Psalm 9:16 Komentář

In this psalm, I. David praises God for pleading his cause, and giving him victory over his enemies and the enemies of his country (Psa 9:1-6), and calls upon others to join with him in his songs of praise (Psa 9:11, Psa 9:12). II. He prays to God that he might have still further occasion to praise him, for his own deliverances and the confusion of his enemies (Psa 9:13, Psa 9:14, Psa 9:19, Psa 9:20). III. He triumphs in the assurance he had of God's judging the world (Psa 9:7, Psa 9:8), protecting his oppressed people (Psa 9:9, Psa 9:10, Psa 9:18), and bringing his and their implacable enemies to ruin (Psa 9:15-17). This is very applicable to the kingdom of the Messiah, the enemies of which have been in part destroyed already, and shall be yet more and more till they all be made his footstool, which we are to assure ourselves of, that God may have the glory and we may take the comfort. To the chief musician upon Muth-labben. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 9 To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, a Psalm of David. Some, take "muthlabben" to be the name of the tune to which this psalm was sung, and to design the same note which we call the counter-tenor: others think, that "upon muth", or "almuth", are but one word, and the same as "alamoth", Psa 45:1, title; and that it is the name of a musical instrument; and that "Ben" in "labben", is the name of the chief musician, who was over that sort of instrument, to whom the psalm is inscribed (l); and indeed R. Sol Jarchi says, that he had seen in the great Masorah these words as one; and so it seems the Septuagint interpreters read them, who render them, "for the hidden things of the son"; and the Arabic version, "concerning the mysteries of the son": and Ben is a name, it is said, of one of the singers, whose kindred and companions were appointed with psalteries on "alamoth", Ch1 15:18. And so then the title runs thus; "to the chief musician on alamoth, [even to] Ben". But others are of opinion that the subject matter or occasion of the psalm is designed by this phrase; and that as "muth" signifies "death", the death of some person is intended, on account of which this psalm was composed; some say Nabal, seeing the word "Laban", inverted, or read backwards, is "Nabal" (m), whose death affected David; as appears from Sa1 25:38. Others, that it was one of the kings of the Gentiles, whose name was Labben, and is mentioned nowhere else, who fought with David, and whom he slew, and upon his death penned this psalm (n). Others, Goliath the Philistine (o), who is called, Sa1 17:4. , which we render "champion" and dueller, one of two that fight together. But rather the reason of the name is, as given by the Jewish commentators (p), because he went and stood between the two camps of the Philistines and the Israelites; and so the Chaldee paraphrase renders the title of this psalm, "to praise, concerning the death of the man who went out between the camps, a song of David.'' And so the psalm itself, in the Targum, and by other Jewish writers, is interpreted of Goliath and the Philistines, and of the victory over them; and which does not seem amiss. Arama interprets it of the death of Saul. Others interpret Almuth Labben "of the death of the son"; and understand it of the death of Absalom, the son of David (q): but David's passion moved in another way, not in joy, but in grief, Sa2 18:33; nor is there anything in the psalm that can be referred unto it. Others, of the death of the son of God; but of that there is not the least hint in the psalm. Theodoret interprets it of Christ's victory over death by dying, which was a mystery or hidden thing. Rather, I should think, it might be interpreted of the death of the son of perdition, the man of sin and his followers; who may be typified by Goliath, and the Philistines: and so, as Ainsworth observes, as the former psalm was concerning the propagation of Christ's kingdom, this is of the destruction of antichrist. And Jerom, long ago said, this whole psalm is sung by the prophet in the person of the church, concerning antichrist: and to this agrees the Syriac version; which makes the subject of the psalm to be, "concerning Christ, taking the throne and kingdom, and routing the enemy.'' And also the Arabic version, according to which the argument of the psalm is, "concerning the mysteries of the Son, with respect to the glory of Christ, and his resurrection and kingdom, and the destruction of all the children of disobedience.'' To which may be added, that this psalm, according to R. Sol Jarchi, belongs to the time to come, to the days of the Messiah, and the future redemption by him. (l) Kimchi & Abendana in Miclol Yophi in loc. (m) So some in Jarchi & Aben Ezra in loc. (n) Donesh Hallevi in ibid. (o) Kimchi & Ben Melech in loc. (p) Jarchi, Kimchi, Levi Ben Gersom, R. Isaiah, & Ben Melech in 1 Sam. xvii. 4. (q) So some in Jarchi in loc.

The wicked shall be turned into hell,.... Some render it, "shall return to the grave" (p), to the earth, the original dust from whence they came; but this is common to all men, to the righteous as well as the wicked; rather here signifies the place of torment, commonly called hell, where devils and damned spirits are; hither the souls of the wicked go immediately upon their departure from their bodies, Luk 16:23; and after the judgment is over, they will be remanded thither in soul and body; and their damnation is called the destruction of soul and body in hell; which will consist in an everlasting separation from God, and in a sense of his wrath and fiery indignation: and though this is true of all the wicked, yet here that wicked one, antichrist, and his wicked followers, are chiefly designed; even the beast and false prophet, who shall be cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, Rev 19:20; and all the nations that forget God; which is not to be understood of the Pagan nations, though they may be said to forget God, since he is to be known by the light of nature, and yet they worship idols, the works of their hands; but the Papal nations, who adore the pope of Rome as God on earth, worship angels and saints departed, and images of gold and silver, and wood and stone. It may be applied to every wicked man who forgets there is a God who sees and knows all things, and to whom men are accountable; see Psa 50:22. (p) "revertentur ad vel in sepulchrum", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

"And great fear," it is said, "came on all them that heard these things." That man was punished, and others profited thereby. Not without cause. And yet, signs had been wrought before: true, but there was not such a sense of fear. So true is that saying, "The Lord is known by executing judgments." The same thing had occurred in the case of the Ark: Uzzah was punished and fear came upon the rest. But in that instance the king through fear removed from him the Ark; but here the disciples became more earnestly heedful.

