Outline of Chapter 52:

       Inscription       Psalm 52 Inscription

       vv.    1–4        Doeg’s Evil Lying Tongue

       v.      5           What God will do to Doeg

       vv.    6–7        The Righteous Will Observe and Take Note of the Futility of Doeg’s Life

       vv.     8–9        David Presents His Own Trust in God by Way of Contrast

Although in the outline, I have made this psalm very specific in its application (David as the growing believer and Doeg as the self-serving, lying sack of shit), this of course has much wider application to the believer who is growing in God’s grace and knowledge as versus the man who will lie and commit other sins of the tongue in order to get whatever it is that he wants in life. There are men who will say or do anything in order to improve their lives, to gain the approbation of others and in order to advance their positions.

Charts and Maps:

       Introduction    The Use of Elohim and Jehovah in the Psalms

       Introduction    The Elohimic Maskil

       v.      4           Doeg’s Options:

       v.      7           A Summary of Psalm 52:7

       v.      8           How David and Doeg Are Polar Opposites

       v.      8           Psalm 52 Organized by Parallel Thoughts

       v.      9           Doeg’s Evil

       v.      9           Similarities Between Doeg and the Man of Sin to Come

       v.      9           A Summary of Barnes’ Thesis on When Do You Convey Information and When Do You Keep Your Mouth Shut?

I ntroduction: Psalm 52 is one of the most excoriating of the psalms. The occasion for this psalm is when Doeg the Edomite goes to Saul and tells him where David is, which results in the slaughter of the priests of Nob. David rakes Doeg over the coals in the psalm, probably more than any other individual. I suspect that David and Doeg had some sort of a relationship—they knew each other, were friendly toward one another. Doeg is called the chief of Saul’s shepherds in I Sam. 21:7, and David, in his younger days had been a shepherd for his family’s flock. So we would have expected David to look up Doeg early on during his tenure at the palace. If you found yourself at a dinner party with 20 people that you barely knew, you might gravitate toward those whose vocation is similar to yours. David did the same thing. He was not a brown-noser, he was not originally a soldier, he was not an old friend of Saul’s—but he was a shepherd, so no doubt, David looked up the king’s shepherd and we might expect that they knew each other well.

To help draw you a picture, Saul was estranged from the spiritual aspects of Israel since his second fall out with Samuel. He had done things that were the prerogative of a priest (offering sacrifices); so when Samuel cut Saul off, Saul ended any sort of relationship that he might have had with the priests and the Tent of God. In fact, during Saul’s kingship, he made no attempt to bring the Ark of God to the Tent of God, and he offered no support to the priests of God. So, we have no relationship between Saul and those in the priestly line (which will become apparent when he slaughters them). Therefore, there is probably no one in Saul’s regime who has a spiritual edge to them, apart from Jonathan (and David and Jonathan became quick friends). Therefore, apart from Jonathan, the man in Saul’s cabinet that David would have the most in common with would be Doeg. So we can expect that David spend some time with Doeg. Whether they had anything else in common, we don’t know. We know for certain that Doeg did not possess any of David’s integrity.

David went to Nob, the city of the priests, soon after he left his royal home (I Sam. 19:12 21:1). He had already been to the city of prophets. He had no real plan, apart from getting some food to eat and Goliath’s sword. Because Saul had no real contact with the priests, David knew that he could go there, and not be recognized by any of Saul’s men—as they would not be there. However, David was surprised to see Doeg the Edomite (I Sam. 21:7). Doeg, as we have seen in I Sam. 23, was a man who desperately wanted to fit in. He was an outsider, an Edomite, so, even though Saul was not a supporter of the spiritual side of Israel, Doeg still went to Nob, the city of priests, with the intention of fitting in better in Israel. Apparently, several of Saul’s servants had been there, but they had gone (David very likely observed this); with the exception of Doeg. So, while talking to Ahimelech, the priest, David looks over the man’s shoulder and sees a familiar face, Doeg. There is no indication that they talked, waved, or did anything to acknowledge seeing one another. David had told Ahimelech that he was on a secret mission from Saul, so he didn’t need anyone else contradicting that story...so David certainly did not call Doeg over to talk. So they parted, Doeg and David, wordlessly, not even acknowledging the other’s presence. However, they both kept this fact in mind.

