Psalm 53 mentions Doeg in the inscription before the psalm. He was an Edomite - meaning he was a descendant of Edom - another name for Esau, Jacob's (Israel) twin brother.
Doeg was evil. First, he told Saul about how the priest, Ahimelek, helped David. Saul, in his anger, told his army officials to kill the priests since they helped David. The officials feared God and wouldn't raise a hand against the priests. So Saul told Doeg to kill the priests. He wasn't an Israelite so he had no respect for the priests. He killed 85 priests that day! Read the story here
So what are we to take from this story?
- There are evil people in the world who have no fear or respect of God. They do evil things. Sometimes God's people are the targets of these evil people.
- God will bring the wicked down to everlasting ruin. v.5
- The righteous (from David's example) will trust in God's unfailing love forever, praise Him in the presence of His people (like - at church, in worship), and will hope in God's name.
We can easily get caught up in the evil of wicked men. We want to fight back. We are tempted to give back evil for evil.
Peter and Paul both told us not to repay evil.
1 Peter 3:9
Romans 12:17
9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the
contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you
may inherit a blessing.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what
is right in the eyes of everyone.
Bottom line:
God will take care of the evil people in the world. That's His job, not yours.
Even though you are following God you may still have terrible things happen to you. (Not only did Doeg kill the priests, but then Saul and his men destroyed all the people - men, women and children - of the priest's town.
Trust in Jesus when you are attacked. Continue to praise Him in the presence of His people. Put your hope in Him.
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