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Commentaries on Psalms 52:1

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John Gill - Exposition

John Gill

INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 52 To the chief Musician, Maschil, [A Psalm] of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech. Of the title "Maschil", [See comments on Psalms 32:1], title. The occasion of this psalm is here related, the history of which is in 1 Samuel 21:7. The sum of it is this; David having fled from Saul, came to Ahimelech...

John Gill - Exposition

John Gill

Why boastest thou thyself in mischief?.... Or "in evil" (w); in that which is sinful; to glory in riches, wisdom, and strength, which are not in themselves evil, is wrong; and to rejoice in such boastings, all such rejoicing is evil; to be a doer of mischief, or sin, is bad; to make a sport of it, worse; but to glory in it, and boast of it when done, is worse still: to be boasters of evil things,...

Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary

Matthew Henry

David, no doubt, was in very great grief when he said to Abiathar (1 Sam. xxii. 22), "I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house," who were put to death upon Doeg's malicious information; to give some vent to that grief, and to gain some relief to his mind under it, he penned this psalm, wherein, as a prophet, and therefore with as good an authority as if he had been now...

Spurgeon - Treasury of David

Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 1. Why boasteth thyself in mischief, O mighty man? Doeg had small matter for boasting in having procured the slaughter of a band of defenceless 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! Honourable titles are but irony where the wearer is mean and cruel. If David alluded to Saul, he meant...