Doeg did not run right to Saul and say, “David’s at Nob. You need to hurry, or you will miss him.” It is clear that Doeg waited, and David not only left Nob, but had been to and left Gath as well. Saul called a cabinet meeting and threw a royal fit about David. I Sam. 22:5–10. Doeg, deciding that his information might provide him with an in with Saul, says, “Well, I believe that I saw David at Nob.” Now, Doeg has to be careful. That was a few weeks ago. Doeg can’t bring this up, and let it stay at that. Otherwise, Saul would have Doeg executed for not telling him sooner. He has to deflect Saul’s anger to the priests. “He [Ahimelech] inquired of Jehovah for him [David], gave him food and gave him Goliath’s sword.” (I Sam. 22:10). David is long-gone from there, so what does Doeg hope to accomplish? He simply wants to be on Saul’s good side. And he has to deflect any animosity that Saul might put on him. In other words, the content of Doeg’s information is completely self-serving. I should add that Doeg probably contemplated the following, “What if Saul finds out that David was in Nob the same time that I was? I had better tell Saul before he finds out this information on his own.” So part of Doeg’s decision to reveal this to Saul could have been motivated by self-preservation. Doeg knows what a madman Saul is; if Saul ever suspected that Doeg knew something about David but did not reveal it, Doeg would be executed for certain. Knowing that Saul was a madman, Doeg gave little consideration to what Saul would do to the inhabitants of Nob when he went there to find David long gone. In fact, the end result will not only be that Saul slaughters the priests of Nob, but that Doeg will do the actual slaughtering himself.

The result of all this is David’s psalm, an ode to Doeg, a man that David apparently once counted as a friend and ally, but who was now willing to sell his own mother, so to speak, for Saul’s approbation and for his own self-preservation. So, what you should expect is that David will speak rather strongly and negatively about Doeg, and his actions. What Doeg did was an immoral betrayal. David will pull no punches.

I originally introduced this psalm at the time that Doeg stands up and tells Saul, “I’ve seen David in Nob.” However, that is not when David actually wrote this. David didn’t sit straight up in his bed one night and suddenly say, “Doeg’s selling out the priests” as if from some dream. He wrote this psalm because of this act of Doeg’s. However, David will become aware of the act when the last living priest, Abiathar ben Ahimelech (probably a teenager at the time), comes to David and tells him about the slaughter of Nob (I Sam. 22:20–23). This would have been the actual time of David writing this psalm. Therefore, even though many commentaries make reference to this psalm back in I Sam. 22:9, it more properly belongs here, after I Sam. 22:22, after we have seen what Doeg has done.

One of the reasons that I read several commentaries when I prepare this, is that they occasionally give me a fresh perspective or thought or question to pursue. Although I have several commentaries which have been gathered by the e-Sword guy (Rick Meyers), when I read McGee’s take on this psalm, he provided a completely different initial view: McGee suggests that this psalm introduces a series of psalms about the man of sin to come, the antichrist (Psalms 52–55). McGee, for those who don’t know him, taught the entire Bible over a period of 5 years on the radio, book by book, although not always verse by verse (which would have been an impossible task). This trip was done several times, and now it is rebroadcast nearly two decades after McGee passed away to be with God. McGee never did go crazy with eschatology; he taught it when he came to it, and avoided making wild predictions. In fact, he writes, Many wild things are being said today in the field of prophecy. There is fanaticism in the great department of eschatology, the doctrine of future things; and some things are being said that should not be said. Because of the anxiety and uncertainly of this day and age in which we live, many folk are turning to the Word of God. Prophetic conferences are springing up everywhere, sponsored by churches that never before were interested in prophecy. Many speakers are attempting to be sensational by making prophetic statements that have no foundation in the Word of God. However, like I said, when McGee got to a prophetic passage, he did not shy away from it. And what McGee suggests is that, we have all of these villains in the life of David who have cropped up, and as David wrote about them, he wrote also about the man of sin as well. That is, there was a double meaning that could be inferred in David’s writings. While I hesitate only slightly in supporting McGee’s position here, there is doubtless many parallels between Doeg and the man of sin to come.

Psalm 52 Inscription

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      For the end, [a psalm] of instruction by David, when Doeg the Idumean came and told Saul, and said to him, “David is gone to the house of Abimelech.”

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       [A special psalm by David for the music leader. He wrote this when Doeg from Edom went to Saul and said, “David has gone to Ahimelech’s house.”]

NJB                                        For the choirmaster Poem Of David When Doeg the Edomite went and warned Saul, ‘David has gone to Abimelech’s house.’

NLT                                For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Doeg the Edomite told Saul that Ahimelech had given refuge to David.

TEV                                       God’s Judgment and Grace [Hebrew Title: A poem by David, after Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him that David had gone to the house of Ahimelech]

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         For the choir director; a maskil; a psalm by David when Doeg (who was from Edom) told Saul that David had come to Ahimelech’s home.

JPS (Tanakh)                        For the leader. A maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and informed Saul, telling him, “David came to Ahimelech’s house.” [In the JPS, this is vv. 1–2].

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                To the Chief Musician. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem. [A Psalm] of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, David has come to the house of Ahimelech.

NASB                                    For the choir director. A Maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

Young's Updated LT              To the Overseer. —An instruction by David, in the coming in of Doeg the Edomite, and he declares to Saul, and says to him, “David came in to the house of Ahimelech.”

What is the gist of this verse? David dedicates this psalm to God. It is a psalm of instruction written on the occasion that Doeg the Edomite revealed to Saul that David had been in Nob speaking with Ahimelech, the priest.

In the Hebrew, the first half of this inscriptions (parts a and b) are v. 1, and parts c and d are v. 2. Our English v. 1 is the Hebrew v. 3. In the Greek, this inscription (or title) and the verse that follows make up v. 1.

