Psalm 9:17 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.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten,.... The people of God are poor and needy for the most part; they are so in things temporal, and they are poor in spirit, or in things spiritual, of which they are sensible; their needs are many, and frequently return; but God has provided a throne of grace for them to come to for help in time of need, and he will supply all their wants out of the fulness of grace in Christ; nor is he unmindful of them, and of his covenant with them; strictly speaking, they are never forgotten by him, being engraven on his hands, and set as a seal on his heart; but they sometimes seem to be so both to themselves and others, Psa 42:3; and they may continue so long; God may seem for a long time to take no notice of them, but suffer them to lie under affliction and persecution; the holy city is trodden under foot forty two months, or one thousand two hundred and sixty days, that is, so many years; so long the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth, so long the church is in the wilderness, and so long will be the reign of antichrist, Rev 11:2; but as great Babylon will come up in remembrance before God, and he will remember her sins, and render her double; the set time to favour his poor and needy will come, and he will arise and have mercy on them, and bring them into a glorious and comfortable state and condition; the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever; the negative particle, though not in the original text, is rightly supplied from the preceding clause, as it is by the Targum, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, and as the sense requires; and the expectation of Christ's poor ones is not only a supply of grace here and eternal happiness hereafter; but they expect a glorious state of the church on earth, and that Christ will descend in person from heaven, and his tabernacle will be among men; and that they shall be kings and priests, and possess the kingdom, and reign with Christ a thousand years; and though these things may seem to be deferred, and their expectation put off to a length of time, yet it shall not perish for ever; there will be a performance of the things promised and expected.

And already clearly David, bearing testimony to the truth, sings, "Let sinners be turned into Hades, and all the nations that forget God." They forget, plainly, Him whom they formerly remembered, and dismiss Him whom they knew previous to forgetting Him. There was then a dim knowledge of God also among the nations.

They are shut off, he said, in that they, since they are turned in the opposite direction within, do not see the spirit of Jesus ascending and descending.

When, by faith and knowledge, the Lord’s people have embraced true life, they surely receive the joy of heaven. The wicked, however, since they do not care about the Lord’s life, are rightly deprived of its blessings. For “let the wicked be taken away so that he shall not see the glory of the Lord.” In the end they, like everyone else, shall hear the universal proclamation of the promise, “Awake, sleeper, and rise up from the dead.” They shall rise and knock on the doors of heaven, saying, “Open to us.” The Lord, however, will rebuke them for rejecting knowledge of him and will tell them, “I do not know you.” And the Holy Spirit speaks against them, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all nations that forget God.”

O what a terrible disgrace! In the world you went about praised as one of the elect, and when you arrive in the valley of Josaphat, the place of judgement, you are found naked, and all see your sins and ugliness laid bare to God and people. Woe to you at that moment! Where will you turn your face? Will you open your mouth? To say what? Your sins are etched into your soul, which is as black as a hair shirt. What will you do at that moment? Weep? There will be no one to accept your tears. Pray? No one to accept your prayers, for those to whom you are handed over are pitiless. How awful the moment when you hear the terrible, cutting voice, “Sinners, go to hell,” and, “Depart from me, you damned, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels,” and again, “I have detested those who transgress.” “I must wipe out of the city of the Lord all who commit iniquities.”

"Let the sinners be turned into hell" [Psalm 9:17]: that is, let them be given into their own hands, when they are spared, and let them be ensnared in deadly delight. "All the nations that forget God." Because "when they did not think good to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." [Romans 1:28]

