Word
of God
But
he answering, said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
The
Gospel According to Matthew 4:4
Psalm
12:1-2
Prefaced
& Edited by Doktor Riktor Von Zhades
1
Help Lord, for there is not a godly man left: for the faithful are
failed from among the children of men. 2 They speak deceitfully every
one with his neighbor, flattering with their lips, and speak with a
double heart.
Brethren:
Today
we read from Matthew Henry’s commentary
“When
there is a general decay of piety and honesty among men the times are
then truly bad and when the godly man ceases and the faithful fail.
Observe how these two characters are here put together, the godly and
the faithful. As there is no true policy, so there is no true piety,
without honesty. Godly men are faithful men, fast men, so they have
sometimes been called; their word is as confirming as their oath, as
binding as their bond; they make conscience of being true both to God
and man. They are here said to cease and fail, either by death or by
desertion, or by both. Those that were godly and faithful were taken
away, and those that were left had sadly degenerated and were not
what they had been; so that there were few or no good people that
were Israelites indeed to be met with. Perhaps he meant that there
were no godly faithful men among Saul’s courtiers; if he meant
there were few or none in Israel, we hope he was under the same
mistake that Elijah was, who thought he only was left alone, when God
had 7000 who kept their integrity (Read Romans 11:3); or he meant
that there were few in comparison; there was a general decay of
religion and virtue (and the times are bad, very bad, when it is so),
not a man to be found that executes judgment (a) (Read
Jeremiah 5:1)
Additionally
when dissimulation and flattery have corrupted and debauched all
conversation, then the times are very bad, when men are generally so
profligate that they make no conscience of a lie, are so spiteful as
to design against their neighbours the worst of mischiefs, and yet so
base as to cover the design with the most specious and plausible
pretences and professions of friendship. Thus they speak vanity (that
is, falsehood and a lie) every one to his neighbour, with flattering
lips and a double heart. They will kiss and kill (as Joab did Abner
and Amasa in David’s own time), will smile in your face and cut
your throat. This is the devil’s image complete, a complication of
malice and falsehood. The times are bad indeed when there is no such
thing as sincerity to be met with, when an honest man knows not whom
to believe nor whom to trust, nor dares put confidence in a friend,
in a guide, (Read Micah 7:5, 6; Jeremiah 9:4, 5) Woe to those who
help to make the times thus perilous”
(a) This is to say to execute judgment based on
what God considers to be righteous and equitable. Nor is there to be
found malice or vindictiveness in his (man’s) rendering and issuing
thereof . - Doktor Riktor Von Zhades
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