When You Are Born a Fool (Psalm 53)

David’s words minister comfort to all of us born as fools. Though we often stray, God promises to forgive and draw us back to him. We simply must confess our sin and trust in Christ as Savior as his faithful saints. Psalm 53 expands and applies David’s former testimony in Psalm 14 as he reprises a cherished song for this challenge in later life.[1] It is another “maskil,” designed to instruct the fool with wisdom.[2] As Spurgeon wrote,

All repetitions are not vain repetitions. We are slow to learn, and need line upon line . . . David after a long life, found men no better than they were in his youth. Holy Writ never repeats itself needlessly, [therefore] there is good cause for the second copy of this Psalm . . . If our age has advanced from fourteen to fifty-three, we shall find the doctrine of this psalm more evident than in our youth.[3]

We will adapt Matthew Henry’s classic outline as a way to organize the text.[4]

The Folly of Sin (v. 1)

The Bible cuts through the bland, respectable title of “a-theist” (one without God) and calls out the fool who “says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good” (v. 1). This fool (nabal) hints at wicked Nabal who spurned the Lord and the Lord’s anointed (1 Sam 25).[5] He cannot deny God’s revelation in the natural world, but he suppresses this truth in his unrighteousness (Rom 1:18-23; 1 Cor 2:14). He is not stupid, but stubborn. His folly is not from untaught ignorance, but from incalcitrant rebellion. Yet God is God whether we acknowledge him or not. And he will show us to be fools unless we prepare our souls to give account (Matt 12:35-37).

The Fact of Sin (vv. 2-3)

Man’s problem is that we do not always see our sin because we have closed our eyes in blindness. We make excuses: “It wasn’t me. I didn’t mean to. That’s not what really happened.” With shifty eyes, we shift the blame like the couple in the garden (Gen 3:12-13). And when we can’t deny our sin, we earnestly seek to justify it. We are like dogs returning to our vomit and pretending that we like it (Prov 26:11).

Yet we are not the final Judge in the court of public appeals. Instead, it is God who “looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (Ps 53:2-3). His verdict: not one of us is innately good. He perfectly knows the heart of man and finds us wanting. For at varied times in history, God has “looked down” from heaven to judge the wicked (e.g., Gen 6:5, 11, 12; 11:5; 18:21). He discerns our desires from our deeds and presents such overwhelming evidence that we cannot deny the fact of sin so long as God is Judge (1 John 1:5-8, 10). Thus, Paul quotes these psalms as a premise for the gospel: “As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one’” (Rom 3:10-12).

The Filth of Sin (v. 1)

Like the prodigal, though, our wayward choices lead us to the slop (Luke 15:15). For “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov 14:12). Sin pretends to be desirable when, in truth, it is destructive. In its deceit, darkness masquerades as light and many confuse evil with the good. Yet the shiny lure of temptation will only lead to death (Jas 1:14-15). So, David tells it to us straight as he calls our sin “abominable” and “corrupt” (v. 1). In fact, even so-called righteous deeds are filthy rags (Isa 64:6).

The Fault of Sin (vv. 1, 3-4)

We cannot cast the fault of sin on any other besides ourselves, for “there is none who does good, not even one” (Ps 53:1, 3).[6] For we were “brought forth in iniquity” and conceived in a state of original depravity (51:5). We are sinners at heart and sinners by choice: “corrupt” evildoers who practice “abominable iniquity,” having “fallen away” from the righteous path. “To fall away” means to break loyalty with the God who made us and to diverge from his perfect way. The fault is solely ours and we have no one else to blame for getting lost.

The Fruit of Sin (v. 4)

Our folly then bears the fruit of sinful consequences: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal 6:7-8). Unbelievers do not love the Lord, nor have they called upon his name to receive salvation (Ps 53:4). They have no knowledge of his goodness. And as a result, they cannibalize God’s people with their words (52:4).[7] They devour the weak like bread in order to make themselves strong (27:2; Mic 3:1-3). Yet rotten fruit corrupts the joy of others with its sickness, decay, and stench.

The Fearful Shame Attending Sin (v. 5)

Sinners also hide in shame before a holy God (e.g., Gen 3:7-10). In panic, they would rather encounter death than God: “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us’” (Luke 23:30). “There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror! For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you; you put them to shame, for God has rejected them” (Ps 53:5). Here, emerges the major shift from Psalm 14 to 53. In Psalm 14, it is the righteous poor who experience great terror though they need not be in terror because God is their Protector (v. 5). The wicked seek to shame them, but Yahweh is their refuge (v. 6). In Psalm 53, however, it is the wicked who do not see God’s judgment coming. Yet as God pours out his wrath, they see terrors in every shadow (Prov 28:1; e.g., 2 Kgs 7:6-7). For the coming King will put to shame his enemies just as they shamed the poor. God will reject them instead of serving as their refuge. Ezekiel’s vision of new flesh and skin on once-dry bones depicted God’s restoration of his people after exile (Ezek 37). Yet here, God scatters the bones of those who have rejected him (see 6:1-10; Jer 8:1-2; 16:4; 25:33). For he is the one who both gives and takes away (Job 1:21).