"The Lord is known executing judgments" [Psalm 9:16]. These are God's judgments. Not from that tranquillity of His blessedness, nor from the secret places of wisdom, wherein blessed souls are received, is the sword, or fire, or wild beast, or any such thing brought forth, whereby sinners may be tormented: but how are they tormented, and how does the Lord do judgment? "In the works," he says, "of his own hands has the sinner been caught."

Here is interposed, "The song of the diapsalma" [Psalm 9:16]: as it were the hidden joy, as far as we can imagine, of the separation which is now made, not in place, but in the affections of the heart, between sinners and the righteous, as of the grain from the chaff, as yet on the floor.

For if the whole psalm is called a song because of its tone and force, then the term “song” would be placed at the beginning of [the psalm], as it is in a number of psalms. But here it is otherwise, and after the diapsalma he begins the song; the title is placed between the diapsalma and song. It is reasonable, therefore, that the following has the sense of a psalm.

The truth of this judgment will be fulfilled when the Lord at last executes his judgments in plain sight, when sinners are handed over to eternal torment. Because they have the freedom to commit offenses in this life, some may think that these acts will escape punishment. But when that day of his appearance arrives and the Lord Savior sits upon his majestic throne, then all will acknowledge that his judgments are in effect, when the human race is separated by his judgment either to his right or to his left. For in order to make fair judgments one must determine the merits of each person without partiality. A plain explanation of this thought follows next. For it shows how one can know that the Lord makes fair judgments. His justice can be observed when a sinner becomes caught in his own tangled deeds, and he receives a punishment commensurate with his actions.

The occasion of exultation is the destruction of enemies who persecute the saints. And they persecute the saints in two ways. First, by violence. Second, by fraud. He says therefore, regarding the first, "the nations are stuck fast" -- from the fact that they prepared slaughter for others, they themselves were slain; and therefore he said "stuck fast," or, according to Jerome, "submerged": because that which is stuck fast is pressed down with violence. And those who seemed to be slaying others with violence were themselves violently oppressed. Is. 59: "Their paths are made crooked for them." Ps. 36: "Their sword shall enter," etc. Or spiritually, one is plunged into destruction when he commits sin; because from this he enters eternal punishment and is condemned; and they are stuck fast in these works through habit: Job 18: "He has thrust his foot into the net, and he walks in its mesh." Regarding the second, he says, "in this snare." Those who lie in wait for birds and animals set snares; so do those who proceed insidiously: Ps. 56: "They have prepared a snare for my feet." And he says "they hid it," because literally fowlers hide their snares; so fraudulently, through words of peace that they give, they prepare the poison of seduction: Ps. 139: "In this way in which I walked, the proud have hidden a snare for me." The third fruit is the recognition of divine majesty. "Their foot is caught," that is, their evil desire: Hos. 13: "The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hidden," referring to those who are inclined only to evil. And they hide the snare, but in vain, because "the Lord will be known." And through what? Because "in his works." Sometimes people in prosperity do not know God, as Pharaoh, but in adversity: Ps. 82: "Fill their faces with shame"; and therefore he says, "executing judgments." But what the judgments of God are, he adds: "in his works." It is proper to divine wisdom that it disposes all things sweetly, Wis. 8. And this it does by giving things the ability to tend toward their proper ends through their proper forms: thus, through the very things by which sinners plan to offend, they fall into punishment. Job 5: "Who catches the wise in their own craftiness." And therefore he says, "In the works of his own hands the sinner is caught." Prov. 5: "His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is bound by the cords of his own sins." Job 18: "His own counsel has cast him down headlong." Likewise, "the Lord will be known," here by the saints. Even escaping the snare: Prov. 1: "In vain is the net cast before the eyes of those who have wings." The Gloss says there: "He easily escapes the snares on earth who always has his eyes on heaven." Jerome: "Each one carries with himself the ropes, chains, and torments from which he suffers evils; and by the hidden judgment of God, sinners are caught in the snares they hide, and the just escape."

Upon Muthlabben, or, after the manner according to "death to the Son," by which some song was known, to whose air or melody the musician is directed to perform this Psalm. This mode of denoting a song by some prominent word or words is still common (compare Psa 22:1). The Psalmist praises God for deliverance from his enemies and celebrates the divine government, for providing security to God's people and punishment to the wicked. Thus encouraging himself, he prays for new occasions to recount God's mercies, and confident of His continued judgment on the wicked and vindication of the oppressed, he implores a prompt and efficient manifestation of the divine sovereignty. (Psa. 9:1-20) Heartfelt gratitude will find utterance.

Higgaion--means "meditation," and, combined with Selah, seems to denote a pause of unusual solemnity and emphasis (compare Psa 3:2). Though Selah occurs seventy-three times, this is the only case in which Higgaion is found. In the view which is given here of the retribution on the wicked as an instance of God's wise and holy ordering, we may well pause in adoring wonder and faith.