Psalm 4:2

O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2)Sons of men.—A literal rendering of a Hebrew phrase generally interpreted as “men of high degree.” Luther translates “gentlemen” (see Psalm 49:2), where it is “high,” as contrasted with “low.” (Comp. Psalm 62:9, “men of high degree.”)

How long?—Literally, how long to shame my glory? which, after the analogy of Psalm 37:26, “his seed is for a blessing,” must mean How long shall my glory be for shame (opprobrio)? The LXX. and Vulg. follow a different and probably correct reading: “How long will ye be heavy (or slow) of heart? “They also indicate that an interrogative has dropped out before the second clause, so that it is rightly supplied by the Authorised Version.

Seek after.—In Hebrew the intensive conjugation, to seek earnestly, or again and again.

Leasing—i.e., lying. (Comp. Psalm 4:6.) So in Wycliffe’s New Testament: “Whanne he speketh leesing, he speketh of his own; for he is a lere, and is fader of it” (John 8:44). “Lesyngmongers” (1Timothy 1:10). Chaucer uses the word; and it is common in Piers Ploughman. Shakespeare also knows the word:—

“Now Mercury indue thee with leasing,

For thou speakest well of fools.”—Twelfth Night.

(See Bible Educator, iv. 3,) Milton’s translation is—

“To love, to seek, to prize

Things false and vain, and nothing else but lies.”

For “Selah,” see Note, Psalm 3:2.

From this verse we gather that the report of the calumny uttered against him in Jerusalem had reached the king’s ears.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 4:2. Ye sons of men — David is considered here by many commentators as addressing not mankind in general, but only princes, potentates, and persons of high degree. And perhaps, the phrase, sons of men, may often bear that sense in the Old Testament. But it must be observed, the Hebrew here, בני אישׁ, benee ish, signifies, sons of man, and not sons of men, and seems evidently to be of the same import as the phrase, sons of Adam, and if so, must include all mankind. Nor is there any proof from the context, or any part of the Psalm, that he is addressing merely those great men among the Jews or Israelites who revolted from him under Absalom, or even that he had Absalom’s rebellion particularly in his view when he composed this Psalm. He rather seems to be addressing the generality of his countrymen, or, rather, all into whose hands the Psalm might come, on subjects of infinite concern to all. How long will ye turn my glory into shame? — Or, as the Hebrew is literally rendered, How long shall my glory be for a shame? that is, be made by you a matter of reproach and scorn. And by his glory he probably meant, not only that honour which God had conferred upon him in advancing him to the throne, which, when he was in great straits and dangers, his enemies might possibly reproach and make the subject of derision; but also, and especially, the glory of God and his Messiah. For, as Dr. Horne justly observes, “If the Israelitish monarch conceived he had just cause to expostulate with his enemies for despising the royal majesty with which Jehovah had invested his anointed, of how much severer reproof shall they be thought worthy who blaspheme the essential glory of (God and) King Messiah, which shines forth by his gospel in his church.” But are not these rather to be considered as the words of God himself, here reasoning with sinners, by the psalmist, and calling them to repentance? As if he had said, You that go on in the neglect of God and his worship, and in contempt of the kingdom of Christ and his government, consider what you do. You not only disgrace yourselves, debase the dignity of your nature, the excellence of those powers with which you are endued; but you dishonour me, your Maker, and turn my glory, and that of my Son, your Messiah, into shame. Or, if they be David’s words, they may still be interpreted to the same sense, for his God was his glory, as he calls him Psalm 3:3. Idolaters are charged with changing the glory of God into shame, Romans 1:23. And all wilful sinners do so by disobeying the commands of his law, despising the offers of his grace, and giving that affection and service to the creature which are due to God only. Those that profane God’s holy name, that ridicule his word and ordinances; and, while they profess to know him, by works deny him, do what in them lies to turn his glory into shame. How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? — That is, lying or a lie. You are yourselves vain, and desire and pursue vain things, and you love to be and do so. You set your hearts upon that which will prove, at last, vanity and a lie. They that love the world and seek the things that are beneath, that please themselves with the delights of sense, and choose for their portion the wealth of this world, love vanity, and seek lies, for these things will deceive and so ruin them. How long will you do this? Will you never be wise for yourselves, never consider your duty and interest? When shall it once be? Jeremiah 13:27.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-5 Hear me for thy mercy-sake, is our best plea. He who will not ask such blessings as pardon, and justifying righteousness, and eternal life, must perish for the want of them. Alas! that so many should make so fearful a choice. The psalmist warns against sin. Keep up holy reverence of the glory and majesty of God. You have a great deal to say to your hearts, they may be spoken with, let it not be unsaid. Examine them by serious self-reflection; let your thoughts fasten upon that which is good, and keep close to it. Consider your ways, and before you turn to sleep at night, examine your consciences with respect to what you have done in the day; particularly what you have done amiss, that you may repent of it. when you awake in the night, meditate upon God, and the things that belong to your peace. Upon a sick-bed, particularly, we should consider our ways. Be still. when you have asked conscience a question, be serious, be silent, wait for an answer. Open not the mouth to excuse sin. All confidence must be pan answer. Open not the mouth to excuse sin. All confidence only: therefore, after commanding the sacrifices of righteousness, the psalmist says, Put your trust in the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

