Psalm 52

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 22:6-23
• Sermon
• Pastoral Prayer

---

Sermon Title: The Last Laugh — Wickedness, Humiliation, and the Faith of the Godly

Scripture: Psalm 52

I. The Character of the Wicked — Psalm 52:1-4

A. Doeg the Edomite boasts of evil — the "mighty man" is addressed with Hebraic sarcasm

1. The historical context: Doeg betrays David to Saul, resulting in the massacre of the priests at Nob (1 Samuel 22:6-23)
2. Saul's lowest moment: commanding the total destruction of Israel's priests, carried out by an Edomite outsider

B. The steadfast love (hesed) of God endures all the day — Psalm 52:1

1. Hesed: the loyal, covenant-faithful love of Yahweh for his covenant people Israel
2. The emphasis on Doeg as the Edomite is deliberate — Edomites are descendants of Esau, the rejected brother of Jacob
3. Malachi 1 and Romans 9: "Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated" — God's covenant love flows through Jacob/Israel, not Esau/Edom

C. The irony of the deceiver

1. Jacob means "deceiver," but God's electing love moves Jacob from deceiver to Israel — one who strives/perseveres with God
2. Esau/Edom moves from the hairy one (worker) to deceiver — the reprobate go from wicked to more wicked
3. Doeg the Edomite embodies this trajectory: the rejected man executing the rejected king's wickedest act

II. The Humiliation of the Wicked — Psalm 52:5-7

A. God will break down, snatch, tear, and uproot the wicked — Psalm 52:5

B. The righteous see, fear, and laugh — Psalm 52:6-7

1. Derek Kidner: "The final stage of the destruction is laughter, which is the holy, devastating penalty for the high and mighty"
2. Martin Luther: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn"
3. The arrogant are not undone by argument but by mockery — Doeg and Saul, the rejected pair, stand alone; no one in Israel defends them

C. The Edom–Israel pattern throughout redemptive history (biblical theology)

1. Numbers 20–21: Edom refuses safe passage to Israel in the wilderness
2. Edom aids Babylon in the destruction of Jerusalem and loots Judah's territory afterward
3. Malachi 1: Edom lies in ruins (destroyed by Nabonidus and the Nabataeans) while Israel is restored — God answers Israel's doubt about his love by pointing to Edom's desolation
4. King Herod the Great — an Edomite — seeks to kill the newborn son of David, mirroring Doeg's attempt to destroy God's anointed; the Christ escapes into Egypt
5. Herod Antipas, an Edomite, presides at Jesus's death — the rejected king seeking to snuff out the true Davidic king
6. Christ rises; Herod Antipas dies in exile in Gaul; the Edomites are assimilated and disappear from history — the covenant people in Christ continue on and have the last laugh

D. Systematic theology vs. biblical theology illustrated through the Edom–Israel theme

1. Systematic theology: gathering all Scripture on a topic to form a unified definition
2. Biblical theology: tracing a theme through the unfolding stages of redemptive history
3. The Edom–Israel relationship is one of Scripture's most vivid biblical-theological threads

III. The Faith of the Godly — Psalm 52:8-9

A. David is like a green olive tree in the house of God — Psalm 52:8

1. The olive tree: one of the longest-lived trees in the ancient world — David's line will continue; Saul's will not
2. Contrast with Saul, whose dynasty ends with him (see 1 Samuel into 2 Samuel 1)

B. The enemies of God seek to destroy not only the people's king but the people's worship

1. Doeg murders the priests who serve in the house of God — the Tabernacle
2. One priest survives: Abiathar, whom David protects — David extrapolates this historically into near-eternal terms in the psalm
3. David declares: "I will thank you forever… in the presence of the godly" — the enemy's efforts cannot silence the worship of God's people

C. The thick irony of Christ crucified

1. The king-priest that Edom and all God's enemies sought to kill — his death becomes the way into God's presence
2. Revelation 21–22: the lamp of the New Jerusalem is the Lamb that was slain — insult added to injury against Satan
3. Christian worship in the name of Christ crucified is Satan's defeat — the nail marks in Christ's hands are the very means by which we enter the throne of grace
4. Even Satan's apparent successes become the means of true worship — God cannot be defeated; his people have the last laugh in Christ