Psalm 36:2

For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) For he flattereth . . .—Literally, For he (or, it) makes smooth to him in his eyes to find out his evil to hate. (See margin.) A sentence of great difficulty. We must seek for the key to the interpretation of these words in the balance of the two phrases, “before his eyes,” “in his own eyes,” and must take the two verses together. They form, in fact, an example of introverted parallelism. (See Gen. Introduction.)

Sin is the wicked man’s oracle in his heart;

No fear of God is before his eyes;

He makes all smooth to himself in his eyes.

As to the discovery of his guilt that is his hate;

Or,

The discovery of his guilt is the only thing he hates.

This reading takes the two infinitives as subject and complement with the copula understood. It would be strange if Hebrew, which, above all languages, makes the infinitive do duty in various ways, offered no instance of such a use. (For matsa aven in the sense of the discovery of guilt, comp. Genesis 44:16; Hosea 12:8, etc.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

36:1-4 From this psalm our hearts should be duly affected with hatred of sin, and seek satisfaction in God's loving-kindness. Here is the root of bitterness, from which all the wickedness of wicked men comes. It takes rise from contempt of God, and the want of due regard to him. Also from the deceit they put upon their own souls. Let us daily beg of God to preserve us from self-flattery. Sin is very hurtful to the sinner himself, and therefore ought to be hateful; but it is not so. It is no marvel, if those that deceive themselves, seek to deceive all mankind; to whom will they be true, who are false to their own souls? It is bad to do mischief, but worse to devise it, to do it with plot and management. If we willingly banish holy meditations in our solitary hours, Satan will soon occupy our minds with sinful imaginations. Hardened sinners stand to what they have done, as though they could justify it before God himself.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For he flattereth himself in his own eyes - He puts such an exalted estimate on himself; he so overrates himself and his own ability in judging of what is right and proper, that he is allowed to pursue a course which ultimately makes his conduct odious to all people: the result is so apparent, and so abominable, that no one can doubt what he himself is. The foundation or the basis of all this is an overweening confidence "in himself" - in his own importance; in his own judgment; in his own ability to direct his course regardless of God. The result is such a development of character, that it cannot but be regarded as hateful or odious. There is, indeed, considerable obscurity in the original. A literal translation would be, "For he has made smooth to him in his eyes to find his iniquity to hate." The ancient interpretations throw no light on the passage. The word rendered "flattereth" - חלק châlaq - means to be smooth; then, to be smooth in the sense of being bland or flattering: Hosea 10:2; Psalm 5:9; Proverbs 28:23; Proverbs 2:16; Proverbs 7:5. Here the meaning is, that he commends himself to himself; he overestimates himself; he ascribes to himself qualities which he does not possess - either:

(a) by supposing that what he does must be right and proper, or

(b) by overestimating his strength of virtue, and his power to resist temptation.

He does this until God suffers him so to act out his own nature, and to show what he is, that his course of life is seen by himself and by others to be odious.

In his own eyes - As if his eyes were looking upon himself, or his own conduct. We act so as to be seen by others; thus he is represented as acting as if he himself were looking on, and sought to commend himself to himself.

Until his iniquity be found to be hateful - Margin, as in Hebrew: "to find his iniquity to hate." Prof. Alexander renders this, "As to (God's) finding his iniquity (and) hating (it);" that is (as he supposes the meaning to be), that he flatters himself that God will not find out his iniquity and hate it, or punish it. DeWette renders it, "that he does not find and hate his guilt;" that is, he so flatters himself in what he does, that he does not see the guilt of what he is doing, and hate it. He is blind to the real nature of what he is doing. But it seems to me that the true construction is that which is given by our translators. The real difficulty rests on the interpretation of the preposition in the word למצא limetsâ' - "until he find." If the interpretation proposed by DeWette were the true one, the preposition should have been the Hebrew letter מ (m) instead of the Hebrew letter ל (l) - ממצא mimetsâ' instead of למצא limetsâ'). The preposition used here often has the sense of "even unto, until." Compare Ezekiel 39:19; Isaiah 7:15; and this idea seems best to comport with the connection. The idea, according to this, is that he overestimates himself; he prides himself on his own strength and goodness, he confides in his own wisdom and power, he pursues his course of conduct trusting in himself, until he is suffered to act out what is really in his heart - and his conduct becomes hateful and abominable - until he can no longer conceal what he really is. God suffers him to act out what he had endeavored to cover over by his own flattery. Men who pride themselves on their own cunning and strength - men who attempt to conceal their plans from the world - are often thus suffered to develop their character so that the mask is taken off, and the world is allowed to see how vile they are at heart.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2-4. This reflection detailed.

until his iniquity—literally, "for finding his iniquity for hating"; that is, he persuades himself God will not so find it—"for hating" involving the idea of punishing. Hence his words of iniquity and deceit, and his bold rejection of all right principles of conduct. The climax is that he deliberately adopts and patronizes evil. The negative forms affirm more emphatically their contraries.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For; so this is the proof of that assertion, Psalm 36:1. Or, although; and so it is an anticipation of an objection against it.

