Psalms 10 - Introduction

Section 1

“Author and occasion of the psalm.” This psalm, like Psalms 1:1; Psalms 2:1, and many others, has no title to indicate its authorship; nor is there anything in the psalm itself which can enable us to determine this with any certainty. From the place which it occupies among the acknowledged Psalms of David, it is morally certain that it was regarded by those who arranged the Book of Psalms, as having been composed by him. There is nothing in the psalm to forbid this supposition.

Of course nothing is known as to the occasion on which it was composed. In the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, Psalms 9 and Psalms 10 are united, and reckoned as Psalms 9; and thenceforward the reckoning proceeds according to this arrangement, the eleventh in the Hebrew being numbered in those versions as the tenth, etc. This arrangement continues to Psalms 113:1 (inclusive). In those versions, Psalms 114:1 and Psalms 115 of the Hebrew form but one psalm, and the reckoning coincides. But Psalms 116 in Hebrew is, in those versions, (divided into two, and Psalms 147 in Hebrew is, in those versions, divided into two, thus completing the number of 150 psalms - making the number in the Hebrew, and the Latin Vulgate, and the Septuagint, the same. It is not now known by whom these divisions were made, or on what pretence they were made. There is no known reason for making the divisions of the Psalms that occur in the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate.

There is no evidence, therefore, that this psalm was composed at the same time, and on the same occasion, as Psalms 9, and there is nothing in the psalm itself that would necessarily lead to this supposition. It is as independent of that in its structure, as one psalm usually is of another.

So far as appears from the psalm itself, it was composed like the former, and like many others, when the writer was in the midst of trouble; and when, for the time, he seemed to be forsaken by God, Psalms 10:1. The nature of that trouble is so far indicated as to show that it arose from the conduct of some formidable enemy, some one who was wicked, someone who was pursuing a secret and underhanded, a clandestine and treacherous course, to destroy the reputation or the life of the author of the psalm. In these circumstances the writer calls upon God to interpose for him. Nothing is indicated, however, by which we can ascertain who this enemy was, or on what occasion, in the life of David, the psalm was composed. It is only necessary to add, that there were several occasions in the life of David which corresponded with what is stated in the psalm, and that it is not necessary to understand the particular occasion more clearly in order to see the meaning of the psalm.

Section 2

“Contents of the psalm.” The psalm is properly divided into two parts.

The first contains an account of the character of the enemy to whom the writer refers, Psalms 10:1; the second is an appeal to God to interpose and deliver him from the machinations of this foe, Psalms 10:12.

I. The characteristics of the enemy, Psalms 10:1. Those characteristics were the following:

(a) He was proud, and on that account persecuted the poor, Psalms 10:2.

(b) He was a boaster, and especially, it would seem, was one who was disposed to boast of his wealth, Psalms 10:3.

(c) He was a practical atheist; one too proud to seek after God, or to acknowledge his dependence on him, Psalms 10:4.

(d) His ways were always grievous, or adapted to produce evil, and the reason was that he had no just views on mortal subjects - that the great principles of truth and right were “far above out of his sight,” Psalms 10:5.

(e) He was a man who had no apprehensions about the future; one who felt that his course would be one of continued prosperity, and that adversity would never come upon him, Psalms 10:6.

(f) He was profane and openly fraudulent, Psalms 10:7

(g) He was insidious, artful, and underhanded in his doings; a man who would stoop to any act of duplicity and treachery to accomplish his purposes, Psalms 10:8.

(h) And he acted as if God had “forgotten,” that is, as if God would pass over offences; as though He did not see or regard them, Psalms 10:11.

II. An appeal to God to deliver him from the machinations of this foe, Psalms 10:12. This appeal consists of the following parts:

(a) A solemn address to God, beseeching him to remember the cry of the humble or the afflicted, Psalms 10:12.

(b) Arguments to enforce this appeal, or reasons why God should interpose, Psalms 10:13. These arguments are:

(1) That he had seen all this; that the effort of the wrong-doer to conceal what he had done was vain; and

(2) that the poor and afflicted had committed himself to God with a firm confidence that he would protect those who relied on him.

(c) The expression of a solemn and full conviction on the part of the writer of the psalm that God would thus interfere, and save those who put their trust in Him, Psalms 10:16.