Psa 12:2-5 | KingComments | STEP | The wicked disobey God with their tongue (cf. ). They falsify and distort the truth ( ). They are out for power and want to pull it toward themselves by flattery, that is, lavishing others with insincere, cunning compliments. Everything may be said, the end justifies the means. Their lips drip with hypocrisy ( ). The source of their false words is their heart, for it is “a double heart”, literally “heart and heart”. Their heart is different from the impression they give by their words. They mean something completely different. What is being said here we see with Absalom ( ). David cries out to the LORD and utters a curse wish to put an end to this awful hypocrisy ( ). He wants their lips to be silenced and in a radical way: by cutting off those flattering lips, so that they can never be used again. The same is true of their “tongue that speaks great things” (cf. ; ). “The tongue that speaks great things” is above all the tongue of the antichrist ( ). Their tongue, over which roaring language rolls out, must be silenced and never be able to be used again. That the tongue is a powerful tool for subduing people ( ), history shows. Many have been deceived by the roaring, but also sometimes soft, spawning language of power-hungry people. The fancy-sounding promises to make life better have brought people under their spell. That in doing so God and His authority are rejected, they applaud. All that coercion of the Bible, they have to get rid of it. Freedom of speech is the highest good. You should be able to mock and ridicule anything and anyone. God and Christ, of course, have to suffer particularly in this matter. It must be possible to publish the filthiest, dirtiest drawings and the most debauched texts. “Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?” Man makes up his own mind what he does or does not say. The portrayal of the wicked reaches a low point here and should, as it were, prompt God to intervene now. That words are not harmless or without value is what the Lord Jesus teaches us. He says: “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” ( ).

‏ Psalms 12:2-5

The Words of Men

The wicked disobey God with their tongue (cf. Isa 57:4a). They falsify and distort the truth (Psa 12:3). They are out for power and want to pull it toward themselves by flattery, that is, lavishing others with insincere, cunning compliments. Everything may be said, the end justifies the means. Their lips drip with hypocrisy (Pro 26:24-25). The source of their false words is their heart, for it is “a double heart”, literally “heart and heart”. Their heart is different from the impression they give by their words. They mean something completely different. What is being said here we see with Absalom (2Sam 15:1-6).

David cries out to the LORD and utters a curse wish to put an end to this awful hypocrisy (Psa 12:3). He wants their lips to be silenced and in a radical way: by cutting off those flattering lips, so that they can never be used again. The same is true of their “tongue that speaks great things” (cf. Dan 7:8; Rev 13:5). “The tongue that speaks great things” is above all the tongue of the antichrist (Dan 11:36a). Their tongue, over which roaring language rolls out, must be silenced and never be able to be used again.

That the tongue is a powerful tool for subduing people (Psa 12:4), history shows. Many have been deceived by the roaring, but also sometimes soft, spawning language of power-hungry people. The fancy-sounding promises to make life better have brought people under their spell. That in doing so God and His authority are rejected, they applaud. All that coercion of the Bible, they have to get rid of it.

Freedom of speech is the highest good. You should be able to mock and ridicule anything and anyone. God and Christ, of course, have to suffer particularly in this matter. It must be possible to publish the filthiest, dirtiest drawings and the most debauched texts. “Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?” Man makes up his own mind what he does or does not say. The portrayal of the wicked reaches a low point here and should, as it were, prompt God to intervene now.

That words are not harmless or without value is what the Lord Jesus teaches us. He says: “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt 12:36-37).

The Words of the LORD

The torrent of ungodly words is now cut off and silenced by the sudden action of the LORD. He begins to speak. He responds to “the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy” (Psa 12:5). He hears their cry (cf. Exo 2:24) and arises. When He arises and lifts up Himself and exalts Himself (Isa 33:10), it is to judge evil and deliver His people. The wicked are humbled and blown away, and His people He sets in the safety for which they long.

The God-fearing’s assurance that God will intervene is in “the words of the LORD” (Psa 12:6). He has promised to stand up for His own, and what He says, He does. His words are promises; you can trust them. The Old Testament is full of promises that are “yes” in Christ and “amen” through Him (2Cor 1:20). Here He acts by speaking (cf. Psa 2:5). In doing so, He terrifies the wicked.

If we are wise, we will hold to this, no matter what may happen. The Word of God, what He says, is the unshakable foundation of our trust (cf. Mt 7:24). We may find ourselves in circumstances that challenge our faith. God uses those circumstances to free us from trusting in ourselves. In return, He wants to teach us to rely on every word that comes from His mouth. As a result, we will live for certain (Mt 4:4).

God’s words “are pure words”. They are without any ulterior motive, completely pure, without any mixture, true and trustworthy. God’s words are as pure as silver that has been “refined seven times”, that is to say, perfectly refined. Any falsity or hypocrisy is absent. They are words without the deceit, flattery, and duplicity of which the words of the wicked are steeped. This is what David spoke of in Psa 12:2-4. The words of God are the greatest contrast imaginable with that.

The words of the LORD are “tried in the furnace of earth” (Darby Translation). The purification is not meant to make it purer, but to show that it is perfectly pure. There has been and is attempted to eradicate the Word of God by burning Bibles. The Word has endured. There has been and is attempted to make the Word of God implausible by Bible criticism. The Word has demonstrated the absurdity of criticism and has proven to withstand all criticism. Philosophy and science have tried to show that God’s Word is not the truth, for example, by supposedly proving that the world came into being through evolution. God’s Word mocks them openly, for man without God is a blind man who also steps and gropes around in the dark.

The Word has been in every conceivable “furnace of earth” and has come out each time as pure as it went in. The believer has experienced it as a fully reliable Word. In the heat of the trial and the temptations that can accompany it, it has been clearly proven that no teaching of Scripture and no promise has suffered in the slightest through the trial and challenge.