Psalm 36

The psalm opens inside a man's head. "He flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful" describes the self-talk that keeps a scheme feeling reasonable. Then it follows him to bed: "he deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good." Night was the planning hour in a world with no evening entertainment and an early start.

The turn in verse 5 lifts the eye to the largest things in view — heavens, clouds, the great mountains, the great deep. Israel's mountains meant the ranges east and north, and the great deep meant the sea and the waters under the earth, the least measurable thing a person could name.

"They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house" is festival language. At a peace offering, the worshiper's family ate the meat in the sanctuary courts — one of the few times ordinary Israelites ate their fill of roasted meat. Fatness meant the rich portions.

"The river of thy pleasures" and "with thee is the fountain of life" carry weight in a country with almost no rivers. Judah's water came from springs, cisterns, and the winter rains; a permanent flowing source was rare enough to determine where a town stood. Jerusalem itself existed because of the Gihon spring.