Day: November 13, 2025

Thursday, November 13, 2025

“Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually” (Psalm 52:1 KJV).

Let us see how Psalm 52 can teach us something about the past, the present, and the future….

Re-read the subtitle of Psalm 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.” Unbelieving King Saul’s aggression toward young David is well-known to Bible students. With Saul increasingly manifesting how he does not have faith in JEHOVAH God, the LORD seeks another monarch to lead His people Israel. In chapter 16 of 1 Samuel, God authorizes Prophet-Judge Samuel to anoint believing David as the new Jewish king. With the LORD using David to conquer Philistine military giant Goliath in chapter 17, Saul recruits David to become one of his warriors.

As it becomes more apparent to Saul that God’s favor has moved from him in order to rest upon David, as Saul’s daughter Michal loves David to the point of marrying him, and as Saul’s son Jonathan becomes David’s closest friend, “Saul became David’s enemy continually” (1 Samuel 18:29). Hereafter, Saul plots to murder David, forcing David to flee for his life (chapter 20)! In chapter 21, David meets Priest Ahimelech, who provides David and his men with food. It is here that Doeg—the man mentioned in the subtitle of Psalm 52—learns of David’s whereabouts in order to report to Saul: “Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul” (1 Samuel 21:7). Doeg ultimately tattles on David to Saul, with Saul decreeing all the priests be slaughtered for conspiring against the king; these orders are subsequently carried out in a most brutal fashion (cf. 1 Samuel 22:6-23).

These events were weighing heavily on David’s mind when he composed the song of Psalm 52 (today’s Scripture), which you would do well to re-read in its entirety (all nine verses). Having reviewed this background data, we can proceed to expositing the Psalm line by line….