The Faith of God’s Saints (v. 6)

God’s faithful saints still live in this fallen world surrounded by fools who act and speak as if “there is no God.” We are surrounded by those who seek to do us harm and devour us like bread. For in every generation, the seed of the serpent seeks to triumph against the Lord and against the Lord’s Anointed (Ps 2:2). Therefore, we trust in God and look to his salvation: “Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad” (Ps 53:6).[8] God’s prophetic answer is to send his messianic King to restore his people and lead them into glory (2:6-12). For at the cross, the King of kings—the Seed of woman—the joy of Jacob and the pride of Israel, has crushed the serpent’s head (see Gen 3:15).

So, although the fool may claim there is no God, wise men know they need a Savior. And now that Savior has been revealed, the wise will follow him forever. For we hope not in self-esteem or in some human system. Our only hope is in our Lord Christ Jesus who will one day return to Zion, God’s holy hill, to make all things new and to rescue those who have believed in him and who call upon his name. Christ promises to deliver us from sin and from any enemies who seek to harm us. He delivers us apart from any good works of our own. And we look forward to his future coming when he will rule and reign upon Mount Zion, when good will be rewarded, and the folly of the wicked will be condemned.

Counsel Psalm 53

Even Christians can sometimes live like practical atheists who demonstrate their folly. And the Lord promises to judge us if we don’t repent. Psalm 53 helps persuade us of sin’s consequences and of the remedy. We must minister wise counsel when our counselees act like fools and direct one another to the glorious salvation of our coming King.

Projects for Growth (Psalm 53)

1. In what ways were you born a fool? What evidence in Scripture and throughout your life has proven this? What is God’s rightful judgment of you?
2. How have the consequences of sin affected your life? In what ways has God shown mercy? In what ways have you reaped the harvest of what you have sown (Gal 6:6-7)?
3. Consider Paul’s instruction in Romans 3:10-12. How does he understand the transition from Psalm 14 to Psalm 53? How do both psalms factor into his proclamation of the gospel later on in Romans?
4. Read the lyrics of Isaac Watts’ hymn, “Are All the Foes of Zion Fools?” (1816). Sing with joy in the compassionate wisdom of our saving God.

Pray Psalm 53

1. Lord, don’t let me be an unrepentant fool (v. 1).
2. I am undeserving as a sinner without any good within myself (vv. 1-3).
3. Father, protect your people from wicked oppressors (vv. 4-5).
4. And send your messianic King to restore our joy in your salvation (v. 6).

[1] Some minor alterations (shown in italics) include:

An old word becomes new when the writer encounters a new situation or challenge in life. So, David reprises Psalm 14 (referring to Absalom’s deceit in Pss 3-14) as he writes Psalm 53 many years later (referring to Saul’s persecution in Pss 52-64), showing that God’s Word has held true throughout the entirety of David’s life and in the life of every reader since. James Hamilton relates this to Broadway musicals: “Consider the way that repetitions of melodies, rhythms, and phrases work in modern musicals. For instance, the rhythm and melody of the “Prologue: Work Song” (“Look Down”) of Les Miserables, with its interchange between Inspector Javert and Jean Valjean, will be reprised later in “Fantine’s Death: Confrontation” as Javert and Valjean struggle at cross purposes. The repetitions are intentional, and the changes develop the storyline and fit the new context. Similarly, the repetitions across the Psalter are intentional artistic reprises of earlier material that function to forge and tighten connections intended by those who put the Psalter together. . . . In the same way that repeated lyrical lines, melodic movements, and rhythmic patterns exposit characters and enrich meaning in musicals, so the repetitions serve to bring out meaning in the Psalms. . . . Paul [then in Romans 3] seems to understand the reprise of Ps 14 in Ps 53, and he writes the lyrics into his own musical the way that Lin Manuel-Miranda echoes “Drink with Me” from Les Miserables in “The Story of Tonight” in his Hamilton musical” (Hamilton, Psalms, 1:519-520, 522-523).

[2] “To understand” (v. 2) repeats this Hebrew term, maskil, to reveal its rarity in a fallen world.

[3] Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol. 1b, Psalms 27–57 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1968), 433.

[4] Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

[5] It is sandwiched right in between the stories relating to the malicious Doeg (Ps 52; 1 Sam 22) and the treacherous Ziphites (Ps 54; 1 Sam 23, 26).

[6] This inclusio frames verses 1-3 as a damning description of the wicked. “Original sin deals with our depravity. Inability deals with the fact that our own depravity is humanly irremediable. Man is totally unable to change or act in a way that is different from it . . . Inability does not mean the loss of natural liberty. This refers to free agency, namely, that man exercises volition according to his character. Inability presupposes liberty . . . [and] means that in sin man is not only indisposed and made opposite to all good but that he is totally unable to be otherwise. It is inability to discern, love, or choose the things that are well pleasing to God. He cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned; he cannot love them because his mind is enmity against God; he cannot choose them because those in the flesh cannot please God” (John Murray, “Inability,” in Collected Writings of John Murray [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1977], 2:83-84).

[7] God’s judgment did, at times, include literal cannibalism (e.g., Deut 28:53; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Ezek 5:10; Zech 11:9), but the context in this psalm points to verbal voracity.

[8] The salvation for Israel in Psalm 53:6 is plural (in contrast to the singular form in Psalm 14:7), indicating a full and complete salvation.