O ye sons of men - Turning from God to men; from Him in whom he hoped for protection to those who were engaged in persecuting him. We are not, of course, to suppose that they were present with him, but this is an earnest, poetic remonstrance, "as if" they were with him. The reference is doubtless to Absalom and his followers; and he calls them "sons of men," as having human feelings, passions, and purposes, in strong distinction from that righteous God to whom he had just made his solemn appeal. God was holy, true, and just, and he might appeal to Him; they were ambitious and wicked, and from them he had nothing to hope. He looked upon God as righteous altogether; he looked upon them as altogether depraved and wicked. God he regarded as his just Protector; them he regarded as seeking only to wrong and crush him.

How long - The phrase used here might refer either to "time" or to "extent." How long in regard to "time," - or to what "degree" or "extent" will you thus persecute me? The former, however, seems to be the true signification.

Will ye turn my glory into shame - My honor, or what becomes my rank and station. If this refers to the rebellion in the time of Absalom, the allusion is to the fact that his enemies were endeavoring to rob him of his scepter and his crown, and to reduce him to the lowest condition of beggary and want; and he asks with earnestness how long they intended to do him so great injustice and wrong.

Will ye love vanity - Compare the notes at Psalm 2:1. That is, how long will you act as if you were in love with a vain and impracticable thing; a thing which "must" be hopeless in the end. The idea is, that God had chosen him, and anointed him, and had determined that he should be king Psalm 4:3, and therefore, that their efforts "must be" ultimately unsuccessful. The object at which they were aiming could not be accomplished, and he asks how long they would thus engage in what must, from the nature of the case, be fruitless.

And seek after leasing - The word "leasing" is the Old English word for "lie." The idea here is, that they were pursuing a course which would yet prove to be a delusion - the hope of overturning his throne. The same question, in other respects, may be asked now. Men are seeking that which cannot be accomplished, and are acting under the influence of a lie. What else are the promises of permanent happiness in the pursuits of pleasure and ambition? What else are their attempts to overthrow religion and virtue in the world?

Selah - See the notes at Psalm 3:2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. sons of men—men of note or prominence (compare 2Ch 21:9).

turn my glory—or, "royal dignity."

into shame—or, "reproach."

vanity—a foolish and hopeless enterprise (Ps 2:1).

leasing—a lie.

The Treasury of David

2 O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

In this second division of the Psalm, we are led from the closet of prayer into the field of conflict. Remark the undaunted courage of the man of God. He allows that his enemies are great men (for such is the import of the Hebrew words translated - sons of men), but still he believes them to be foolish men, and therefore chides them, as though they were but children. He tells them that they love vanity, and seek after leasing, that is, lying, empty fancies, vain conceits, wicked fabrications. He asks them how long they mean to make his honour a jest, and his fame a mockery? A little of such mirth is too much, why need they continue to indulge in it? Had they not been long enough upon the watch for his halting? Had not repeated disappointments convinced them that the Lord's anointed was not to be overcome by all their calumnies? Did they mean to jest their souls into hell, and go on with their laughter until swift vengeance should turn their merriment into howling? In the contemplation of their perverse continuance in their vain and lying pursuits, the Psalmist solemnly pauses and inserts a Selah. Surely we too may stop awhile, and meditate upon the deep-seated folly of the wicked, their continuance in evil, and their sure destruction; and we may learn to admire that grace which has made us to differ, and taught us to love truth, and seek after righteousness.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

O ye sons of men, i.e. princes and potentates, as this Hebrew phrase seems and is thought to signify, who are engaged with Saul or Absalom against me.

