Psalm 36
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord.
1 An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: there is no fear of God before his eyes. 2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes, when he finds out his iniquity and when he hates. 3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. 4 He devises wickedness on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not abhor evil.
“To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David ‘the servant of Yahweh’… relates to the subject of the psalm: the dignity of David as the divinely-commissioned ‘servant of the Lord’ gives authority to his words, because he speaks them not as his own, but as God's words, whose Spirit moves him (2 Samuel 23:1).” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
“’An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked’: That of Leupold is even clearer: ‘A divine oracle about transgression has been heard in my heart with reference to the wicked.’... An oracle is a message from God. The Lord had given His prophet special revelation concerning how the wicked look at life and how they live: ‘They do not dread...’ That is, they feel no uneasiness as they should since God will judge them for their sins.” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable)
“‘For he flatters himself in his own eyes, when he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.’ The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). “David had some particular or general character of a wicked man before his eyes; a man who flattered himself as bearing an appearance of wisdom and virtue, till his real character was developed by his actions.” (Sutcliffe) Hatred and thus murder are finally his deeds.
“‘The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit’— he hath something to say to excuse and justify himself, to the hardening of his heart…” (John Calvin ) “‘He hath left off to be wise, and to do good,’ instead of leaving off the self-destroying folly of sin (Isaiah 1:16; Jeremiah 4:22; Psalms 14:1-2).” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “’He deviseth mischief upon his bed’— He bendeth his wits and beateth his brains… , breaking his sleep to plot and plough, to contrive and effect mischief.” (John Trapp) “‘He sets himself in a way that is not good— in the broad way that leads to his destruction. “’He does not abhor evil,’ that is, sin or the transgression of God’s moral code of the Ten Commandments, as he ought.
5 Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. 6 Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Lord, You preserve man and beast. 7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. 8 They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. 9 For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
“Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds,’ rising far above the haughty impiety of the wicked, who try, like the Babel-builders, to raise the edifice of their pride to ‘reach unto heaven’ (Genesis 11:4) Like the divine pillar of cloud and fire, the goodness of Yahweh so rises aloft above the earth as to be ‘in the heavens.’” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “His compassion and covenant love are so vast that they are so vast that they are ‘in the Heavens’, stretched out in a huge expanse which goes beyond the range of human sight.” (Peter Pett) “‘Your righteousness is like the great mountains;’— literally 'the mountains of God, that is Zion— “The righteousness of God is that whereby He recompenses every man according to his works, awarding salvation to the righteous, and destruction to the wicked. This stands immovable as the mountains, which no earthly power can shake and displace.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “‘Your judgments are a great deep;’ O Lord, - (Job 11:7-8) as deep as the ocean, a depth not yet plumbed by man.” (Peter Pett) “His ‘judgments’ are His judicial dealings in the moral government of the world, whereby He confounds the wicked and vindicates the good at last.”(Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
“‘You preserve man,’ that is, righteous or redeemed men and women, as well as “beast” or all animals at the Consummation at the end of time. “‘How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the (some) children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.’ The latter words are expletive of the former; which is generally so in the metaboles, which abound in the psalms.” (Sutcliffe) And they “are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,’ in connection with the sacrificial meals of the thank and peace-offerings. “‘And You give them drink from the river’— Not a running fountain; not a gentle bubbling rivulet; not a stream that would soon dry up; but a river,’ large; full; overflowing; inexhaustible.” (Barnes)—“’of Your pleasures.’ That is Christ. ‘For with You is the fountain of life;’ Only God's children have enough of all things both concerning this life and the life to come.” (Geneva Study Bible)
“‘In Your light we see light.’ "He is to the spiritual, what the sun is to the material, world— The sun is ‘the fountain of light and life’ to this lower world. When that is withdrawn, the earth is left in darkness, the vegetable world decays, and myriads of animals are secluded in a state of torpor. But when it returns in its brightness, it both dispels the darkness, and restores to nature her suspended powers. Thus, where Christ has not shined, universal darkness and death prevail. But when He arises on the soul, He enlightens it, and infuses into it a principle of life..., whereby its faculties are made capable of spiritual exertions; and it is rendered ‘fruitful in all the fruits of righteousness to God’s praise and glory.’” (Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae)
10 Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart. 11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. 12 There the workers of iniquity have fallen; they have been cast down and are not able to rise.
Preserve us unto that blessed resurrection unto life of which the workers of inequity shall have not lot or parcel. It shall be said, “they have been cast down and are not able to rise,’ above the mire. Yea, they are dead forever.