mighty man is now a heap of ruins. His pride, his threats, his boasting, have all been revealed as a cosmic joke. The laughter is directed at the sheer folly of his rebellion. It is the laughter of vindication, the laughter of those who have been delivered from the grip of a bully.
7 “Behold, the man who would not set God as his strength,
The laughter is followed by a declaration, a spoken epitaph that diagnoses the core of the man's problem. "Behold, the man" is a call to attention. Look here, everyone. Let this be a lesson for all time. Here is the man, and what was his central, fatal flaw? He would not set God as his strength. The word for strength or refuge is ma'oz, a fortress or stronghold. This man had a choice of where to build his life, where to establish his security. He looked at the fortress of God and refused it. He would not have God as his protector. This is the fundamental sin of all proud men. It is a declaration of self-sufficiency. It is the creature telling the Creator that he has no need of Him. All other sins are but symptoms of this foundational rebellion.
But trusted in the abundance of his riches
Having rejected the true fortress, he had to find a substitute. A man must trust in something. And this man's choice was the most common idol known to man: wealth. He trusted in the abundance of his riches. He felt the weight of his gold and concluded that it was more substantial than the promises of an unseen God. His riches were his security, his power, his identity. He believed that with enough money, he could buy his way out of any trouble, insulate himself from any threat, and secure his own future. He made mammon his god, and like all idols, it was a lie. It promised security but could not deliver him from the judgment of the living God, who can uproot a man, money and all.
And was strong in his destruction.”
This final clause is a masterpiece of divine irony. The Hebrew word for "destruction" here is havvah, which carries the sense of mischief, malice, or a destructive craving. He strengthened himself in his own destructive lusts. He drew his sense of power and significance from his ability to tear down, to betray, to destroy, as Doeg did to the priests of Nob. The very thing that made him feel strong was the very thing that was ensuring his ruin. He was like a man who, in a fit of rage, finds superhuman strength to demolish his own house. For a moment, he feels powerful in the act of destruction, but the end result is that he is left homeless in the rubble. This man's strength was entirely invested in his own damnation. He was mighty, but only in the cause of his own undoing. The righteous see this and laugh, not at the pain, but at the perfect, self-inflicted foolishness of it all.
Application
This passage calls us to a profoundly counter-cultural way of looking at the world. First, it commands us to pay attention when God acts in judgment. We are not to be indifferent spectators. We are to see, and to learn a holy fear. We should look at the wreckage of proud and godless lives, whether individuals or nations, and let it sober us, reminding us that our God is a consuming fire.
Second, it gives us permission for a certain kind of laughter. When the schemes of wicked men who mock God and persecute His church come to nothing, we are allowed to be glad. We are allowed to rejoice in the vindication of God's justice. This is not personal spite, but theological joy. It is the joy of knowing that evil does not have the last word.
Most importantly, this passage forces us to examine the foundation of our own lives. It presents us with the same choice Doeg had. Will we make God our fortress, our ma'oz? Or will we, in our hearts, trust in the abundance of our riches, our talents, our political tribe, or our own cleverness? Every day, we choose our god. And this passage reminds us of the stakes. One choice leads to being a green olive tree in the house of God, flourishing forever. The other leads to being a cosmic joke, a cautionary tale, a man who found his only strength in the art of his own destruction.
The ultimate fulfillment of this is found in the cross. The enemies of Jesus trusted in their political power and religious prestige. They were strong in their destructive desire to see Him crucified. For a moment, it looked like they had won. But God laughed from heaven, and raised His Son from the dead, uprooting them all. And because of His victory, the righteous will one day stand and behold the final ruin of the evil one, and we will fear God, and we will laugh with the joy of eternal vindication.