Jehovah trieth the righteous one; but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth.
When evil wins and good people suffer, what is God doing? This verse answers: He is testing the righteous, and He hates the man who loves violence.
The verse before speaks of God's eyes and eyelids; this verse tells us what that gaze is doing. Even when God's house on earth is gone, His throne is not.
Even if the Lord's sanctuary is no longer found on earth, He is still in His heavenly temple, and no sin of man can drive Him from it. From there He still rules the earth. Because He is quiet, men hardly think it is so. Yet He keeps the most perfect watch over them all.
God's testing is His own work, and it has an aim.
His eyelids see all things according to His own purity. When He tests the children of men, He has an aim for the righteous: He proves and sifts them. This is a most important truth. God is at work with the righteous, to carry out His own gracious purposes towards them and to display His own character. He judges everything that does not match His character, and He leads them to judge it too. So He gives them the understanding of what He is, and shapes their character to match it. At the same time He subdues their wills and wins their affections by the sense of His faithfulness and love. The breaking of the will is a great means of opening the understanding.
Why does God test the righteous while the wicked go untouched? The answer lies in His love for them.
But He tests the righteous too: the very ones He loves, and because He loves them, for the sake of what the trial works, in them and through them, for His glory. This may make the wicked, who are the tools of this trial, forget or ignore that He hates "the wicked and the one who loves violence."
Everyone is under examination, but the results part company.
The ungodly fail the test, so God casts them aside in judgment, while He keeps on testing the righteous. Why? Because "the tested genuineness of your faith" is "more precious than gold that perishes" (1 Peter 1:7). Fiery trial proves faith and makes it more beautiful. The same trial shows the wicked in their true character — the character the Lord hates.
The second half of the verse is the hardest line to read. One writer ties that hatred straight to what God loves.
To love righteousness is to hate its opposite, iniquity. The more intense the love of righteousness, the more intense the hatred of iniquity.
If God tests the righteous and hates the violent, why does the violent man appear to win? Because the display is still ahead.
In the days of the Antichrist, God's rule is not on outward display. Evil abounds, the wicked triumph, and the godly are tried. Still, faith knows that God hates the wicked and the violent, and that His favour is towards the upright. The judgment that will soon fall on the wicked will make this plain. But for the moment the Lord holds back from dealing with the evil. He uses the circumstances to test the righteous, for their blessing and His glory.
- Tested, not abandoned. God is not only watching. His testing works for the righteous, shaping them to His own character and opening their understanding.
- Tested because loved. God tests "the very ones He loves, and because He loves them." The trial proves the love; it does not deny it.
- Tested with different results. The same test covers everyone. The wicked fail it and are set aside. Trial refines the righteous, and their faith comes out more precious than gold.
- Hated for what is loved. God's hatred of violence measures His love of righteousness. The two rise together.
- Tested now, revealed later. For now God's rule is hidden and the violent seem to win. Faith holds this verse as true before the judgment makes it plain.
Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone; and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
In Psalm 11 the psalmist is told to run for the hills, and he refuses, because God still rules from heaven. Verse 6 is where that confidence lands: the God who tests men will one day rain fire on the violent — but what is that fire, and whose cup does it fill?
The verse closes an argument about how God rules while evil seems to have the upper hand.
The Lord tests the righteous. The story of Job teaches us this, and it pictures what happens to Israel. The way things are now does not reveal how God governs at all. Faith knows God has the upper hand, and that all things work together for good to those who love Him. But God is not governing in an immediate way — one that would make the present state of things show His verdict on good and evil here on earth. If it were so, no evil could be allowed. The righteous would flourish, and everything he did would prosper. But it is not so… He tests all His saints. As for the wicked, whom He hates, He will rain judgment on them — snares, and fire and brimstone.
Older translations read "snares" here where the ESV reads "coals". The words come from one event — the burning of Sodom — and that event tells you what the "snares" are: not traps set on the ground, but the falling fire itself.
The picture comes from the destruction of Sodom. That destruction is a solemn picture of the world's judgment, and our Lord pointed to it when He spoke of His own coming. (Luke 17:28-30, 32.) The "snares" are clearly the fire and brimstone themselves, rained down from heaven. They lay hold of men before they know they are in danger, as happened to Lot's wife: "while people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them."
Brimstone is the older word for sulfur. It is a real substance, and it carries a fixed meaning.
Bitumen, pitch, or sulphur, which is still found in its raw state in Palestine. In God's judgement it was rained from heaven. Gen. 19:24; Ps. 11:6; Luke 17:29. It is a symbol of what will add to the torment and anguish of the wicked. Rev. 20:10; Rev. 21:8.
Some readers call the verse cruel. One writer meets that objection from the next verse.
The torment of literal fire is dreadful. But it stands for something worse — the torment of bearing the judgment of God for eternity. Is this cruel and unfair, as some men protest? No: it is because the Lord is righteous (v. 7) that He judges as He does. He loves righteousness, and the light of His face rests with pleasure on the upright. So the ungodly reap what they have sown, and the righteous reap what they have sown. This is certainly fair and just.
