Ver. 1. The fool, &c.] [See Trapp on “Ps 14:1”]
Ver. 2. God looked down, &c.] [See Trapp on “Ps 14:2”]
Ver. 3. Every one of them is gone back] Diogenes in a great assembly going backward of purpose, and seeing every one laughing him to scorn, asked them aloud, if they were not ashamed so to do? since he went backwards but once, they did so all the days of their life.
Ver. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?] Etiam scient in fine, et dolebunt, saith one, Know they shall, to their sorrow, in the end, that they have eaten that on earth which they must digest in hell.
Ver. 5. There were they in great fear] Heb. They feared a fear. God they feared not, of men they were greatly feared, and yet here they feared a fear where no fear was, viz. without themselves, only facti sunt a corde suo fugitivi, they feared and fled before their own consciences, their own trembling heart, Deuteronomy 28:65; the sound of fear that is in their ears, Job 15:21; the sound of a leaf chaseth them, Leviticus 26:36; they flee where none pursueth, Proverbs 28:1. Naturalists tell us of a certain little bird, quae fertur metu ne in ipsam coelum ruat, imponere sibi semper dormienti alterum pedem, which for fear lest the sky should fall on her head, sleepeth still with one foot laid upon her head. The Gauls that dwelt near the Adriatic Sea, being asked by Alexander the Great what they most feared, answered, ne supra se coelum corruat, lest the sky should fall upon them. Galen writeth of a certain melancholic fellow, who hearing that Atlas supported heaven with his shoulders, was therefore sore afraid lest he should faint under the burden; and therefore carried his arm before him to save his head. Heraclides, out of Anacreon, telleth of one Artemon, a timorous man, who kept home as much as might be, having ever a couple of servants to hold a brazen buckler over his head, lest anything should fall upon him from above; and if he were at any time necessitated to go abroad, he was carried in a horse litter that touched the ground almost; and was thereupon called Periphoretus (Plut. in Pericle). For God hath scattered the bones] i.e. The strength, the strong troops, saith the Chaldee; they want decent burial, as Jeremiah 22:19, saith the Syriac. Thou hast put them to shame] viz. The poor afflicted, Psalms 14:5, because God hath despised them] i.e. Subjected them to the contempt of the wicked.
Ver. 6. Oh that the salvation] Heb. Salvations; indicat plenam salutem, Let it show full salvation, saith Kimchi. Maschil] Instructing us, saith one, to draw near to God, as dangers draw nearer to us. When the Ziphims] Which signifieth flourishing, Erant autem Ziphaei ex stirpe Caleb 1 Chronicles 2:42. ut et Nabal, sed degeneres; they might have flourishing estates, but they had withered souls; else they would never have sought twice ever to have betrayed good David into the hand of Saul, 1 Samuel 23:19 26:1. Came and said to Saul] If a ruler hearken to lies all his servants are wicked, Proverbs 29:12; [See Trapp on “Pr 29:12”] Doth not David hide himself with us?] viz. In the wood and wilderness near unto our city? But what if he did, should they therefore discover him, and so pull the vengeance of God upon themselves and their city? George Eagles (alias Trudgeover the world) hid himself in a grain field, was exposed by Ralph Lurdain for money, and burnt at Chelmsford; where afterwards the same Lurdain was hanged for stealing a horse; and confessed it was just in God upon him, for betraying that innocent man. (Acts & Mon.)