Psalm 11: David’s Fire and Brimstone
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 In Yahweh I put my trust; how can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountains” 2 For look! The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. 3 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? 4 Yahweh is in His holy temple, Yahweh’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. 5 Yahweh tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. 6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For Yahweh is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.
I put my trust in the Person of Yahweh, as revealed in the Scriptures. “‘How can you say to my soul,’— to ‘me’, the soul being put for the person himself” (Albert Barnes) — “‘Flee as a bird to your mountain,’ the hill country of Judea.” (Joseph Sutcliffe) “The allusion to the bird here does not imply that birds sought a refuge in the mountains, and that he was to resemble them in this respect; but the point of the comparison turns on the rapidity with which this refuge should be sought: ‘Fly to the mountains as swiftly as a bird flies from danger.’ Compare Matthew 24:16; Judges 6:2; Hebrews 11:38.” (Albert Barnes) Now David's advisors give the reason for their case to flee—> “‘For, lo, the wicked bend their bow’ - …The enemy was preparing for an attack, and that at an unexpected moment the attack would be made unless he should effect his escape… ‘They make ready their arrow upon the string’ - Hebrew, ‘they fit or fix the arrow upon the string.’ That is, they place the end of the arrow in the proper place upon the string of the bow. ‘That they may privily shoot at the upright in heart’ - Margin, as in the Hebrew, ‘in darkness.’ That is, that they may do it secretly or treacherously. They do not intend to do it in open day, or (as we should say) ‘in a fair fight;’ but they mean to do it when their victim is not aware of their design.” (Albert Barnes)
“‘Flee’— here his carnal friends might advise him, as Peter did his Master, Matthew 16:22... Flee, flee David, quick, quicker, most quickly.” (John Trapp)—> “To which advice David answers, ‘In the Lord put I my trust,’ shall I act as if I were conscious of evil, and that my wicked deeds were likely to be discovered? Or shall I act as one who believes he is forsaken of the protection of the Almighty? No: I put my trust in Him, and I am sure I shall never be confounded...” (Adam Clarke), not put to shame.
The heart of David’s response is this: “‘If the foundations— laws, covenants, and promises— ‘are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Albert Barnes) In such a state: “All things are out of order and course both in church and state; the laws, which are the foundations of government, are despised and disregarded; judgment is perverted, and justice stands afar off; the doctrines and principles of religion are derided and subverted; so that there is no standing, either in a political or religious sense.” (John Gill) “Kimchi supposes this refers to the priests who were murdered by Doeg, at the command of Saul. The priests are destroyed, the preservers of knowledge and truth; the Divine worship is overthrown.” (Adam Clarke)- And even the government is now in danger, if Yahweh's anointed king died. But says David: “Yahweh is in His holy temple, and His throne is higher than the thrones of princes. His cares are unremitting, for His eyelids never sleep. Who then can harm the righteous?” (Sutcliffe) “Though all things in earth are out of order, yet God will execute judgment from heaven.” (Geneva Study Bible)
Perhaps the foundations are His teachings, particularly as follows- the wage of sin death. No one believes it anymore. The masses believe in eternal torment. “‘Yahweh tests the righteous.’ He does not abandon them; he tries them to show their faithfulness, and he afflicts them for their good.” (Adam Clarke) The redeemed shall not surely die.
“‘But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.’ They shall surely died. “They lay snares for the righteous, as Saul did for David, when he required a hundred foreskins of the Philistines; but they are here apprized that God shall rain snares of fire and brimstone upon them from heaven. The allusion is to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose inhabitants had long ceased to blush, and had long mocked at the divine judgments. But when their dark and awful day came, if they ran into the street, the fire was there; and if they ran into the fields, the fire was there, and extended to all the plain. So the Lord held them by His power, as the feet of a bird are entangled by the snare of the fowler. So the wicked, the insidious, and all who seek the hurt of another, must expect the like cup from the Lord; for He is righteous, and His countenance doth behold the upright.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
They say that you must choose your battles. This is mine. "And another angel followed saying, ’Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’ Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (Rev 14:8-11) “This passage has a ‘sister text’... from the OT and therefore is the foundation upon which Revelation 14:8-11 rests: ‘Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfer; her land will become a blazing pitch! It shall not be quenched night or day; it’s smoke will rise forever.’ (Isaiah 34:9-10a)
... We get the impression that the kingdom of Edom will burn forever and ever without end, but the entire rest of the chapter renders this interpretation impossible. The rest of the chapter shows that Edom would become a desolate desert inhabited by owl, jackals and hyenas. Verses 6-6 state that the people of of Edom will be ‘totally destroyed’ and slaughtered, and Obadiah 10 & 28 back this up, stating that Edom will ‘be destroyed forever’— consumed by the fore of God’s judgment and wrath. Therefore the statement ‘ It shall not be quenched night or day; it’s smoke will rise forever’ cannot be taken to mean what it might casually appear to mean…. Please notice that Isaiah 34:10 plainly declares that Edom will burn and ‘ not be quenched night and day.’ This shows that the phrase ‘night or day’ does not refer to an unending amount of time. The burning suffer that destroyed Edom was not quenched ‘ night or day’ until the entire kingdom was destroyed. Likewise, the wicked people spoken of in Revelation 14:10-11 will have no rest from their torment ‘day or nigh; until the burning sulfur totally destroys them. ‘burning sulfur’ is simply another name for the lake of fire, Rev 21:80: so being ‘tormented with burning sulfur’ is a reference to the second death." (Hell Know- Eternal Torment or Everlasting Destruction by Dirk Waren)
“God warned Jerusalem through Ezekiel that she would suffer the same fate as Samaria which had been destroyed: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, which is deep and wide. You will be laughed at and held in derision; it contains much. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.’ (Ezek. 23:32–34) Isaiah addresses Jerusalem, which underwent the divine judgment, as ‘you have drunk from the Lord’s hand the cup of His anger’ (51:17; cf. also v. 22) This metaphorical expression occurs elsewhere the Old Testament (Ps. 6:3; Jer. 25:15–29; 49:12–13; Obad.15–16). The same figure of speech was used by Jesus when referring to His suffering on the cross (Matt. 20:22; 26:39; John 18:11)…” (Ranko Stefanovic) for the wrath of God was poured on Jesus for His people. He died for our sins!