Will ye turn my glory into shame? or, shall my glory be for a shame, i.e. be made by you matter of reproach and scorn? By his glory probably he means that high honour and royal majesty which God had either promised to him, or conferred upon him; wherein, when he was in great straits and dangers, they might possibly reproach him in some sort as this: Is this the man, whom God so highly loves, and honours, and will exalt, who now flees from one mountain or cave to another, who runs away to the Philistines, whom his own son hath banished out of the land? Is this the effect of his glorying and boasting of God’s favour and promises?

Love vanity, i.e. affect and pursue these courses and designs of opposing me and my kingdom, which you will certainly find to be vain, and to no purpose.

Leasing or, lying; the same thing with vanity; these two words being promiscuously used, as Psalm 62:9. Only this seems to add some emphasis, and to intimate the fair hopes and promising probabilities of success which they had, and which aggravate their disappointment. Or by lying he may design those horrid calumnies, which the partisans either of Saul or Absalom had raised against him, and which they joined with their other endeavours to make him odious to all the people, and so the better to effect his ruin.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

O ye sons of men,.... Meaning great men, the nobles of Israel; and so the Jewish interpreters (k) generally explain it; such as Ahithophel, and others, who were in the conspiracy with Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:12, and so they were the kings and princes of the earth, and the rulers of the Jewish sanhedrim, the chief priests and elders, who were the enemies of Christ; and such, generally speaking, have been the persecutors of the saints; these men of power and authority, of dignity and honour, and who were in high places, and boasted of their titles and grandeur, the psalmist addresses by way of expostulation in the following words;

how long will ye turn my glory into shame? Meaning either God, who was his glory, Psalm 3:3; whom they reproached when they said there was no help for him in him; or his tongue, the instrument of praise, and the songs of praise he expressed by it, Psalm 7:8; which they jeered and scoffed at: or rather his royal glory and majesty, which they attempted to vail by casting him down from his excellency, by dethroning him, and setting up Absalom in his room. So the Jews endeavoured to turn the glory of Christ into shame, which lay in his being the only begotten of the Father; by denying his sonship, by condemning him to death; because he said he was the Son of God; and by mocking at him under that character on the cross; and also by their spitting upon, buffeting, and crucifying the Lord of glory; by reproaching his Gospel, ministers, and people; and by not acknowledging him as the Messiah, and submitting to his righteousness. And wicked men do as much as in them lies to turn the glory of the saints into shame, by aspersing their character, taking away their good name and reputation among men; by reproaching and reviling them, and speaking all manner of evil of them; and by persecuting them in the most violent manner;

how long will ye love vanity; or "a vain thing" (l). Such as the placing of Absalom upon the throne, on which their hearts were set; and such was the vain imagination of the Jews, with which they pleased themselves, that Jesus should die, and his name perish; and such are all the attempts of wicked men to ruin and destroy the people and interest of Christ; for no weapon formed against them shall prosper;

and seek after leasing? Or "a lie" (m); or that which fails and deceives, as a lie does: and such were all the counsels and designs of the great men of Israel against David: and so the Jews may be said to seek after a lie, when they seek after another Messiah besides Jesus of Nazareth: for every other proves a "Bar Cozbi", that is, the son of a lie; as the false Messiah in Adrian's time was called by themselves. And so do all such as seek after and embrace false doctrines, errors, and heresies, and are given up to believe them. Now the psalmist suggests that these great men were obstinate, and continued in these sinful practices; and that in the issue all their efforts would be vain and fruitless; and which he further strengthens by observing to them what follows.

Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psalm 3:2.

(k) Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, & Ben Melech in loc. (l) "inane", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Cocceius; "inanem rem", Piscator. (m) "mendacium", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.

Geneva Study Bible

O ye {d} sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye {e} love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

(d) You who think yourselves noble in this world.

(e) Though your enterprises please you, yet God will bring them to nothing.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. O ye sons of men] From appealing to God he turns to remonstrate with the rebels, and singles out the leaders from the general mass. The phrase used is bnç îsh, which in Psalm 49:2 is rendered ‘high,’ and in Psalm 62:9, ‘men of high degree,’ in opposition to bnç âdâm, rendered ‘low’ and ‘men of low degree.’ At the same time by calling them ‘sons of men’ he contrasts them with God, the defender of his cause.

my glory] There is no need to inquire whether David’s personal honour or his royal dignity is meant. Both are included, for both were defamed and insulted. But it was an aggravation of the rebels’ offence that the king had a special ‘glory’ as the representative of Jehovah. Cp. Psalm 3:3, note.

