Psalms 10 - Introduction
X. See _Introduction_ to Psalms 9.... [ Continue Reading ]
X. See _Introduction_ to Psalms 9.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WICKED. — Better, _in the pride of the wicked, the sufferer burns._ (So LXX., Aquila, Symmachus, and Vulg.) Not to be taken of indignation felt by the sufferers, but literally of the afflictions they endure. The Authorised Version rendering of the next clause takes the wicked as the subject of t... [ Continue Reading ]
AFAR OFF. — Comp. Psalms 22:1; Psalms 22:19; Psalms 35:22, &c HIDEST. — Isaiah 1:15 supplies the ellipsis, “thine eyes,” used of a judge bribed to wink at offence 1 Samuel 12:3; comp. Leviticus 20:4), of indifference to suffering (Proverbs 28:27); LXX. and Vulg. “to overlook.” (3) FOR THE WICKED BO... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WICKED. — The Authorised Version has quite missed the meaning of this verse. Translate, _the wicked in his haughtiness_ (literally, _height of his nostril._ Comp. the common expression, ‘to turn up one’s nose at a person’) _saith He will not requite it_ (_i.e.,_ punish; comp. Psalms 10:13). _The... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS WAYS ARE ALWAYS GRIEVOUS. — Better, _his enterprises always succeed._ This meaning is obtained from Job 20:21, “nothing escaped his covetousness, therefore his prospering shall not last,” and from the cognate of the verb “strength.” Perhaps, however, “his ways are always strong” implies only the... [ Continue Reading ]
I SHALL NOT. — The meaning of the verse is clear, but the construction is involved. Literally, _I shall not be moved to generation and generation, which not in evil._ The LXX. and Vulg. omit the relative altogether. The best rendering is, “I shall never be moved at any time: I who am without ill.”... [ Continue Reading ]
CURSING AND DECEIT. — From the connection of cursing with deceit (comp. Hosea 4:2, “swearing and lying “), we must understand perjury.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN LURKING PLACES..._ — i.e.,_ in ambush. VILLAGES. — Properly, enclosed spaces, but then, like our “town” (_ton,_ an enclosure), for any collection of dwellings; and in Leviticus 25:31, “an unwalled place”; applied also to a nomadic encampment (Genesis 25:16). PRIVILY SET. — Literally, _hid: i.e.... [ Continue Reading ]
_(_9_)_ LIETH IN WAIT. — A confusion of metaphor. The wicked is first, the lion watching for his prey, and then the hunter snaring animals. “Poor,” here — better, _afflicted_ (see Psalms 9:12). Translate, _in his hiding-place he lurks, as a lion in his lair, lurks to seize a sufferer, seizes a suffe... [ Continue Reading ]
_(_10_)_ BY HIS STRONG ONES. — Possibly, _by his strong claws,_ recurring to the metaphor of the lion. Some (Jerome, Perowne, and apparently Syriac), instead of “croucheth,” render “is crushed,” making the sufferer its subject. There is a various reading to the text, but in either case the image of... [ Continue Reading ]
HIDETH. — Better, _hath hidden. _... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the acrostic arrangement is resumed with _koph. _... [ Continue Reading ]
_(_14_)_ THE POOR COMMITTETH HIMSELF. — Better, _the helpless leaveth it to Thee._ By a slight alteration in the division of the Hebrew letters, and of the pointing, we should get, _It is against thee that he is strong in darkness._ (See Notes above, Psalms 10:8; Psalms 10:10.)... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEK OUT. — The meaning of the verse is clear, from Psalms 37:36, and Isaiah 41:12, where we see that _to seek and not find_ was a proverb expressing “riddance of evil;” but the construction is difficult. The first clause should end at “wicked,” the words “and the evil” being absolute; and the verbs... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD IS KING. — If the psalm has hitherto been personal, it here swells out into a larger strain of national hope and faith.... [ Continue Reading ]
OPPRESSED. — See Psalms 9:9. “God’s choice acquaintances are humble men.” — _Leighton._ THAT THE MAN. — Literally, _that may not continue to terrify_ (or _defy_)_ mere man from the earth,_ which may mean that mere mortals may have to confess their weakness in comparison with God. But Psalms 9:20, w... [ Continue Reading ]