“Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.”
The final appeal for God to save God's people out of Zion shifts from the visionary announcement of judgment to urgent prayer for deliverance from the oppression currently afflicting the community. The reference to Zion establishes the locale of God's dwelling and the center of covenantal community, from which salvation will emanate. The desire to see the restoration of Jacob's fortunes expresses the hope that God will reverse the current degradation and renew the covenant community in prosperity and peace. The closing verse situates the entire psalm in the context of exile or oppression: the psalm moves from acknowledgment of universal human sinfulness through recognition of God's judgment on evildoers to prayer for the restoration of the covenant people to full participation in God's blessings.
Church Fathers on Psalms 53:6
1. Of this Psalm we undertake to treat with you, as far as the Lord supplies us. A brother bids us that we may have the will, and prays that we may have the power. If anything in haste perchance I shall have passed over, He that even to us deigns to give what we shall be enabled to say, will supply it in you. The title of it is: “At the end, for Maeleth, understanding to David himself.” “For Maeleth,” as we find in interpretations of Hebrew names, seems to say, For one…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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