"Let them be turned back." Above, the Psalmist treated the judgment of God with regard to his own adversaries; here he pursues it with regard to the whole human race, and with regard to the evils done everywhere by sinners; and regarding this he does two things. First, by way of prayer, he foretells the judgment of God against the wicked. Second, he sets forth the progress of the wicked, at "Why, O Lord?" etc. Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he foretells the punishment of sinners; second, he calls upon the divine judgment that punishes, at "Arise, O Lord." Regarding the first, he does three things. First, he foretells the punishment to be desired. Second, he sets forth the cause of the punishment on the part of sinners, at "all the nations." Third, on the part of the just, "because not unto the end." He says therefore, "Let the sinners be turned back." This petition can be understood in two ways. In one way, of the punishment of the wicked in the present through death. In another way, in the future through eternal punishment. And he says, "Let the sinners be turned back," that is, let them be punished. But should this be requested? It must be said that the prophet says this by way of foretelling and not of petition, or by conforming himself to the divine will: Ps. 62: "They shall go into the lower parts of the earth." Is. 14: "But you shall be brought down to hell," that is, the depth of the pit. Or by hell is understood the obstinacy of the mind in sin, etc. Even while living, a sinner is turned back into hell when he relies upon obstinacy: Rom. 1: "God gave them up to a reprobate mind"; as if to say: in this life let them be cast down. Therefore, the punishment is conversion into hell, as has been said. The cause of the punishment is forgetfulness of God: for he who departs from one end disposes himself to tend toward the other. The two ends of man are the enjoyment of God and Gehenna; and this is what he says, "Let them be turned back," etc., namely those sinners who forget the commandments and benefits of God. Ps. 77: "They forgot his benefits and his wonders which he showed them." Deut. 32: "You have forsaken the God who begot you, and forgotten the Lord your creator."

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.

shall be turned--or, "shall turn," retreating under God's vengeance, and driven by Him to the extreme of destruction, even hell itself. Those who forget God are classed with the depraved and openly profane.

(Heb.: 9:18-19) Just as in Psa 9:8. the prospect of a final universal judgment was opened up by Jahve's act of judgment experienced in the present, so here the grateful retrospect of what has just happened passes over into a confident contemplation of the future, which is thereby guaranteed. The lxx translates ישׁוּבוּ by αποστραφήτωσαν, Jer. convertantur, a meaning which it may have (cf. e.g., Ch2 18:25); but why should it not be ἀναστραφήτωσαν, or rather: ἀναστραφήσονται, since Psa 9:19 shows that Psa 9:18 is not a wish but a prospect of that which is sure to come to pass? To be resolved into dust again, to sink away into nothing (redactio in pulverem, in nihilum) is man's return to his original condition, - man who was formed from the dust, who was called into being out of nothing. To die is to return to the dust, Psa 104:29, cf. Gen 3:19, and here it is called the return to Sheτl, as in Job 30:23 to death, and in Psa 90:3 to atoms, inasmuch as the state of shadowy existence in Hades, the condition of worn out life, the state of decay is to a certain extent the renewal (Repristination) of that which man was before he came into being. As to outward form לשׁאולה may be compared with לישׁעתה in Psa 80:3; the ל in both instances is that of the direction or aim, and might very well come before שׁאולה, because this form of the word may signify both ἐν ᾅδου and εἰς ᾅδου (cf. מבּבלה Jer 27:16). R. Abba ben Zabda, in Genesis Rabba cap. 50, explains the double sign of the direction as giving intensity to it: in imum ambitum orci. The heathen receive the epithet of שׁכחי אלהים (which is more neuter than שׁכחי, Psa 50:22); for God has not left them without a witness of Himself, that they could not know of Him, their alienation from God is a forgetfulness of Him, the guilt of which they have incurred themselves, and from which they are to turn to God (Isa 19:22). But because they do not do this, and even rise up in hostility against the nation and the God of the revelation that unfolds the plan of redemption, they will be obliged to return to the earth, and in fact to Hades, in order that the persecuted church may obtain its longed for peace and its promised dominion. Jahve will at last acknowledge this ecclesia pressa; and although its hope seems like to perish, inasmuch as it remains again and again unfulfilled, nevertheless it will not always continue thus. The strongly accented לא rules both members of Psa 9:19, as in Psa 35:19; Psa 38:2, and also frequently elsewhere (Ewald 351, a). אביון, from אבה to wish, is one eager to obtain anything = a needy person. The Arabic ‛bâ, which means the very opposite, and according to which it would mean "one who restrains himself," viz., because he is obliged to, must be left out of consideration.