He flattereth himself in his own eyes; he deceiveth himself with vain and false persuasions, either,

1. Concerning God, that he doth not see or mind his sins, or that he will not punish them. Or,

2. Concerning himself and his sins; either that they are not sins, which a mind bribed by passion and interest can easily believe; or that they are but small and venial sins; or that they will be excused, if not justified by honest intentions, or by outward professions and exercises of religion, or by some good actions, wherewith he thinks to make some compensation for them, or some other way. Otherwise thus, he flattereth him (i.e. God) in his eyes, i.e. openly and publicly makes a show of religion, as if he designed to deceive or mock God, whilst inwardly and secretly he is projecting wickedness. But it seems better to understand the last word reciprocally of his own eyes, as the same word is used in the end of the foregoing verse.

Until his iniquity be found to be hateful, i.e. until God by some dreadful judgment undeceive him, and find, i.e. discover or make him and others to find and feel by experience, that it is a sin, and a very hateful one too. Or, until his abominable iniquity be found out, i.e. punished, as the same word and phrase is used, Numbers 32:23, Your sin shall find you out, i.e. bring you to condign punishment. In the Hebrew it is, to find out his iniquity to hate. But active verbs are oft taken passively, of which there are plain instances, Joshua 2:5 Esther 6:6 Psalm 32:9 51:6, compared with Romans 3:4 Psalm 119:4; and so here, to find, is put for to be found; and to hate, for to be hated, or to be hateful.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,.... There are many self-flatterers; some on account of their worldly estate, that they are out of the reach of God and men, and regard neither; and that as they have much goods laid up, they shall enjoy them many years, and so never think of dying, nor of another world: others on account of their eternal state, pleasing themselves with their own purity, goodness, and righteousness: some flatter themselves either that their sins are not sins, or they are small ones; or they are no other than what multitudes commit; or they are not seen and known, and that God himself sees them not, or takes no notice of them; and that they shall go on with impunity, sentence against them being not speedily executed; and others that there is no God, will be no judgment, nor future state;

until his iniquity be found to be hateful, or, "to find his iniquity and to hate" (c) that which is good, as the word may be rendered; that is, he flatters himself, or speaks smooth things to himself, and endeavours to work himself up into the belief of the above things; that he may find, embrace, and indulge his lusts with a quiet conscience, and hate God, good men, and everything that is good; the Targum is,

"that he may find sins and hate doctrine''

or instruction. Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret the words another way,

"that the holy and blessed God may find out his iniquity to hate him;''

see Genesis 44:16, which God may be said to do, when he charges the guilt of sin upon the conscience, and punishes for it; and exposes both the sinner and his sins to the world; thereby testifying his hatred of him and his sins; and which should have been hateful to him, as they are to all good men.

(c) So. Pagninus.

Geneva Study Bible

For he {b} flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

(b) Though all others detest his vile sin, yet he himself sees it not.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. A much disputed verse. Three renderings of the first line deserve consideration. (1) Taking the wicked man as the subject, we may render as the A.V. (2) Taking Transgression as the subject, we may render, For It flattereth him in his eyes. (3) Taking God as the subject, we may render, For He flattereth him in his eyes.

The third rendering, whether it is explained to mean, ‘God treats him gently, so he imagines,’ (Cheyne) or, ‘God’s threatenings seem to him mere idle words,’ can hardly be supported by the usage of the word. The first agrees best with the reading my heart in Psalm 36:1, giving the ground of the Psalmist’s conviction expressed there. But if the better reading, his heart, is adopted, the second rendering gives the best connexion. It explains how Transgression goes to work. It ‘speaks smooth things and prophesies deceits’ to him, concerning the finding out of his iniquity and hating it, i.e. as R.V.,

That his iniquity shall not be found out and be hated:

