David in this psalm is concerned about an attack on Israel by foreign nations. The psalm is very similar to Psalm 14 except that Psalm 14 is addressed to Jewish opponents whereas Psalm 53 speaks to Gentiles. This may also explain why David uses the more general divine name God in Psalm 53 whereas in Psalm 14 Yahweh is used several times rather than Elohim. Paul quotes verses 1-3 in Romans 3 when describing the universal reality of sin.
The fool is not a person with no knowledge, but he is a person with no wisdom, a person who cannot use or chooses not to use true knowledge correctly. He assumes that God does not exist, and the outcome is that there is no restraint on how he lives. The outcome is terrible practices with no desire for doing good (v. 1).
Moreover, they do not realise that they are under divine scrutiny, and because they do not bear this reality in mind they also continue to practice sin (vv. 2-3). Their attack on the Israelites was evidence of this outlook; they had no idea that God could protect his people (v. 4). On this occasion, God caused them to panic, even although there was no need to do so. How easy it was for him to defeat the foes of his people and give an astonishing victory to them (v. 5).
This victory led David to pray for more displays of divine deliverance from his powerful God. When God would provide them, there would be great joy among his people (v. 6).
We live in a society which dismisses the existence of the true God. People today are like those in David’s time, unaware that they are under the scrutiny of God. Much of what they do is directed against his kingdom. But they do not appreciate that he can dismiss their attacks easily, should he choose to do so. We should pray that he would, and in doing so give us reasons to praise him for his wisdom and power.
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