Translation: To the Preeminent One. As you can see, there are a variety of renderings for this Piel participle, including music leader, overseer, choirmaster, and chief musician. This psalm could be dedicated to God and it could be for the Overseer of the Music. What we have in Psalm 59, if you recall, is that David wrote: To the Preeminent One: do not destroy [me]! Although we could interpret this as being dedicated to Saul, who was out to destroy David, or to God, Who has the power to destroy David; this would hardly be applicable to the Chief Musician or to the Choir Director. Given the use of this word in Psalm 59, which was written prior to Psalm 56, we may reasonably give nâtsach a similar meaning here as found in Psalm 59; hence, the psalm is dedicated or written to God. Now, if we go with this understanding, the first question would be, why not dedicate this psalm to Elohim or to Jehovah? In the psalms, there are a number of style differences and word usage tends to be different as well. This does not preclude the use of Elohim or Jehovah, it simply recognizes that there may be words used in the psalms which also refer to God, but are not used elsewhere in that manner. Again, go back to Psalm 59—there are few traditional interpretations of the word nâtsach which make sense. However, as a dedication to God, this makes perfect sense.

Translation: An instructive psalm by David,... Although many good translations tend to transliterate this as maskil, I think that we can safely refer to this as an instructive psalm, given that there is no question about this words ties to the Hiphil (causal stem) of sâkal, which means to instruct, to make prudent, to teach. We find this used in the titles of Psalms  32, 42, 44, 45, 52–55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142. David is specifically mentioned in half of those psalms, with the following exceptions: no one is listed as the author for Psalms 42 44 45; Asaph is named as the writer of Psalms 74 78, Heman for Psalm 88 and Ethan for Psalm 89. After we cover a few more of these instructive psalms of David, then we will look at them as a whole.

Translation: When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and made [it] known that [lit., and made known to Saul and so he says]... We have already discussed the history of this. Doeg the Edomite was an outsider to Israel and was the chief shepherd of the royal herds. David and Doeg no doubt knew one another and probably had an association which was cordial, if not friendly. However, Doeg, in order to get on Saul’s good side (and to cover his own butt), makes it known to Saul that David had been in Nob, the city of the priests.

Translation: ...David had gone to the house of Ahimelech. As we will study in the remainder of I Sam. 22, Doeg will deftly guide Saul’s rage to fall upon Ahimelech, so that, once Doeg has revealed this information to Saul, Saul’s anger will seethe against Ahimelech (you see, when Doeg reveals this information to Saul, he takes the chance that Saul will be pissed at him, so he has to deflect Saul’s anger toward someone else). David probably does not know much more at this time than the fact that Doeg sold him out and sold out these priests. I don’t believe that there is another psalm which reveals such intense anger against an enemy than this psalm.

One of the things which we noted in the exegesis of I Sam. 22:10, was the fact that Doeg embellished his story to Saul somewhat. He told Saul that the High Priest of Nob, Ahimelech, helped David by giving him guidance from God. This was patently untrue, and we noted the reasons why we knew his testimony was false (which included v. 3 of this psalm). To remind you, Doeg told Saul that David had receive a weapon from Ahimelech, as well as bread (both of which are true) and also said that David received divine guidance through Ahimelech. It was this addition to the actual facts which upset Saul the most. However, this was Doeg’s plan—if Saul thought that David has simply deceived Ahimelech the priest, and that Doeg held back this information that David had been to Nob, then Saul might take his anger out on Doeg. However, since Doeg distorted David and Ahimelech’s meeting, making it sound as though Ahimelech was in collusion with David. The result of this lie will be that Saul will first kill all of the priests, and then he will go into Nob and slaughter all of their families—their wives and children—and all of their livestock. Although we haven’t covered this in I Sam. 22 yet, Saul will call of all of the priests to come to him. Then, when they arrive, he will accuse them and order their deaths. Even Saul’s hardened soldiers will not lift their swords against the priests, so Doeg will personally kill all 85 of them. This is how evil and depraved that Doeg is. He is willing to do anything in order to receive Saul’s approbation.

At least one commentator (Spurgeon) suggested that Doeg hated David. This is not the case. Had that been the case, Doeg would have given up David long ago—or brought him in from Nob when he saw him. Doeg weighed the options and determined that letting Saul know what David had been was the best way to advance his career. He did not tell Saul when he got back from Nob, and surely Doeg knew of Saul’s interest in David’s capture. Doeg waited till part way through this meeting before he spoke up. He was weighing the pros and cons. He didn’t hate David; he just recognized that this would properly further his career, and garner a little approbation from Saul.

Doeg’s Evil Lying Tongue

Here is how others have handled this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      Why do you, O mighty man, boast of iniquity in mischief? All the day... [This is part of v. 1; also the Greek lacks the phrase the grace of God].

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       You people may be strong and brag about your sins,

but God can be trusted day after day.

NAB                                       Why do you glory in evil,

you scandalous liar?

All day long...

NJB                                        Why take pride in being wicked,