Bible Commentaries
Psalms 53

Verse 1

CONTENTS

Here is a short, but striking account of sin in a natural man's heart, as was given before, in the fourteenth Psalm. The sinner is expostulated with upon the occasion; and the Psalmist takes occasion, from such a state of man's ruin by nature, to pray for his recovery by grace in the salvation of Christ.

To the chief musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.

Psalms 53:0

Having already offered an humble comment upon this Psalm, as numbered before the 14th, I think it unnecessary to detain the Reader with going over the same again in this place: the Reader can refer to what was there observed. It is true there is some little variation in one of the verses, but not so materially different as to render a commentary necessary: I shall only therefore just observe, that if we suppose (as we may) the repetition of it, as well as the apostle Paul's quotation from it, was designed to recommend it with the more earnestness to the attention of the church; this may, and indeed it ought to operate in a stronger manner to enforce the important doctrines it contains upon our hearts. And as it points to the natural atheism which is in every man's heart from the consequences of original sin, as the sad cause and source of all our misery; so a deep sense of our guilt and ruin in this particular may, under God's grace, serve no less to endear to us that blessed and only recovery which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord the Holy Ghost grant, from the repeated perusal of it, this blessed effect and then if Jesus becomes more and more precious in proportion as we feel more and more our need of him, we shall find the same cause as Jacob to rejoice, and as Israel to be glad.