1 Samuel 19-31 tells of David's flight from a jealous and murderous King Saul. On one occasion, David came to the godly priest, Ahimelek, who gave him and his supporters consecrated bread and Goliath's sword (1 Samuel 21). The incident was witnessed by Saul's servant, Doeg. Doeg later betrayed Ahimelek to the king and then volunteered to become Saul's executioner. In one of the most brutal acts in the whole Old Testament, Doeg slaughtered all 85 priests of Ahimelek's home town and all the men, women, children and animals in the city (22:16-19).

David remembers Doeg's despicable act of treachery and violence in Psalm 52. This psalm has three parts. The first part recalls Doeg's deceitfulness (Psalm 52:1-4). David emphasises his treachery, ″you practise deceit, your tongue plots destruction″ (v. 2) and, ″you love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue″ (v. 4). David describes Doeg's tongue is ″like a sharpened razor″ (v. 3). It cuts, wounds, and kills. We've all experienced the painful cuts of someone's words. Some of the deepest hurts we experience are the lies and betrayals of people whom we thought we could trust.

In the second part of the psalm (vv. 5-7), David rejoices that God will bring justice and retribution on Doeg. He will come to ″everlasting ruin″ (v. 5). The Old Testament does not say much about the afterlife, but David clearly believed in judgement and life after death. He knew that death would be an insufficient punishment for Doeg's evil deeds. His ruin deserves to be forever.

In the final section (vv. 8-9), David contrasts his future with Doeg's. While Doeg will be uprooted from the land of the living (v. 5), David will be a flourishing olive tree (v. 8). David described himself as being ″in the house of God″, even though, whilst on the run, he was far away from God's physical tabernacle in Shiloh. But David understood, as we Christians do, that we remain in God's presence wherever we are.

It's hard to live in a world where people do unspeakable evil, especially when we see them get away with it. The books of Samuel don't tell us what happened to Doeg. It seems he got away with his crimes–in this life. But not in the life to come. The God who hates evil and loves justice will one day repay people for the evil they have done. This should encourage us. Although we grieve at the evil around us and sometimes, like David, even feel partly responsible (see 1 Samuel 22:20-22), we can rejoice in God's unfailing love towards us. We can be confident that now and always we'll praise Him in the presence of His faithful people (Psalm 52:9).