A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM XI.
_David encourageth himself in God against his enemies.—The providence and justice of God._ To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, flee _as_ a bird to your mountain? For, lo, the wicked bend _their_ bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The LORD _is_ in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne _is_ in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: _this shall be_ the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. This Psalm is a complaint against erroneous and fanatical spirits: of which kind are all those who in the present day draw men astray from the pure and true doctrine of faith, and from the true worship of God, (which stands in true faith and the fear of God in the heart,) to hypocrisy, which has always an outward show of something great and wonderful:—these, I say, are the erroneous and fanatics, who thus draw away men like so many birds, and make them fly over to their mountains: that is, make them turn easily over to hypocrisy, and white-wash holiness, which, in outward show, appears to be something great and wonderful, and a firm rock, whereas it is all a thing of nought.
David ascribes to these characters that which is the peculiar characteristic of hypocrites,—that they arrogantly, proudly, and with high looks, despise and deride the truly godly. What, say they, can that righteous one, that fine fellow of a Christian, that poor miserable creature, do? In the end we have a consolation that God will certainly hear, and regard the afflicted; that he will be present with them, and show them by manifest tokens of his hand that he will not forsake them, and that he will, by horrible judgment, take vengeance on scoffers of this kind; on these pharisees and other enemies of David. This Psalm has reference to the Second precept of the Decalogue, and to the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.