Psalm 53:2

God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

53:1-6 The corruption of man by nature. - This psalm is almost the same as the 14th. The scope of it is to convince us of our sins. God, by the psalmist, here shows us how bad we are, and proves this by his own certain knowledge. He speaks terror to persecutors, the worst of sinners. He speaks encouragement to God's persecuted people. How comes it that men are so bad? Because there is no fear of God before their eyes. Men's bad practices flow from their bad principles; if they profess to know God, yet in works, because in thoughts, they deny him. See the folly of sin; he is a fool, in the account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right, that harbours such corrupt thoughts. And see the fruit of sin; to what it brings men, when their hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. See also the faith of the saints, and their hope and power as to the cure of this great evil. There will come a Saviour, a great salvation, a salvation from sin. God will save his church from its enemies. He will save all believers from their own sins, that they may not be led captive by them, which will be everlasting joy to them. From this work the Redeemer had his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins, Mt 1:21.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

God looked down from heaven ... - See the notes at Psalm 14:2. The only change which occurs in this verse is the substitution of the word אלהים 'Elohiym, rendered "God," for "Yahweh," rendered Lord, in Psalm 14:2. The same change occurs also in Psalm 14:4, Psalm 14:6. It is to be observed, also, that the word "Yahweh" does not occur in this psalm, but that the term used is uniformly. אלהים 'Elohiym, God. In Psalm 14:1-7 both terms are found - the word אלהים 'Elohiym three times Psalm 14:1-2, Psalm 14:5, and the word יהוה Yahweh four times, Psalm 14:2, Psalm 14:4,Psalm 14:6-7. It is impossible to account for this change. There is nothing in it, however, to indicate anything in regard to the authorship of the psalm or to the time when it was written, for both these words are frequently used by David elsewhere.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 53

Ps 53:1-6. Upon Mahalath—(See on [595]Ps 88:1, title). Why this repetition of the fourteenth Psalm is given we do not know.

1-4. with few verbal changes, correspond with Ps 14:1-4.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

God looked down from heaven upon the children of men,.... In Psalm 14:2, it is read, "the Lord" or "Jehovah"; in everything else there is an agreement in this verse; See Gill on Psalm 14:2;

to see if there were any that did understand; the Targum is, "that were understanding" in the law; it doubtless means understanding in divine and spiritual things;

that did seek God; the above paraphrase is, "seeking doctrine from before the Lord".

Geneva Study Bible

God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did {c} seek God.

(c) By which he condemns all knowledge and understanding that tends not to seek God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. For a while God as it were overlooked the growing corruption. At length He ‘looked down’ (Psalm 33:13-14). So in the yet simpler language of the Pentateuch He is said to have ‘come down to see’ the wickedness of Babel and Sodom (Genesis 11:5; Genesis 18:21; and note the use of ‘look down’ in the latter narrative though in a different connexion, Psalm 18:16). Were not these typical examples of human corruption in the Psalmist’s mind? God (in Psalm 14:2 Jehovah) looked down … to see if there were any that did understand (or deal wisely, R.V. marg., for the verb often includes the idea of right action), that did seek after God. Cp. Psalm 9:10. The use of God, not Jehovah, in Psalms 14 as well as here, is significant. It is of mankind in general, not of Israel, that the Psalmist is speaking. God made Himself known through the voice of conscience and in the works of creation, but men would not follow the light of conscience or read the book of nature. See Acts 14:17; Acts 17:27; and especially Romans 1:19 ff.

Psalm 53:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In both recensions of the Psalm the name of God occurs seven times. In Psalm 14:1-7 it reads three times Elohim and four times Jahve; in the Psalm before us it is all seven times Elohim, which in this instance is a proper name of equal dignity with the name Jahve. Since the mingling of the two names in Psalm 14:1-7 is perfectly intentional, inasmuch as Elohim in Psalm 53:1, Psalm 53:2 describes God as a Being most highly exalted and to be reverentially acknowledged, and in Psalm 52:5 as the Being who is present among men in the righteous generation and who is mighty in their weakness, it becomes clear that David himself cannot be the author of this levelling change, which is carried out more rigidly than the Elohimic character of the Psalm really demands.