Fire, sulfur, and scorching wind are all called one thing — the portion of their cup. That turns the storm into a drink, and a cup in Scripture can be filled either way.
In regard to the "cup," it has, as an expression, a very distinct meaning in Scripture. (See Ps. 11:6; Ps. 16:5; Ps. 23:5; John 18:11, etc.) From these and many other passages it clearly means what a person is passing through, whether blessing or sorrow, along with the experience that goes with it. So in Psalm 23 it is an overflowing cup of blessing. In John 18 it stands for all the sorrows that came on our blessed Lord through His rejection and death.
That cup has already been drunk once. One writer sets out the choice this leaves us.
He looked at the cup and prayed to be spared it, but said, I will drink it. Our eternal salvation hung upon His drinking that cup. If He did not bear that wrath and judgment, we must; and if He did not drink that cup, we must drink it… Thank God, my Saviour has drained it for me. He has drained it to the very last drop. He has filled another cup — the cup of salvation — to the brim with love. He has put that cup to my lips, and I drink, and receive eternal life.
Five steps carry the verse — from God's throne down to the cup each person receives.
- Throne. God's silence is not absence. He rules while evil runs loose, and the way things look now is no measure of His verdict.
- Trial. The same God who tests the righteous hates the wicked. One He proves; the other He judges.
- Storm. Judgment falls as it fell on Sodom — without warning. The falling fire is itself the snare, catching people who thought they were safe.
- Cup. A cup is what a person receives and tastes — blessing in Psalm 23, wrath here. It is measured, personal, and it is theirs.
- Escape. Christ drained the cup of judgment and filled another cup — salvation — to the brim. If He had not drunk it, we would have to.
For righteous is Jehovah; he loveth righteousness, his countenance doth behold the upright.
Psalm 11 ends with a reason. When evil is winning and the godly are being tried, it answers with God's character, and rests everything there.
One writer sets the verse in a time when evil rules openly and God's government is hidden from sight:
During the reign of Antichrist, the government of God is not on open display. Evil abounds, the wicked triumph, and the godly are tried. Still, faith knows that God hates the wicked and the violent, and that His favour is toward the upright. The judgment that will soon fall on the wicked will show this. For now, though, the Lord holds back from dealing with the evil. He uses these circumstances to test the righteous, for their blessing and His glory.
Notice the order in the verse: God is righteous first, then He loves righteous deeds. One writer explains why God cannot stay neutral while good and evil are in conflict:
Good and evil are in conflict everywhere and at all times. So "the righteous LORD" who "loves righteousness," and whose "countenance beholds the upright," must show Himself on behalf of what He loves. God's righteousness here is clearly, and always, part of His character, an attribute of God Himself. It is not a gift given to man in any way. Yet it is tied to the salvation of His people, for whom He will at last appear, after a long and needed discipline of suffering.
God's righteousness moves in two directions, and the two are not the same:
It is clear there are two kinds of righteousness — justice against evil, and a proper appreciation and even reward of good. "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord" is a different thing from "the righteous LORD loves righteousness, His countenance beholds the upright"; though both, in themselves, are the just estimate of good and evil.
The same distinction answers a common objection to God's judgment on the wicked:
Is this cruel and unfair, as some men protest? No: it is because the Lord is righteous (v. 7) that He judges as He does. He loves righteousness, and the light of His face rests with pleasure on the upright. So the ungodly reap what they have sown, and the righteous reap what they have sown. Certainly, this is fair and just.
The last line is translated two ways. Some render it as God's face turned toward the upright; the ESV has the upright seeing His face. Read that second way, the verse ends with a promise:
As surely as "the LORD is righteous; He loves righteous deeds," "the upright shall behold His face." Fellowship now leads on to fellowship in the life to come.
The cross is where that love of righteousness was proved, and it cost Him everything:
It is good for us to consider this. The sacrifice of Christ was not simply an act of compassionate grace to free us from God's judgment of sin. He also hated the sin He died to free us from. He loved the righteousness that His cross proved right, and He maintained it at all cost. Now, from God, He is made righteousness to us.
This gives the believer one question to ask about every choice:
But whatever others may do, the rule of the man of God must always be, Is it right? Is it in harmony with the revealed will of God? Not merely, is it most practical, most likely to gain the end in view, but is it right? "The righteous LORD loves righteousness: His countenance beholds the upright."
- Because — the verse gives a reason, not advice. God is righteous, and that fact steadies faith when evil seems to win.
- Character — His righteousness is what He is, an attribute of God Himself, not a gift given to man. The same righteousness judges evil and values good.
- Cross — there He hated the sin and loved the righteousness He upheld, at full cost. Now He is made righteousness to us.
- Face — it ends in fellowship. God's face rests on the upright now; the upright will behold His face later.
- Test — so one question rules every choice: is it right?