3 For the wicked boasteth of his soul's desire, and he blesseth the covetous; he contemneth Jehovah.
Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure [which is] abominable? Shall I be pure with the unjust balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
whose possessors slay them without being held guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be Jehovah! for I am become rich; and their own shepherds pity them not. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah, and behold, I will deliver men, every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and I will not deliver out of their hand. So I fed the flock of slaughter, truly the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. And I destroyed three shepherds in one month; and my soul was vexed with them, and their soul also loathed me.
And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and mocked him. And he said to them, *Ye* are they who justify themselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what amongst men is highly thought of is an abomination before God.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many unwise and hurtful lusts, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is [the] root of every evil; which some having aspired after, have wandered from the faith, and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
for men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, evil speakers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, profane, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, of unsubdued passions, savage, having no love for what is good, traitors, headlong, of vain pretensions, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;
Their inward thought is, that their houses are for ever,their dwelling-places from generation to generation: they call the lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly, yet they that come after them delight in their sayings. Selah.
They mock and speak wickedly of oppression, they speak loftily: They set their mouth in the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
But he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; for it is in his heart to extirpate and cut off nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes all kings? Is not Calno as Karkemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, -- and their graven images exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria, -- shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her images?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 10
Commentary on Psalms 10 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 10
Ps 10:1-18. The Psalmist mourns God's apparent indifference to his troubles, which are aggravated by the successful malice, blasphemy, pride, deceit, and profanity of the wicked. On the just and discriminating providence of God he relies for the destruction of their false security, and the defense of the needy.
1. These are, of course, figurative terms (compare Ps 7:6; 13:1, &c.).
hidest—Supply "thine eyes" or "face."
2. Literally, "In pride of the wicked they (the poor or humble, Ps 10:17; 12:5) shall be taken in the devices they (the proud) have imagined."
3. heart's—or, "soul's."
desire—that is, his success in evil.
and blesseth, &c.—he (the wicked) blesseth the covetous, he despiseth the Lord.
4. The face expresses the self-conceit, whose fruit is practical atheism (Ps 14:1).
5, 6. Such is his confidence in the permanence of his way or course of life, that he disregards God's providential government (out of sight, because he will not look, Isa 26:11), sneers at his enemies, and boasts perpetual freedom from evil.
7-10. The malignity and deceit (Ps 140:3) of such are followed by acts combining cunning, fraud, and violence (compare Pr 1:11, 18), aptly illustrated by the habits of the lion, and of hunters taking their prey. "Poor," in Ps 10:8, 10, 14, represents a word peculiar to this Psalm, meaning the sad or sorrowful; in Ps 10:9, as usual, it means the pious or meek sufferer.
8. eyes … privily—He watches with half-closed eyes, appearing not to see.
10. croucheth—as a lion gathers himself into as small compass as possible to make the greater spring.
fall by his strong ones—The figure of the lion is dropped, and this phrase means the accomplices of the chief or leading wicked man.
11. As before, such conduct implies disbelief or disregard of God's government.
12. (Compare Ps 9:19; 3:7).
the humble—(Compare Ps 10:17, and Margin.)
lift up thine hand—exert thy power.
13, 14. It is in vain to suppose God will overlook sin, however forbearing; for He carefully examines or beholds all wickedness, and will mark it by His providential (Thine hand) punishment.
14. mischief and spite—provocation and trouble of the sufferer (compare Ps 6:7; 7:14).
committeth—or, "leaves (his burden) on Thee."
15. arm—power.
till thou find none—So far from not requiting (Ps 10:11, 13), God will utterly destroy the wicked and his deeds (Ps 9:5, 6; 34:16; 37:36).
16-18. God reigns. The wicked, if for a time successful, shall be cut off. He hears and confirms the hearts of His suffering people (Ps 112:7), executes justice for the feeble, and represses the pride and violence of conceited, though frail, men (compare Ps 9:16).