Psalm 14

For the Choirmaster

A Psalm of David.

⁰¹          The fool has said in his heart,

            “There is no God.”

 

They are corrupt,

they commit abominable works,

there is none who does good.

⁰²          The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men.

                         To see if there are any who understand,

                        any who seek after God.

⁰³          They have all turned aside;

                        together they have become corrupt;

                        there is none who does good, not even one.

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A Pack of Atheists

For the Lord’s Day:  the 16^th of November 2003

Introduction:  Mitchell Dahood in The Anchor Bible commentary on the text of the Psalms suggests a unique translation for the difficulties of the fifth verse in this Psalm “See how they have formed a cabal.”  While I cannot agree to his final rendition of that text, at the very least I will allow his rendition to entitle the first portion of this Psalm.  The proposed “cabal” of his understanding becomes the “Pack of Atheists” in my general description.

 

After all, it is a common assumption within religious circles that the “fool” of scriptural fame is none other than that spiritually blind and intellectually stupid specimen of humanity who defies every type and form of evidence that there must be a Creator God.  Were not these craven creatures so much in the assent in the liberality of these contemporary times, we could pass on and ignore the statistical irrelevance of their actual numbers at less than five per cent of the general population. 

 

However, because of the vast numbers of “nominal atheists” who live, act and witness to their apparent agreement with that minority – we must give this complaint of David a fair hearing.  Calvin’s early assessment of this same sense is this:  “In the beginning the Psalmist describes the wicked contempt of God into which almost the whole people had broken forth.  To give the greater weight to his complaint, he represents God himself as uttering it.  Afterwards he comforts himself and others with the hope of a remedy, which he assures himself God will very soon provide, although, in the meantime, he groans and feels deep distress at the disorder which he beholds.”

 

Much is made of the fact that Psalm Fifty-three is very similar in composition to the present psalm.  Delitzsch supposes that Psalm Fourteen is the earlier composition and that possibly the text has been slightly corrupted with a missing line or two.  He asserts that the main difference between the two is that while this version is focused upon internal problems, in the Fifty-third: “the announcement of judgment is applied to foreign enemies.”

 

In his short analysis, Spurgeon tells us that the many “conjectures as to the occasion upon which [Psalm 14] was written are so completely without foundation, that it would be a waste of time to mention them at length.  The apostle Paul, in Romans 3, has shown incidentally that the drift of the inspired writer is to show that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin; there was, therefore, no reason for fixing upon any particular historical occasion, when all history reeks with terrible evidence of human corruption.” 

 

Further, Spurgeon admonishes us that the later replication of this psalm is nothing more than a restatement of “a truth which is ever distasteful to carnal minds.”  If for no other reason, at least the Hebrew focus in the fourteenth and the Gentile focus in the fifty-third simply assure us of the wideness of the complaint picked up by the Apostle Paul when he later declares:  “What then?  Are we Jews any better off?  No, not at all.  For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written:  ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God’.” Romans 3: 9-11)

 

 Development: Therefore, we should not be surprised when the devil’s advocates announce for one and all to hear - their favorite delusion:  “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’.”  One author examining the premise of atheism asserts quite correctly it would appear, that the foolish atheist is nothing more than a sinful pervert who is dismayed that any being might declare his favorite activities as sinful and degenerate.  Well did David appreciate the fool’s true interests:  “They are corrupt, they commit abominable works, there is none who does good.”  In C.S. Lewis’s space trilogy, one of the Martian species describes the fallen creatures who have come out of the silent planet earth: as “the bent ones.”  And how apt is that description, these sorry creatures will not look up to heaven, but are focused upon the contemplation of their own selfish personas.  “Apostate,” and “wretch” are two words that Spurgeon uses to explain the Hebrew word “Nabel, which has the signification of fading, dying, or falling away, as a withered leaf or flower; it is a title given to the foolish man as having lost the juice and sap of wisdom, reason, honesty, and godliness.”

 

And yet the sympathizers with such creatures are just as bent in their humanistic concerns that lead them to ignore the commands and revelations of our own Triune God of heaven and earth.  And it is He who looks down upon a general apostate population that refuses to look up to heaven and give Him the notice and worship that He deserves.  “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men. To see if there are any who understand, any who seek after God.”

