Psalm 11

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:32:53utc

Adam Clarke places this psalm against the background of Saul's persecution of David and the murder of the priests of Nob. There is no direct mention of the occasion for which the psalm was composed, but the text allows for such a historical situation.

The psalm is dedicated to the chief musician. The Hebrew word is nâtsach, which is derived from a word that means to glitter from afar. Strong defines it as "superintendent of Temple services and its music."

This psalm is a dialog between David and a friend who advises him to flee. George Knight suggests in his book Commentary on the Psalms that the advice of the friends ends with the words: "what can the righteous do?" This interpretation seems plausible.

The question remains: "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" The advice is "flee!" David's answer is: "No!" This does not mean that David never fled in his life. He spent several years as a fugitive, hiding from Saul, and he fled when Absalom was out to kill him. The question, therefore, is not whether the just should flee before the wicked, but what should a righteous man do when the foundations are destroyed? Should he give up? Personal safety ought to be of secondary consideration. In case fleeing is one of the options, the just should ask the Lord for clear guidance. When Vietnam fell to the communists several church leaders chose to stay in the country. Many Jews, however, decided to flee Germany during the Nazi regime, and rightfully so. When the foundations are destroyed the righteous should flee toward the Lord, and from that hiding place decide what God wants him to do and where to go. But the righteous should never surrender.

David had taken refuge in the Lord; as an Old Testament believer he had taken up his position, which was the equivalent of our being "in Christ." David and the New Testament believer are both positioned in God's victory. The question is: "When can we say that the foundations are destroyed?" In a sense this happened when man fell into sin, when Adam decided that the Word of God was no longer the guideline of his life. In the context of this psalm it must mean that those who were in power, at that time, did not base their authority upon the Word of God. A man like Saul did not consider himself to be a ruler by the grace of God. Under his rule, the relationship between his subjects was not governed by the moral law, as it is expressed in the Ten Commandments: "Honor your father and your mother, … You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor, You shall not covet …"^¹ The fact, however, that individuals or communities no longer base their lives upon "the foundations" does not mean that those foundations are no longer in existence. When a man breaks the law, it does not mean that the law itself breaks; what is broken is obedience to the law.

In verses 7-11 David answers his friend's advice. He had already rejected the suggestion to flee in his repetition of the words: "Flee like a bird to your mountain," and his answer was: "In the LORD I take refuge." In this second part of the psalm David reflects on who the Lord is in whom he takes refuge. This kind of meditation is the best exercise a man can do for his peace mind and the stability of his life. Once we have fled life's pressures and taken our refuge in the Lord, it is good to quiet ourselves and concentrate on where we are. Those who are under the Lord's protection find themselves in His holy temple, which is the safest place in the universe. Being in God's presence and under His cover means being in Christ in the heavenlies. This discovery may make us dizzy. We are covered by Him who sits on the throne. The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way: "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"² The Hebrew word translated "temple" is heykal, which literally means a large public building, such as a palace or temple, according to Strong's. So it would be appropriate to translate: "The Lord is in His holy palace." This is where God sits on the throne. The throne of God is the emblem of omnipotence. Since there is no greater power than omnipotence, there is also no greater security than the protection God gives.

It may be hard for us to imagine how someone can be on earth with a physical body and be in heaven in the spirit, but this is the perspective David opens here for us. David's vision comes from his ability to draw a line from his position on earth to the throne of God, by which he makes the light of eternity fall upon a moment in time and space. Man cannot go his way upon earth unnoticed. If he thinks that God does not see him or does not know him, he lives in an imaginary world. In drawing a line to the throne, David shows himself to be a realist, who sees men for what they are. This connection between God being on the throne and the transparency of the acts of men is an important thought in this verse. Now, what relationship is there between David's reluctance to flee from the wicked and God's seeing through the motives of men? It is, obviously, that David can look at men as God sees them. He sees both the righteous and the wicked from a heavenly perspective.

Before God, not only are all man's acts transparent, but also man's motives. God knows not only what we do but also why we do it. If we can see what motivates people to act the way they do, we are delivered from the fear of men, even the fear of those who love violence. This is not a question of, what the French proverb calls: "To understand all means to pardon all,"³ for God does not forgive the wicked who love violence. This does not seem to agree with the thought that God hates sin but loves the sinner. David says: "the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates." God harbors a deep hatred for sadists and for people who enjoy wickedness. God's love only becomes active at the conversion and repentance of a person. God hates the devil and the man who has sold himself to the enemy. If we realize that this enemy is vanquished, we will share in God's vision, and this sharing will mean victory over fear for ourselves.

David can see God's judgment descending upon the wicked man, as it descended upon Sodom and Gomorra in the days of Lot, and he keeps his distance from the ones who will be hit by this judgment. Lot had lost this perspective and, consequently, he barely escaped this judgment himself. The fact that David sees fire and brimstone already descending upon the wicked proves that he has insight in God's character and that he is also able to see through the appearance of sin with all its threatening behavior.

Vs. 7 stands out as a pearl in this psalm. "For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face." God's character is righteousness. Acting righteously is the natural result of His being. God's righteousness demonstrates itself in His acts. Righteousness is an absolute which is a part of God's attributes. When David says: "He loves justice," he does not mean to imply that God loves Himself, but that He loves this absolute value in the person who has fellowship with Him. The words "upright men will see his face" prove those wrong who say that there was no hope of life after death in the Old Testament.

Seeing God's face is the fulfillment of our humanity. It is the final goal and the beginning of real life for us. John says in Revelation: "His servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads."⁴

The rendering of the KJV: "his countenance doth behold the upright," seems to turn the meaning of the words around and is, probably, less correct.

Seeing God's face is the end of the long growing process that started with hiding with God. Moses' experience of seeing God's glory began with his hiding in the cleft of the rock.⁵ He had one of the greatest experiences any mortal being ever had. We observe God's glory in the face of Christ. As the apostle Paul puts it: "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." When we see Jesus, we see the Father. This will be the case in the eternal heavenly glory, as it was when Christ was on earth. The ability to see God is the result of an inner transformation which starts in us when we begin to flee to God and hide in Him. It is as we are being "transformed into the same image from glory to glory,"⁶ that our vision on God's glory is sharpened.

¹ Ex. 20:12-17

² Heb. 13:6

³ Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner!

⁴ Rev. 22:3,4

⁵ See Ex. 33:18-34

⁶ II Cor. 3:18 (ASV)