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Stolto e saggio di fronte a Dio secondo il Salmo 14

SUMMARY: Structured in five parts, Ps. 14 tackles the problem of the just who suffers on ac­count of the fool. The psalmist seeks God in prayer and asks Him to intervene in his favour, so that in conformity with the theology of the treaty, the just may prosper and the wicked perish. Un­der the literary aspect, Ps. 14 is indeed complex. To the proper elements of the sapiential Psalms, it adds others of diverse orientation, and so it is not easy to insert it within a well defined literary genre. The actuality of the Psalm is found in the "atheistic humanism" proudly professed by the fool. It is not a matter of "speculative atheism " but rather of «practic.al atheisme». More than den­ying the existence of God, the fool acts as if God did not exist and behaves as if at the end of this life no sanction awaited him (v.l). With an antropomorphic language the Psalmist presents God as witness to this general apostasy (w.2-3) and his subsequent intervention for the restoration of the disturbed order (w. 4-5). At the conclusion the just-poor obtains assurances: the fool shall not succeed in his endeavours, because God sides with the just, intervenes in his favour and will not permit the fool to prevail (v.6). In the liturgical addition the Psalmist expresses the certitude that for Israel there is «salvation», and that this will come from Sion, namely from the place which God has chosen for his dwelling (v. 7).