Psalm 12

vs 1

I can only have an inkling of the kind of depressing feeling this would be. I have never felt like there was no one who was still right with God, still seeking his will and standing upright for him. Of course, since everyone is sinful, there could come a time in anyone's life where they felt this way. We know David wasn't the only one to feel this - Elijah calls out to God with the same cry.

vs 2

The thing that David had in particular was not sexual depravity or murderousness or anything like that - what was drawing him to call on the Lord for aid was that people were lying to each other and being deceitful and flattering. You might say, "well, big deal" but a lot of damage and hurt can come from this sort of behaviour, which is why it hurts so much when you see a church acting like this.

vs 3

David actually calls God to judgement on their lips! They must have been saying some pretty hurtful things.

vs 4

In fact, this verse sounds so much like a judgement on politicians that it isn't funny. Perhaps more about noblemen or aristocrats in David's day, but those people who live by their lips rather than by their sword think they can talk their way out of anything.

vs 5

Some might argue that God is a bit callous in waiting until the poor and needy have been oppressed and complain, but that is his way. If God were pro-active in this, stepping in before they were oppressed, firstly he would be preventing free will and stopping suffering from ever happening, and secondly people would only complain "Sure, God steps in and stops us from oppressing them, but why doesn't he just stop them being poor and needy?"

vs 6

I wonder if David's verse there is a corrective against the attitude I've just put forward above, or if it just fits well into the poetry in Hebrew. One interesting thing about this verse is that every translation up to the NIV says that the silver is refined in a furnace of clay, but the TNIV puts it in terms of a repetition, silver being refined, gold also being refined (no clay or earth).

vs 7

I was not aware that David was among the ranks of the poor and needy, but he puts himself there. God has said he will protect, so David now claims that promise as being as good as the protection itself.

vs 8

This verse is as much a judgement on humanity as it is on the wicked people. Sure, the wicked people do wicked things, but who judges them? Is it mankind? Wait, no, they're to busy honouring depravity. So God has to step in, protect the people who are being maligned, judge the wicked who are acting in a vile manner, and then instruct the populace in what is right and wrong, again, and waggle his finger a bit.