dragged to light in order to be punished, and exposed in its true hatefulness. The word find out is frequently used of detection with a view to punishment. See Psalm 17:3 : 1 Kings 1:52.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. Another very obscure verse, explained in various ways. The rendering of Professor Alexander is to be preferred, "For he fiattereth himself in his own eyes, as to God's finding his sin and hating it;" i.e. he flatters himself that he will conceal his sin from God, so that God will not discover it to hate it (see also the comment of Dr. Kay, and the Revised Version) Psalm 36:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 36:1-4) At the outset the poet discovers to us the wickedness of the children of the world, which has its roots in alienation from God. Supposing it were admissible to render Psalm 36:2 : "A divine word concerning the evil-doing of the ungodly is in the inward parts of my heart" (נאם with a genitive of the object, like משּׂא, which is compared by Hofmann), then the difficulty of this word, so much complained of, might find the desired relief in some much more easy way than by means of the conjecture proposed by Diestel, נעם (נעם), "Pleasant is transgression to the evil-doer," etc. But the genitive after נאם (which in Psalm 110:1; Numbers 24:3., 15f., 2 Samuel 23:1; Proverbs 30:1, just as here, stands at the head of the clause) always denotes the speaker, not the thing spoken. Even in Isaiah 5:1 שׁירת דודי לכרמו is not a song concerning my beloved in relation to His vineyard, but a song of my beloved (such a song as my beloved has to sing) touching His vineyard. Thus, therefore, פּשׁע must denote the speaker, and לרשׁע, as in Psalm 110:1 לאדני, the person or thing addressed; transgression is personified, and an oracular utterance is attributed to it. But the predicate בּקרב לבּי, which is intelligible enough in connection with the first rendering of פשׁע as genit. obj., is difficulty and harsh with the latter rendering of פשׁע as gen. subj., whatever way it may be understood: whether, that it is intended to say that the utterance of transgression to the evil-doer is inwardly known to him (the poet), or it occupies and affects him in his inmost parts. It is very natural to read לבּו, as the lxx, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and Jerome do. In accordance therewith, while with Von Lengerke he takes נאם as part of the inscription, Thenius renders it: "Sin is to the ungodly in the midst of his heart," i.e., it is the inmost motive or impulse of all that he thinks and does. But this isolation of נאם is altogether at variance with the usage of the language and custom. The rendering given by Hupfeld, Hitzig, and at last also by Bצttcher, is better: "The suggestion of sin dwells in the ungodly in the inward part of his heart;" or rather, since the idea of בקרב is not central, but circumferential, in the realm of (within) his heart, altogether filling up and absorbing it. And in connection with this explanation, it must be observed that this combination בקרב לבו (instead of בקרבו, or בלבו, בלבבו) occurs only here, where, together with a personification of sin, an incident belonging to the province of the soul's life, which is the outgrowth of sin, is intended to be described. It is true this application of נאם does not admit of being further substantiated; but נאם (cognate נהם, המה), as an onomatopoetic designation of a dull, hollow sound, is a suitable word for secret communication (cf. Arabic nemmâm, a tale-bearer), or even - since the genius of the language does not combine with it the idea of that which is significantly secretly, and solemnly silently communicated, but spoken out - a suitable word for that which transgression says to the ungodly with all the solemn mien of the prophet or the philosopher, inasmuch as it has set itself within his heart in the place of God and of the voice of his conscience. לרשׁע does not, however, denote the person addressed, but, as in Psalm 32:10, the possessor. He possesses this inspiration of iniquity as the contents of his heart, so that the fear of God has no place therein, and to him God has no existence (objectivity), that He should command his adoration.

Since after this נאם פּשׁע we expect to hear further what and how transgression speaks to him, so before all else the most probable thing is, that transgression is the subject to החליק. We do not interpret: He flatters God in His eyes (with eye-service), for this rendering is contrary both to what precedes and to what follows; nor with Hupfeld (who follows Hofmann): "God deals smoothly (gently) with him according to his delusions," for the assumption that החליק must, on account of בּעיניו, have some other subject that the evil-doer himself, is indeed correct. It does not, however, necessarily point to God as the subject, but, after the solemn opening of Psalm 36:2, to transgression, which is personified. This addresses flattering words to him (אל like על in Proverbs 29:5) in his eyes, i.e., such as are pleasing to him; and to what end? For the finding out, i.e., establishing (מצא עון, as in Genesis 44:16; Hosea 12:9), or, - since this is not exactly suited to פשׁע as the subject, and where it is a purpose that is spoken of, the meaning assequi, originally proper to the verb מצא, is still more natural - to the attainment of his culpability, i.e., in order that he may inculpate himself, to hating, i.e., that he may hate God and man instead of loving them. לשׂנא is designedly used without an object just as in Ecclesiastes 3:8, in order to imply that the flattering words of פשׁע incite him to turn into an object of hatred everything that he ought to love, and to live and move in hatred as in his own proper element. Thenius endeavours to get rid of the harshness of the expression by the following easy alteration of the text: למצא עון ולשׂנא; and interprets it: Yea, it flatters him in his own eyes (it tickles his pride) to discover faults in others and to make them suffer for them. But there is no support in the general usage of the language for the impersonal rendering of the החליק; and the בּעיניו, which in this case is not only pleonastic, but out of place, demands a distinction between the flatterer and the person who feels himself flattered. The expression in Psalm 36:3, in whatever way it may be explained, is harsh; but David's language, whenever he describes the corruption of sin with deep-seated indignation, is wont to envelope itself in such clouds, which, to our difficult comprehension, look like corruptions of the text. In the second strophe the whole language is more easy. להשׂכּיל להיטיב is just such another asyndeton as למצא עונו לשׂנא. A man who has thus fallen a prey to the dominion of sin, and is alienated from God, has ceased (חדל ל, as in 1 Samuel 23:13) to act wisely and well (things which essentially accompany one another). His words when awake, and even his thoughts in the night-time, run upon און (Isaiah 59:7), evil, wickedness, the absolute opposite of that which alone is truly good. Most diligently does he take up his position in the way which leads in the opposite direction to that which is good (Proverbs 16:29; Isaiah 65:2); and his conscience is deadened against evil: there is not a trace of aversion to it to be found in him, he loves it with all his soul.