 

Here we see, even as David so sadly knows from experience – that nominal atheism is running riot within Israel.  So little attention is being paid to the great God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the rest that there is hardly any evidence that God’s chosen people are anything and everything but close to Him in attitude and sympathy!  Calvin explains the scene here:  “God himself is here introduced as speaking on the subject of human depravity, and this renders the discourse of David more emphatic than if he had pronounced the sentence in his own person.”

 

Delitzsch fleshes out the text in this paraphrasology:  “God’s all-seeing, all-piercing eyes scrutinize the whole human race.  Is there one who shews discernment in thought and act, one to whom fellowship with God is the highest good, and consequently that after which he strives? - this is God’s question, and He delights in such persons, and certainly none such would escape His longing search.”

 

Application:  Inevitably, we are led to consider the Lord’s knowing observation in our last verse for today:  “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” The universality of corruption is measured in the strongest words possible.  And so early on in the Psalter, we are presented with the doctrine of total depravity – there is none who without grace and mercy and the leading of the Spirit of God who will willingly seek Him out on their own recognizance.   “What is lamented,” Delitzsch tells us, “is neither the pseudo-Israelitish corruption in particular, nor that of the heathen, but the universal corruption of man which prevails not less in Israel than in the heathen world.”

 

Calvin shares the especially pregnant meaning of the Hebrew terminology in the phrase:  “They have all turned aside.”  He says that “some translate the word, ‘sar’  which is here used, to stink. …  Every one of them emits an offensive odour, that it may correspond in meaning with the verb in the next clause, which in Hebrew signifies to become putrid or rotten.”

 

But, our modern apologists for the human condition might argue – this is a learned behavior and it is the very figures of worldly authority who have taught mankind to sin.  And so, if we would trust the secular humanists to recast morality in a less negative spin and let them keep parents and adults from corrupting children with guilt – truly an amazing generation may finally evolve.  And that would be one, if the nominal atheists have their way – one that knows no guilt or sin and one that can remain forever innocent because very language that would so define them is banned.  And so it is to be presumed, will be the very God who measures all things. 

 

I am reminded of the “profound” minds of the elitist intellectuals, of my college and seminary days, who could dazzle the ignorant with a simple question:  “if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound.”  Someone in the class would always spell out the obvious laws of nature that there has to be a sound!  Then the protagonist professors would argue from silence the sincere profundity of their opinion that since no one was really there to hear, no sound could thereby be proved.

 

It was always, their subtle way of expressing doubt that God was ever in His temple and all the earth must therefore give Him His due!  After all, if there were truly by philosophic argument no Creator God to look down on the sons of men, then there would be no iniquity, no sin and no guilt.

 

We like David have a different view, a revelation from the very mind of God, that as Francis Schaeffer expressed it:  “He is there and He is not silent!”  And like David’s son, the once and future King, He has spoken in and through the light of nature and in the revealed word of God through the auspices of the Holy Spirit.

 

Like David too, we can have sorrow for the rampant reign of sin and for the countless throng being led away to eternity in hell and damnation because they have not heard or heeded the voice of the Triune God of heaven and earth, who calls us one and all to the gladsome worship of His only Son: our Lord Jesus Christ.  Also, even as the Apostle Paul admonishes us from his consideration of this text and doctrine.  “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3: 19)

 

Pity the poor atheist and their countless sympathizers who deny this essential reality of the human condition and who will on no account allow that God has spoken!  After all, they haven’t heard Him – therefore He can’t have said anything important?  I am reminded of my years at home when mother would call from the house for any help – we were very hard of hearing.  But, when the magic words related to food were announced, it didn’t matter how far from the house we were: “Supper!” always drew us like magnets to the house and table.

 

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’.” And because of this sad orientation of his soul, he has not heard the voice of our Lord and has not come to the table of our Lord for fellowship, communion nor the bread of life.  May we all count it grace and mercy that our ears have been opened by the Spirit so that we know better than the poor fool who must spend eternity apart from our loving Lord.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

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