“ THE FOOL SAYS IN HIS HEART, “THERE IS NO GOD.””
SO, WHO SPECIFICALLY IS THE FOOL IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS PASSAGE? by Tuese Ahkiong
Christians use this passage OUT OF CONTEXT TO HATE ON ATHEISTS!!!
Who is the fool?
The atheist? NO.
It is the Israelite who is the fool according to the context from where these Psalms describe Israel rejecting YHWH!
The bible is the story of Israel. When you see “mankind,” “all men,” “ALL,” “human being,” “my people,” “whole world” like in the following passages, they are referring to Israel. Only Israel was UNDER THE LAW, and therefore Only Israel could be UNDER SIN. No other people were give THE LAW of YHWH!
Israel was a divided kingdom after the death of the third King, Solomon. The Kingdom was divided into the Northern Kingdom, Israel with 10 tribes and the Southern Kingdom, Judah with 2 tribes. The southern tribes is where we get Jews. Every Jew is an Israelite but not every Israelite is a Jew. The southern kingdom is likened to the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. He was legalistic. His younger brother was living wild, SCATTERED among the pagan nations as lost sheep! The Jews called their northern brother Greeks, gentiles, Samaritans… in a condescending manner because they were uncircumcised and not keeping the law and forgot their God.
Notice how both psalms end with that salvation would come to Israel. See articles on Romans 9 & 11 below where this is fulfilled.
I will write more later. I just want to put this out for people to see the context of where this phrase comes from and how it is about Israel and NOT atheists!
Psalm 14
For the director of music. Of David.
1 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on ALL MANKIND to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour MY PEOPLE as though eating bread; they never call on the Lord.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.
6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.
7 OH, THAT SALVATION FOR ISRAEL WOULD COME OUT OF ZION! WHEN THE LORD RESTORES HIS PEOPLE, LET JACOB REJOICE AND ISRAEL BE GLAD!
Psalm 53
For the director of music. According to mahalath. A maskil of David.
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven on ALL MANKIND to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
3 Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour MY PEOPLE as though eating bread; they never call on God.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
where there was nothing to dread. God scattered the bones of those who attacked you;
you put them to shame, for God despised them.
6 OH, THAT SALVATION FOR ISRAEL WOULD COME OUT OF ZION! WHEN GOD RESTORES HIS PEOPLE, LET JACOB REJOICE AND ISRAEL BE GLAD!
ROMANS 3
Paul picks up on the backstory of scattered Israel being like fools. And the infamous, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” pertains only to Israel & Judah! Yes, Christian folk take this one out of context, too!
3 THEN WHAT ADVANTAGE HAS THE JEW? OR WHAT IS THE VALUE OF CIRCUMCISION?2 MUCH IN EVERY WAY. TO BEGIN WITH, THE JEWS WERE ENTRUSTED WITH THE ORACLES OF GOD. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,
“That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”
5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
9 WHAT THEN? ARE WE JEWS ANY BETTER OFF? NO, NOT AT ALL. FOR WE HAVE ALREADY CHARGED THAT ALL, BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS, ARE UNDER SIN, 10 AS IT IS WRITTEN:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to THOSE WHO ARE UNDER THE LAW, so that every mouth may be stopped, and THE WHOLE WORLD may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since THROUGH THE LAW COMES KNOWLEDGE OF SIN.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:23 for ALL HAVE SINNED and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 FOR WE HOLD THAT ONE IS JUSTIFIED BY FAITH APART FROM WORKS OF THE LAW. 29 OR IS GOD THE GOD OF JEWS ONLY? IS HE NOT THE GOD OF GENTILES ALSO? YES, OF GENTILES ALSO, 30 SINCE GOD IS ONE—WHO WILL JUSTIFY THE CIRCUMCISED BY FAITH AND THE UNCIRCUMCISED THROUGH FAITH. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
****Romans like the 2 Psalms above speak of the salvation of Israel.
Romans 11:25-27
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES has come in. 26 And in this way ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
***The Bible is Israel’s Redemption Story that ended in 70AD
ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED. ALL ISRAEL WAS SAVED. http://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2018/06/all-israel-will-be-saved-all-israel-was.html
More reading:
How scattered ISRAEL became GENTILES (this confusing word just means NATIONs or PEOPLEs)
https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-israel-became-gentiles-this.html?m=1
Israel prophesied to be scattered in the gentile pagan nations in The Latter Days (30-70AD) worshipping idols like gentiles!
https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2023/07/israel-scattered-in-gentile-pagan.html?m=1
TEACH THE GENTILES, THE GREEKS, OUR PEOPLE DISPERSED/ SCATTERED AMONG THE GREEKS. https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2023/01/john-733-36-with-focus-on-v35-by-tuese.html?m=1
ROMANS 1:18-32 IS NOT ABOUT GENERAL REVELATION but ISRAEL REJECTING YHWH
https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2018/07/romans-118-32-is-not-about-general.html
GENTILES IN ROMANS 9:19-33 ARE THE CUT OFF ISRAELITES, THE NORTHERN KINGDOM, THE DIASPORA
http://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2018/06/gentiles-in-romans-919-33-are-cut-off.html
Who were THE DIASPORA? THE ELECT? The fullness of GENTILES that Paul spoke of? Who were those YHWH CALLED NOT MY PEOPLE? Are people today elect like Reformed Calvinist folk think they are? Here’s a RED PILL to who the Bible identifies as the elect!
https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-diaspora-were-elect-remnant-of.html?m=1
THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL were NOT Samoans, Mexicans, Indians, Filipinos, Koreans, Irish, English…. but Israelites, duh!!!
https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-lost-sheep-of-israel-were-not.html
The knowledge of good and evil
https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2019/02/knowledge-of-good-and-evil-law-sin.html?m=1
People in the 21st century pick up an ancient book and assume it’s written to them when it is not. Most folk would agree that the OT is primarily to Israel. The NT was written to the ekklesia in Rome Corinth Galatia; Timothy Titus Philemon... in the 1st century.
THE BIBLE IS ISRAEL’s STORY! https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-bible-is-israels-story.html?m=1
YHWH EXCLUSIVELY LOVES ISRAEL
https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-lord-loves-israel-god-loves-israel.html
SEED/LAND PROMISES FULFILLED TO ISRAEL
https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/06/seedland-promises-fulfilled-to-israel.html
THE END OF SIN
https://tueseahkiong.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-end-of-sin-happened-in-70ad.html
