My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

We are visiting Psalm 53, which upon even a cursory review, sounds very familiar. So it should, for it is almost identical to Psalm 14, and with that similarity, I would like to consider the similarities and differences each Psalm is communicating. This post will consider verse 3 of the two Psalms.

Psalm 14	Psalm 53
3  – They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.	3  – They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Psalm 14:3and Psalm 53:3 are identical in all aspects but for one. Is there a difference between turning aside and falling away? Let’s consider this difference in today’s post.

Psalm 14	Psalm 53
turned aside	fallen away
Strongs H5493, סוּר çûwr, soor	Strongs H5472, סוּג çûwg, soog
Genesius’ Hebrew Lexicon defines this term as – to turn aside, to go away, to depart.	Genesius’ Hebrew Lexicon defines this term as – to go away from, to draw back. This term is sometimes associated with backsliding, or moving away
TWOT #1480a	TWOT #1469

I gotta admit something. I am trying to find a difference between Psalm 14:3 and Psalm 53:3, but I can’t!

Though the action taken by the fool is defined by two different Hebrew words in the verses, the Hebrew words are very closely associated (synonyms?). The translation given also provides similar, if not identical actions. The fool turns away from God. The fool falls away from God. Granted, as I took my preliminary read of the two verses, I started thinking falling away is less of an intentional act than turning back, but again the Hebrew words do not allow me to follow that seeming difference.

All that to say, the message is the same. The fool departs from God! This is simply a logical outworking of the contemplation of the heart – no God! No restrictions, and no responsibilities to behave properly with our neighbor! I gotta admit that I sometimes pull a magnifying glass out and try to study little differences in words, when I really just need to pull back and look at the big picture.

Note that David is returning to the concept of corruption. Remember in verse 1, David stated that “They are corrupt”. In this verse, David is describing the group of fools as having “become corrupt”. Which is it David?. They are corrupt or they are becoming corrupt?

Individual or Social?

Although I have no authority in backing up this suggestion, I would like to offer a thought for your consideration. In verse one, might David be referring to an individual fool, and that as an individual, the corruption is a fact. The internal heart condition is in a state of corruption, the degree of which may be different for each fool. Is the corruption evident? Possibly, even probably to a degree, but as the fool continues in his heart contemplation of rejecting God, the evidence of corruption becomes clear.

In verse 3, David includes the descriptive term “together” which I think may hint at the corruption of a group, in contrast to the individual. Is it not true that as an individuals inner corruption becomes evident, it emboldens others to reveal, even boast in their their corruption, allowing for the social fabric to show forth its total corruption. Notice that the verse starts out with this group inclusion thought, by stating “They have all fallen away”.

The last phrase may also support this idea of a group of fools being addressed, in that David emphasizes a singular fool in the midst of the group when he states… “there is none who do good, not even one.” Let me know your thoughts in the comment box below.

With all this analysis, let us remember that the departure from God, corruption that follows and eventual evil acts produced, flows from a heart that rejects God. Every day that we ignore God and His will, we slip towards corruption, to falling away, and to evil acts. This ought not to be, for as the people of God, He has called us to life (not death & corruption), to walking uprightly (not falling away), and to being fruitful believers instead of workers of iniquity.

Spend some time with the One who gives life, righteousness and the fruit of love. He is the fountainhead of all blessing!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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