Psalms 109:17-31

the Deliverer of the Needy

Psalms 109:17

This psalm emphasizes the difference, indicated by our Lord, between His teaching and that addressed to “them of old time,” especially on the point of forgiveness. It is in such teaching as this that the psalmist's mood is distinctly inferior to that which has now become the law for devout men. This at least may be said, that these ancient saints did not desire vengeance for private injuries, but that God's name and character might be vindicated. Devout men could not but long for the triumph of good and the defeat and destruction of its opposite.

The closing paragraph voices some of those lowly, sad petitions for help, which occur in so many of the psalms. This combination of devout meekness and trust with the fiery imprecations or predictions at the core of this psalm, substantiates what has been said above as to the spirit in which the psalm was conceived. It is not personal, but the voice of the Church asking God to make known the righteousness of His government. The psalm begins and ends with praise. It starts by picturing an adversary at the right hand of the wicked, Psalms 109:6, and closes with assurance that Jehovah stands at the right hand of His afflicted servant to deliver him. “I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved,” Psalms 16:8.