Psalm 12:1
Read Psalm 12:1 Using Other Translations
What does Psalm 12:1 mean?
Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth
A godly man, according to the notation of the word F26, is
one that has received grace and mercy of the Lord; as pardoning
mercy, justifying and adopting grace; and who has principles of
grace, goodness, and holiness, wrought in him; who fears the
Lord, and serves him acceptably, with reverence and godly fear,
and sorrows for sin, after a godly sort; who loves the Lord, and
hopes and believes in him; who is regenerated and sanctified by
the Spirit of God, and is a true worshipper of God, and lives in
all holy conversation and godliness; and, particularly, is
"beneficent", "kind", and "merciful" F1 unto men: such may be
said to "cease" when there are but few of them; when their number
is greatly reduced F2, either by death, or when such who
have seemed, and have been thought to be so, prove otherwise: in
a view of which, the psalmist prays for help and salvation;
"help", or "save"
F3 Lord; meaning himself, being destitute of the company, counsel, and assistance of good and gracious men; or the cause and interest of religion, which he feared would sink by the ceasing of godly men. When all friends and refuge fail, saints betake themselves to God, and their salvation is of him; and he is their present help in a time of trouble; and he saves and reserves for himself a number in the worst of times; as he did in Elijah's time, who thought there was no godly man left but himself; see ( Romans 11:1-5 ) ;
for the
faithful fail from among the children of men;
so that there are none left among them but carnal, unregenerate,
ungodly, and unfaithful men. The "faithful" are such who are
upright in heart and conversation; who trust in the Lord, and
believe in the Messiah; who abide by the truths and ordinances of
God; and are faithful in what is committed to their trust,
whether they be gifts of nature, Providence, or grace; and to
their fellow Christians, in advising, reproving when needful:
these may fail in the exercise of grace, and in the discharge of
duty, but not so as to perish eternally. The words design the
paucity of them, and the sad degeneracy of the times to which
they refer: and they may belong either to the times of David,
when Saul's courtiers flattered him, and spoke evil of David;
when the men of Keilah intended to have delivered him up; when
the Ziphites discovered him to Saul, and invited him to come and
take him; or when Absalom rose up in rebellion against him, and
so many of the people fell off from him: or else to the times of
Christ; the people of the Jews in his age were a wicked and
faithless generation; and even among his own disciples there was
great want of fidelity: one betrayed him, another denied him, and
all forsook him and fled; after his death, some doubted his being
the Redeemer, and one of them could not believe he was risen from
the dead, when he was. And these words may be applied to the
antichristian times, the times of the grand apostasy, and falling
away from the faith, upon the revealing of the man of sin; since
which the holy city is trodden under foot; the witnesses prophesy
in sackcloth; and the church is in the wilderness, and is hid
there. Yea, to the second coming of Christ, when there will be
great carnality and security, and little faith found in the
earth. A like complaint with this see in ( Isaiah 57:1 ) (
Micah 7:2 )
.
F26 (dyox) "passive pro beneficiario, sive alterius
beneficiis gratiosis cumulato", Gejerus.
F1 "Misericors", Pagninus, Mariana;
beneficus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F2 "Rari quippe boni" Juvenal. Satyr. 13.
v. 36.
F3 (heyvwh) "serva", Pagninus, Cocceius; "da salutem",
Junius & Tremellius.
