Псалом 13
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Saul and his companions have become so corrupt that the Lord does not find one among them “doing good” (1–8). Will these wicked people not come to their senses? The Lord will severely punish them because they laughed at the faith of the righteous in Him (4-6).
Ps.13:1. The madman said in his heart: “There is no God.” They became corrupt and committed vile deeds; there is no one who does good.
“The madman said in his heart: “There is no God.” By crazy we mean Saul. “Say in your heart” - sincerely believe, decide. Saul's denial of God is not his denial of His existence, but his non-recognition of the Divine determination over David, according to which the latter was anointed by him to be king over Israel. Saul, in his persecution of David, was guided by his view of him as a power-hungry, a greedy seeker for the throne, and therefore a revolutionary. Saul was mistaken about David, but he was sincere in his mistake, while the courtiers around him consciously and selfishly supported such a false view in him, and therefore, in their slander against the innocent sufferer, they “committed vile deeds.”
Ps.13:2. The Lord looked down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there was one who understood, seeking God.
Ps.13:3. They all deviated and became equally obscene; there is no one who does good, not even one.
There were people grouped around Saul who used their influence over him for personal purposes. These goals, as well as the means for their implementation, were so unclean that there was “not one” left who “does good.” The expression is hyperbolic, indicating the degree to which all kinds of abuses and violence are widespread among the people.
Ps.13:4. Will not all those who practice iniquity, who eat my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the Lord, come to their senses?
“They eat my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the Lord.” David's enemies did not care about the welfare of the people, but tried to get from it for themselves everything that they consider valuable in life: they ate it like bread. They did not apply moral evaluation to their actions; they only needed what was profitable, and not what was in accordance with the Law of God: they did not call on Him and did not listen.
Ps.13:5. There they will fear fear, [where there is no fear,] for God is among the generation of the righteous.
Ps.13:6. You laughed at the thought of the beggar that the Lord is his hope.
God, who carefully watches over man (“he looked down from heaven” Ps. 13:2), will not leave them unpunished: where there is no fear for the righteous, the wicked will tremble (“they will be afraid of fear”). The final judgment of all living things belongs to God, therefore the expression “there” means before God, at His judgment, when the Lord will punish the wicked and reward only the righteous, since for the latter He is their “hope” and His favor only “in the generation of the righteous.”
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