vanity … leasing] The rebellion is a vain thing, destined to end in failure, like the threatened uprising of the nations (Psalm 2:1): it is a lie, for it is based on the false principle of personal ambition setting itself up against the divinely appointed king. Cp. Isaiah 28:15; Isaiah 28:17. Another possible interpretation would refer the words to the false imputations and underhand intrigues by which Absalom and his confederates sought to tarnish David’s reputation and undermine his authority. Cp. 2 Samuel 15:2 ff. But the verbs used (love … seek) point rather to the end desired than to the means employed.

leasing] R.V. falsehood. Leasing (Psalm 5:6) is an obsolete word for a lie: from A.S. leás, empty, and so false: used by Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakespeare. Cp. Faerie Queene, 11. 11. 10:

“Slaunderous reproches, and fowle infamies,

Leasinges, backbytinges.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - O ye sons of men. "Sons of men " - beney ish - is not a mere periphrasis for "men." It is a title of some honour and dignity. Kay translates, "sons of the brave;" but that is scarcely the meaning. The phrase is rather equivalent to our "sirs" ('Speaker's Commentary.'). How long will ye turn my glory into shame? By your misconduct. See the clause which follows. The appeal is, perhaps, to Joab, Abishai, and others of David s own party, whoso proceedings were a disgrace to his reign, and tended to bring their master to shame rather than to honour. How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? i.e. after lying. Joab's treachery and falsehood were notorious (2 Samuel 3:27; 2 Samuel 20:8-10). Psalm 4:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 4:3-4) Righteous in his relation to God he turns rebukingly towards those who contemn his whose honour is God's honour, viz., to the partisans of Absolom. In contrast with בּני אדם, men who are lost in the multitude, בּני אישׁ denotes such as stand prominently forward out of the multitude; passages like Psalm 49:3; Psalm 62:10; Proverbs 8:4; Isaiah 2:9; Isaiah 5:15, show this distinction. In this and the preceding Psalm David makes as little mention of his degenerate son as he does of the deluded king in the Psalms belonging to the period of his persecution by Saul. The address is directed to the aristocratic party, whose tool Absolom has become. To these he days: till when (עד־מה beside the non-guttural which follows with Segol, without any manifest reason, as in Psalm 10:13; Isaiah 1:5; Jeremiah 16:10), i.e., how long shall my honour become a mockery, namely to you and by you, just as we can also say in Latin quousque tandem dignitas mea ludibrio? The two following members are circumstantial clauses subordinate to the principal clause with עד־מה (similar to Isaiah 1:5; Ew. 341, b). The energetic fut. with Nun parag. does not usually stand at the head of independent clauses; it is therefore to be rendered: since ye love ריק, that which is empty - the proper name for their high rank is hollow appearance - how long will ye pursue after כּזב, falsehood?-they seek to find out every possible lying pretext, in order to trail the honour of the legitimate king in the dust. The assertion that the personal honour of David, not his kingly dignity, is meant by כּבודי, separates what is inseparable. They are eager to injure his official at the same time as his personal reputation. Therefore David appeals in opposition to them (Psalm 4:4) not only to the divine choice, but also to his personal relationship to God, on which that choice is based. The ו of וּדעוּ is, as in 2 Kings 4:41, the ו of sequence: so know then. The Hiph. חפלה (from פּלה equals פּלא, cogn. פּלל, prop. to divide) to make a separation, make a distinction Exodus 9:4; Exodus 11:7, then to distinguish in an extraordinary and remarkable way Exodus 8:18, and to show Psalm 17:7, cf. Psalm 31:22, so that consequently what is meant is not the mere selection (בּחר), but the remarkable selection to a remarkable position of honour (lxx, Vulg. mirificavit, Windberg translation of the Psalms gewunderlichet). לו belongs to the verb, as in Psalm 135:4, and the principal accent lies on חסיד: he whom Jahve Himself, not men, has thus remarkably distinguished is a חסיד, a pious man, i.e., either, like the Syriac חסידא equals רהימא: God's favourite, or, according to the biblical usage of the language (cf. Psalm 12:2 with Isaiah 17:1), in an active signification like פּליט, פּריץ, and the like: a lover of God, from חסד (root חס Arab. ḥs, stringere, whence ḥassa to curry, maḥassa a curry-comb) prop. to feel one's self drawn, i.e., strongly affected (comp. ḥiss is mental impression), in Hebrew, of a strong ardent affection. As a חסיד he does not call upon God in vain, but finds a ready hearing. Their undertaking consequently runs counter to the miraculously evidenced will of God and must fail by reason of the loving relationship in which the dethroned and debased one stands to God.